Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 270

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Hiuen Tsiang, 19 miles south-east of Kanouj (Arch. S. Rep., I, 293; XI, 49; Uvdsagadasdo spp., p. 53). It was situated on the Ganges. According to Dr. Kern it was situated between Kosala and Magadha; it contained & monastery called Aggalava-chetiya (MIB., p. 37 n.). It is the Alabhi of the Jainas, from which Mahâvîra made his missionary peregrinations (Rhys Davids' Vinaya Texts, Chullavagga, Vangisa or Nigrodha Kappa Sutta, Pt. vi, ch. 17; Sutta Nipata, Alavaka Sutta in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. X). It is the Alambhika of the Kalpasútra (Stevenson's Kalpasitra, p. 91). Buddha passed his sixteenth vassa (Varsha) at this place. For the places where Buddha passed his assas in
different years after attaining Buddahhood , see JASB., 1838, p. 720. Alexandria-1. Uchch, a town built by Alexander the Great near the confluence of the
five rivers of the Punjab. 2. Hupian (see Hupian). 3. An island in the Indus, where, in a village called Kalasi, Menander, the Greek king, was born (SBE., XXXV, p. 127-the Questions of King Milinda). It was 200 yojanas from Sakala. 4. According to some authoritios, Alexandria ad Caucasum of the Greeks is Beghram, 25 miles north of Kabul, which contains the extensive ruins of an ancient town; and according to others it is Bamian (Gazetteer of the Countries adjacent to India under Beghram). Ali-madra-The district of Mardan (Hoti-Mardan) or in other words, the Yusufrai country to the north-east of Peshawar, containing many Buddhist and Græco-Bactrian remains (Brahmånda P., ch. 49). Imalakagrama-See Amalita]A. Amalitala-On the north bank of the river Tamraparņi in Tinnevilly, visited by Chaitanya. It is montioned in the Brahmanda Purana. It appears to be the same as Amalakagrâma of the Nrisimha Purana, which has been highly extolled in Chapter
€6; it is also called Sahya-Amalakagrama, being situated on the Western Ghata. Amarakantaka-It is a part of the Mikul (Mekala) bills in Gondwana in the territory
of Nagpur, in which the river Nerbuda and Sone have got their source (Padma Purana, Svargakhanla (Adi),ch 6; Wilson's Meghdúta or the Cloud Messenger); hence the Nerbuda is called in the Amarakosha, the daughter of the Mekala mountain. It is the Âmrakâta of Kalidasa's Meghadüta (1,17). Its sanctity is described in the Skanda Purang (Revå Khanda ch. 21). The first fall of the Nerbuda from the Amarakantaka mountain is called Kapiladhârâ in the Skanda Purana. Kapila is said to be an affluent of the Nerbudda (ch. 21). The Vishnu-savihita (ch. 75) recommends Amarakanțaka and a few other places as being very efficacious for the performance of the Sradh ceremony. Amaranatha-A celebrated shrine of siva in a grotto in the Bhairavaghấti range of
the Himalaya, about sixty miles from Islamabad, the ancient capital of Kasmîra. The cave is situated at a considerable altitude on the west side of a snowy peak, 17,307 feet in height, locally called by the name of Kailâsa. A little stream known as Amarganga, a tributary of the Indus, flows by the left side of the cave over a white soil with which the pilgrims besmear their body to cleanse a way their sins, though no doubt it serves to keep off cold. The path to the cave lies along the side of the Amarganga stream. The cave is naturally arched, 50 feet in breadth at the base and 25 feet in height. The Linga or phallic image is about 20 or 25 feet from the entrance and is at the inner extremity of the