The Sanskrit terms Kauśāmbī and Kauśāmbi can be transliterated into English as Kausambi or Kaushambi, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

Images (photo gallery)

In Hinduism

Purana and Itihasa (epic history)

Source: archive.org: Puranic Encyclopedia

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी).—Four sons, Kuśāmba, Kuśanābha, Asūrtarajas and Vasu were born to Kuśa, the son of Brahmā, of his wife the princess of Vidarbha. According to the order of their father each prince built a city and began to rule over it. Kauśāmbī is the city built by Kuśāmba.

Kuśanābha built the city of Mahodayapura; Asūrtarajas, the city of Dharmāraṇya and Vasu the city of Girivraja. (Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Sarga 32). It is mentioned in Kathāsaritsāgara that the city of Kauśāmbī stood in the middle of the kingdom of Vatsa and that Udayana born of the family of the Pāṇḍavas had once ruled this country with Kauśāmbī as his capital.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: The Purana Index

Kauśāmbi (कौशाम्बि).—The capital of Nemicakra (Nicakru) after Hastinapura was washed by floods; of Vivikṣu.^*

• * Bhāgavata-purāṇa IX. 22. 40; Vāyu-purāṇa 99. 271; Viṣṇu-purāṇa IV. 21. 8. Matsya-purāṇa 50. 79.

context information

The Purana (पुराण, purāṇas) refers to Sanskrit literature preserving ancient India’s vast cultural history, including historical legends, religious ceremonies, various arts and sciences. The eighteen mahapuranas total over 400,000 shlokas (metrical couplets) and date to at least several centuries BCE.

General definition (in Hinduism)

Source: Oxford Index: Indian Culture

The capital of the ancient Indian kingdom of Vatsa, located on the Yamunā river near to its confluence with the Ganges. Like many major early Indian cities, it was located at the juncture of important trade routes. The Buddha Śākyamuni made several visits there and several early monastic precincts were established there during his lifetime. (Pāli = Kosambī).

In Buddhism

Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)

Source: Wisdom Library: Maha Prajnaparamita Sastra

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी), capital of the Vatsas, today Kosam on the Jumna, 50 km. from Allahabad. It had several parks, Kukkuṭa and Ghositārāma, where the Buddha frequently stayed.

context information

Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.

In Jainism

General definition (in Jainism)

Source: archive.org: Sum Jaina Canonical Sutras (vividhatirthakalpa)

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी) is the principal city in the kingdom of Vatsa. The brick-built fort of king Pradyota still exists. Udayana, son of Śatānīka, versed in the Gandharva lore (science and music) was the king of Vatsa. Here are many Jina images in the temples. Here many forests are watered by the Kālindī (Yamunā). Gandanavālā fasted here for about six months in honour of Mahāvīra. The city of Kauśāmbī is a great place, hallowed by the birth of Jina.

Kauśāmbī was the captial of the Vatsa kingdom. This city was built where existed the hermitage of king Kuśāmba. t was a well-known city in northern India. According to the Buddhist scholiast Buddhaghosa the city came to be called Kosambī or Kauśāmbī because in founding it the Kosamba trees were uprooted here and there.

Source: archive.org: Trisastisalakapurusacaritra

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी) is the birth-place of Padmaprabha, the sixth Tīrthaṅkara, according to chapter 1.6 [ādīśvara-caritra] of Hemacandra’s 11th century Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacaritra: an ancient Sanskrit epic poem narrating the history and legends of sixty-three illustrious persons in Jainism.

Accordingly: “[...] In Bharata there will be twenty-three other Arhats and eleven other Cakrins. [...] In Kauśāmbī, Padmaprabha, the son of Dhara and Susīmā, red color, living for thirty lacs of pūrvas, two hundred and fifty bows tall, will be in the vow a lac of pūrvas less sixteen pūrvāṅgas, and the interval will be ninety thousand crores of sāgaras”.

