Story of Nation Buddhist India

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

Page 61

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BUDDHIST INDIA
Savatthi, or Srāvasti, was the capital of Northern Kosala, the residence of King Pasenadi, and one of the six great cities in India during the lifetime of the Buddha. Archæologists differ as to its position; and the decision of this vexed point is one of the first importance for the early history of India, as there must be many inscriptions there. It was six leagues north of Saketa,' forty-five leagues north-west of Rajagaha,' more than one hundred north-east of Suppāraka, thirty leagues from Sankassa,* and on the bank of the Achiravati.
3
Ujjeni, the capital of Avanti, the Greek Ozēnē, about 77° E. and 23° N. There Kaccana, one of the leading disciples of the Buddha, and also Asoka's son Mahinda, the famous apostle to Ceylon, were born. In later times there was a famous monastery there called the Southern Mount; and in earlier times the capital had been Mähissati. Vedisa, where the famous Bhilsa Topes were lately found, and Erakaccha, another well-known site, were in the vicinity. Vedisa was fifty leagues from Pāṭaliputta.'
Vesali. This was the capital of the Licchavi clan, already closely related by marriage to the kings of Magadha, and the ancestors of the kings of Nepal, of the Mauryas, and of the dynasty of the Guptas. It was the headquarters of the powerful Vajjian con
1 Vinaya Texts, 2. 147.
Rh. D., Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 130.
3 Divyāvadāna, 43.
Jātaka, 4. 265.
5 Vinaya Texts, 2. 24, 222.
6 Digha, xix. 36. 'Maha Bodhi Vamsa, 98.