________________ Dr Vincent A. Smith on Vaisali 353 wbere, according to the legend, Ananda divided his body, and gave half to the king of Magadha on the southern and half to the king of Vaisali on the northern side of the river. A corresponding stupa stood on the southern bank. The ferry connected by legend with Ananda was therefore, 23 or 24 miles (2} +15 or 16+5 or 6) distant from Vaisali in a direction slightly east of south, and, in as much as the Ganges then flowed a good deal farther to the north than it does now, the stupa marking the northern end of the ferry should be looked for near Daudnagar, about six miles south-east from Hajipur. The stupa at the southern end of the ferry must have been carried away by the river. The Svetapuia monastery must have been near Hajipur. Its "massive towers", of which Hiuen Tsiang speaks, were probably wooden, but it is quite possible that careful search would succeed in tracing the substantial brick foundations on which those towers rested. "The position of Vaisali in relation to Svetapura on the bank of the Ganges agrees accurately with the position of Basar in relation to the river." The next geographical argument follows : "Hiuen Tsiang expressly states that Vaisali lay on the road from Pataliputra to Nepal. Basas lies on the ancient royal road from the capital to Nepal, marked by three of Asoka's pillars which passed Kesariya, Lauriya Araraj, Betiya, Lauriya-Nandangarh, Chankigarh, and Rampurwa, entering the hills by the Bhikna Thori pass. The jealousy of the existing Nepalese government compels the modern traveller to take a more easterly route and pass through Sigauli (Segowlee) in lat. 26deg 44', long. EUR40 47'. The learned Doctor proceeds : "The geographical tests of the identity of Basal and Vaisali having been proved satisfactory, I now proceed to apply a third test of the same kind." "The stupa near Kesariya, known by the name of Raja Ben Chakravart is the spot erroneously described by Fa-bien as the scene of the Licchavi leave-taking, and correctly described by Hiuen Tsiang at the memorial of a Chakravartin Raja. Both pilgrims substantially agree in their estimate of the distance of this locality from Vaisali, Fa-hien giving the round figure "5 yo janas", equivalent to 38 miles, while the more accurate Hiuen Tsiang states the distance as being "a little less than 200 li". Five yo janas being the exact equivalent of 200 li, the term "a little less than 200 li" may be fairly interpreted as equivalent to 4 yo janas, or 45