Source: HereNow4u: Lord Śrī Mahāvīra

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी) is the name of a village visited by Mahāvīra during his eleventh year of spiritual-exertion.—Moving from Vraja village to Ālambhiyā, Śvetāmbikā, Sāvatthī, Kauśāmbī, Rājagṛha, Vārāṇasī, Mithilā, etc, the Lord arrived at Vaiśālī. Outside the city at the Baladeva temple in the Samara garden, accepting four-months fast, he became meditative and completed the rainy season halt there.

Kauśāmbī was also visited by Mahāvīra during his twelfth year of spiritual-exertion and during several of his years as Kevalī.

context information

Jainism is an Indian religion of Dharma whose doctrine revolves around harmlessness (ahimsa) towards every living being. The two major branches (Digambara and Svetambara) of Jainism stimulate self-control (or, shramana, ‘self-reliance’) and spiritual development through a path of peace for the soul to progess to the ultimate goal.

India history and geography

Source: archive.org: Geography in Ancient Indian inscriptions

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी).—The earliest mention of Kosambī is found in Kauśāmbī Pillar Edict of Aśoka. During the time of Aśoka, Kosambī, Skt. Kauśāmbī, was the headquarters of a province. The place is identical with Kosam, a village twenty-eight miles south-west of Allahabad and about eight miles to the south of Karari, the chief town of Karari paxgana in the Manjhanpur tahsil of the Allahabad district. The spade of archaeologist has uncovered the ruins of the city of Kauśāmbī, which lie at Kosam. above mentioned village. Among other things, eight inscriptions of the Magha dynasty come from the village of Kosam. Five Bandhogarh inscriptionsof the third century A.D. mention a merchant, who belongs to Kosambī. One of the Bharhut inscriptions also refers to the city of Kosamba, i.e., Kauśāmbī. The city of Kauśāmbī was an important shopping place of the persons travelling along the great trade route connecting Sāketa and Sāvatthi in the north with Patiṭhāna or Paithan on the bank of the Godāvarī in the south.

Source: Shodhganga: New look on the kushan bengali

Kausambi was another important Kushan town in Gangetic valley. It is situated nearly 32 miles south-west of Allahabad, on the left bank of river Yamuna. The excavation conducted here brought five habitational periods of which period V belongs to Kushan ( 25-100 A.D). The material relics discovered from Period V of Kausambi is structural complex characterized by brick built houses with roads, drainage and fortification, pottery consisted of surahis, spouted vessel etc, terracotta figurines with Kushan features, large number of crucible, seal and sealings of Kushan period etc.

Source: Knowledge Traditions & Practices of India: Architecture (1): Early and Classical Architecture (h)

Kauśāmbi is an archaeologically important site dating to the Ganges civilization (1000 BCE).—Nearly a millennium after the Indus civilization had collapsed, the Ganges civilization arose in the first millennium BCE. Among the first cities were, for example, Kanyakubja in today’s Uttar Pradesh.

Source: Ancient Buddhist Texts: Geography of Early Buddhism

Kausāmbī (कौसाम्बी) or Kosambī was the ancient captial of Vatsa or Vaṃsa: one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas of the Majjhimadesa (Middle Country) of ancient India, as recorded in the Pāli Buddhist texts (detailing the geography of ancient India as it was known in to Early Buddhism).—The kingdom of the Vaṃsas or Vatsas is mentioned in the Aṅguttara Nikāya as one of the sixteen great countries of India. The capital of the country was Kausāmbī (Kosambī) identical with modern Kosam near Allahabad.

context information

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

Languages of India and abroad

Sanskrit dictionary

Source: DDSA: The practical Sanskrit-English dictionary

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी).—[kuśāmbena nirvṛttā aṇ] Name of an ancient city on the Ganges in the lower part of the Doab; निष्कान्तः कौशा (niṣkāntaḥ kauśā)या निष्कौशाम्बिः (yā niṣkauśāmbiḥ) Mahābhārata on P.II.2.18.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Shabda-Sagara Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी).—f. (-mbī) The name of an ancient city on the Ganges in the lower part of the Doab, in the vicinity of Kurrah; also vatsapattana. E. kuśāmba a proper name, (the founder,) aṇ and ṅīp affs.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी).—[feminine] [Name] of a town.

