________________
168
Lord Mahâvîra
Present Jharia, Jamui, Jambhi, Jogram (Burdwan) etc. are among the places believed to be the possible sites where Lord Mahâvîra got full-knowledge. The Barakar river is presumed to be the old Rijubalika. Some scholars have laboured at prove the Poonpoon, the Aji or the Kamsa etc. to be the Rijubalika. In our opinion none of these assumptions has got any substance or solid grounds. As we have already seen above, the Lord travelled 12 yojanas from Jrimbhikagama to reach Pava. None of the places named above is at the distance of 12 Yojanas either from Pavapuri (Nalanda district) or Pavanagar (Deoria district). Besides the names of the rivers too have no similarity with Rijubalika or Rijukulya. So no one among the aforesaid places can be accepted to be Jrimbhikagama.
We have set out on a journey to explore the real place by sticking closely and carefully to the versons of the Jain literature. Let us also follow the path Lord Mahâvîra had travelled after the completion of the 12th rainy-season. He had started from Champa and moved westward, crossing the Ganges somewhere near Sonepur, at a point west of the river Gandaka. He arrived at Jrimbhikagama and proceeded further north-west to Medhiya in our opinion Manjha; then according to us to Chhammani i.e. Chhitauli and reached Pavanagar (Sathison-Fazilnagar). He then returned to Jrimbhikagama and again went to Pava etc.
This route naturally suggests that Jrimbhika must be somewhere to the south east of Pava and north west of Champa, at a distance of 54-55 miles from Pava. This place is quite easy to be located in the district of Siwan or Saran. In our opinion Jhanjhwa is the ancient Jrimbhikagrama.
A small rivulet flows by the side of Jhanjhwa towards the south-east. It might have its origin somewhere in the northern parts of the eastern U.P. In Buddhist scripture we find mention of a river by the name of Kulya flowing six miles south-east Kushinagar. This is extinct now. We presume this to be the river Rijukulya which before it became dead or extinct, flowed through Jhanjhwa. It might have been a branch of the river Narayani Gandaki flowing there.
The most important and decisive point is the presence of a sala tree at Jrimbhikagama. We all know that sala trees are found
