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MAY, 1893.]
HIUEN TSIANG'S CAPITAL OF MAHARASHTRA.
113
HIUEN TSIANG'S CAPITAL OF MAHARASHTRA.
BY J. F. FLEET, I.C.S., Ph.D., C.I.E. TN his account of the cuuntry of Maharashtra, as the kingdom of the Western 1 Chalakya king Palikesin II., Hinen Tsiang tells us, according to Mr. Beal's translation of the Si-yu-ki (Buddhist Records of the Western World, Vol. II. pp. 255, 257), that "the capital "borders on the west on a great river ........ Within and without the capital are five “stů pas to mark the spots where the four past Buddhas walked and sat. They were built by " Asokaraja. There are, besides these, other stúpas made of brick or stone, so many that it “ would be difficult to name them all. Not far to the south of the city is a sanghåráma in " which is a stone image of Kwan-tsz'tsai Bodhisattva."
The name of this capital is not mentioned. And, though two indications, which ought to locate it and determine its name, are given, - viz. that it was situated about 1,000 li or 167 miles to the east of Broach, and between 2,400 and 2,500 li or roughly about 410 miles to the north-west of the capital of a country which is called in Chinese Kong-kin-na-pu-lo, and is Bapposed to be in Sanskrit Konkanapura, 2 - they have failed to do go; partly because the capital of Kong-kin-na-pu-lo has never yet been satisfactorily determined ; and partly because there is no place due east of Broach or nearly so, at or anywhere near the required distance, which answers to the description that is given. The result has been a variety of surmises as to the name of this capital. And the question has never yet been disposed of.
Now, the real capital of the Western Chalakya dynasty was Badami, the chief town of the tâlukâ of the same name in the Bijapur District. But its surroundings do not answer to the description given by Hiuen Tsiang. There is, it is true, a river, within four miles of the town,- the Malaprabhå; but it is only a tributary of the Krishna, and it cannot be called one of the great rivers of India. And about three miles to the south by east of the town, there is a temple of Banaśamkari,- with a variety of shrines, a large enclosure, and a tank that has a cloister round three sides of it, which presents the appearance of a certain amount of antiquity; but there are no indications of Buddhism about it, and nothing to justify the supposition that it is a Brahmaņical adaptation of an ancient Buddhist sanghåráma. Further, the cave-temples at Badami are Jain and Brahmaņical,- not Buddhist. Again, neither in the town, nor in its neighbourhood, can any traces be found of any stúpas. And, finally, though the direction of Badami from Broach, south-south-east, may be taken as answering to the statement that Broach was to the west or north-west of the capital of Maharashtra, still its distance, 435 miles, is altogether incommensurate with the given distance, and is quito sufficient, in itself, to exclude the possibility of such an identification. Badâmi, therefore, is undoubtedly inadmissible for the town referred to by Hinen Tsiang.
Mr. Beal has stated, in a footnote, the other suggestions that have been made, and some of the objections to them. Thus, M. V. de St. Martin proposed Daulatábad in the Nizim's Dominions. But, though the distance and direction from Broach, - 188 miles to the southeast, - are admissible, there is no river here; nor are there any Buddhist remains. Gen. Sir Alexander Cunningham has been in favour of Kalyaņi, in the Nizâm's Dominions, which has on the west a large stream named Kailasa. But here, again, there is nothing that can be called "a great river;" there are no Buddhist remains; the distance from Broach, about 372 miles towards the south-east, is far too much ; and there is absolutely nothing to justify the supposition that Kalyaņi was a place of any importance at all, until it became the Western Châlukya capital, after the restoration of the dynasty by Taila II. in A. D. 973. And Mr. Fergasson named “Toka, Phulthamba, or Paitan." But, as regards these, though Paithan, on the Godavari, in the Nizâm's Dominions, is well admissible on account of its ancient importance, and might be fairly so because it is only about 220 miles to the south-east from
1 On the question of the real bearings, however, see farther on.
2 See page 116 below, note 7.
