Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.68

c8.68

Is the evidence really unreliable? The Chinese pilgrims, who travelled in India in the fifth and seventh centuries after Christ, saw the ruins of the town.‡ But, interposes Senart, no one can tell by looking at the ruins whether the town to which they belong, was called Kapilavatthu. Unfortunately, most assuredly no one can tell by a look, although there is always some weight to be attached to the local traditions connected with the place, and in this case also to the monuments still extant in the time of those Chinese pilgrims. The strongest confirmation, however, of what the Chinese pilgrims state, lies in the fact that, on the one hand, the occasional direct statements and indirect hints of the sacred Pâli works regarding the site of the town, and, on the other hand, the route of the pilgrims who looked for it, if both be traced on the map of India, coincide exactly : in addition to this, at the very place where, according to this evidence, Buddha's home must have been, there is a small stream which, even in the present day, bears the same name (Rohinî) as was borne by a stream in the territory of the Sakyas often mentioned in the Buddhist traditions. I hold, stronger indications it is impossible to expect of an early demolished town in a country in which systematic excavations have not yet been made.*