Story of Nation Buddhist India

Author(s): T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: T Fisher Unwin Ltd

Page 57

36
BUDDHIST INDIA
Kosambi, the capital of the Vatsas or Vamsas.' It was on the Jumna, and thirty leagues, say 230 miles, by river from Benares. It was the most important entrepôt for both goods and passengers coming to Kosala and Magadha from the south and west.' In the Sutta Nipāta (1010-1013) the whole route is given from a place south of Ujjen, through Kosambi to Kusinārā, with the stopping-places on the way. The route from Kosambi to Rājagaha was down the river. In the Buddha's time there were already four distinct establishments of his Order in the suburbs of Kosambi—the Badarika, Kukkuta, and Ghosita Parks, and the Mango Grove of Pāvāriya. The Buddha was often there, at one or other of these residences; and many of his discourses there have been handed down in the books.
Madhurā, on the Jumna, the capital of the Sūra. senas. It is tempting to identify it with the site of the modern Mathura, in spite of the difference in spelling. Very ancient remains have been found there. The king of Madhurā in the Buddha's time bore the title of Avanti-putto,' and was therefore related to the royal family at Ujjeni. Madhurā was visited by the Buddha,' and was the residence of Mahā Kaccāna, one of his most influential disciples, to whom tradition attributes the first grammatical treatment of the Pāli language, and after whom the oldest Pāli grammar is accordingly named. As Mad
Jāt. 4. 28 ; 6. 236. ? Com. on Anguttasa, I. 25. 3 Vinaya Texts, 2. I99: 3. 67, 224, 233. 4 Vinaya Texts, 3. 392.
s l'in. 4. 16; Sum. 319. 6 M. 2. S3 TA. 2. 57. 8 1. 2. 33.