Early Monastic Buddhism v1.c4.6.1

v1.c4.6.1

The fact that the Brāhmaṇas of this part of the country are found, in the Buddhist works, to be tracing their descent from the Brāhmaṇas of the northern parts of India (udicca) shows that the source of nobility and purity of descent were believed to be existing in the north and not in the region where Buddhism flourished at first.¹ The inference drawn from the above evidences that Buddhism flourished only in the tract where the Brāhmaṇic orthodoxy was not so strong is partially corroborated by the evidences furnished by the Pāli texts. The first evidence is the definition of the Majjhima-desa of the Buddhists.² Its boundary is given as follows: On the east Kajaṅgala, a place 400 li east of Campā (Bhagalpur); on the south-east the river Salalavatī (Sarāvatī); on the south Satakaṇṇika; on the west the Brāhmaṇa district of Thūna (identified by S. N. Mazumdar with Sthāneśvara); and on the north Usīra-dhaja mountain (identified by Hultzsch with Usiragiri near Kankhal, Hardwar). The boundaries show that the Buddhists went a little beyond the limits of the less Brāhmaṇised country on the western side. The second and stronger evidence is the names of countries found in the Nikāyas. The northernmost places said to have been visited by Buddha are Kammassadhamma and Thullakoṭṭhita of the Kuru³ while the other place-names are included within the territories of Kāsi-Kosala, Aṅga-Magadha, Videha, and the eastern districts ruled by the several clans.