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary

1) Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी):—[from kauśāmba] f. ([gana] nady-ādi), Name of an ancient city (now represented by the village of Kosam, on the Jumnā, near Allahābād; also called vatsa-pattana), [Rāmāyaṇa i, 34, 6; Divyāvadāna xxxvi f.; Pāṇini 4-2, 68; Kāśikā-vṛtti; Kathāsaritsāgara iv, 18; ix, 5]

2) [v.s. ...] [lxvi, 193; Matsya-purāṇa; Hitopadeśa]

3) Kauśāmbi (कौशाम्बि):—[from kauśāmba] f. = bī, [Varāha-mihira’s Bṛhat-saṃhitā xvi, 3.]

Source: Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries: Yates Sanskrit-English Dictionary

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी):—(mbī) 3. f. Name of a city.

Source: DDSA: Paia-sadda-mahannavo; a comprehensive Prakrit Hindi dictionary (S)

Kauśāmbī (कौशाम्बी) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Kosaṃbi.

[Sanskrit to German]

Kaushambi in German

context information

Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

See also (Relevant definitions)

Starts with: Kaushambika, Kaushambipuri, Kaushambiya.

Ends with: Nitkaushambi, Vanakaushambi.

Full-text (+100): Nemicakra, Kaushambiya, Kaushambya, Kaushamba, Vatsapattana, Nitkaushambi, Udayana, Vanakaushambeya, Kosambi, Kaushambeya, Candravatarana, Kusamba, Ghoshilarama, Candamahasena, Kaushambaka, Vanakaushambi, Parapushta, Nagasahvaya, Ghositarama, Nirvaktra.

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Search found 43 books and stories containing Kaushambi, Kauśāmbī, Kauśāmbi, Kausambi; (plurals include: Kaushambis, Kauśāmbīs, Kauśāmbis, Kausambis). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:

Garga Samhita (English) (by Danavir Goswami)

Verse 5.24.13 < [Chapter 24 - The Killing of the Kola Demon]

Verse 5.24.42 < [Chapter 24 - The Killing of the Kola Demon]

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The Matsya Purana (critical study) (by Kushal Kalita)

Part 2.2b - The Paurava Dynasty < [Chapter 3 - Historical aspects in the Matsyapurāṇa]

Part 2.2 - Dynasties of Post-Mahābhārata war (Introduction) < [Chapter 3 - Historical aspects in the Matsyapurāṇa]

Part 2.1a - The Solar Dynasty < [Chapter 3 - Historical aspects in the Matsyapurāṇa]

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A Historical Study of Kaushambi (by Nirja Sharma)

Conclusion

Abstract

The Buddhist Tradition < [Chapter 2]

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Settlement in Early Historic Ganga Plain (by Chirantani Das)

Part 6 - Demography (middle and lower Ganga plain) < [Conclusion]

Part 1 - Position of Sārnāth at the physical and cultural periphery of Vārāṇasī < [Chapter VII - Sārnāth: The Satellite Religious Centre]

Part 5 - Urban centres in South Bihar (a): Aṅga Circle < [Chapter I - The Case Study of Rājagṛha]

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Vakyapadiya of Bhartrihari (by K. A. Subramania Iyer)

Verse 3.14.410 < [Book 3 - Pada-kāṇḍa (14): Vṛtti-samuddeśa (On Ccomplex Formation)]

Verse 3.14.256 < [Book 3 - Pada-kāṇḍa (14): Vṛtti-samuddeśa (On Ccomplex Formation)]

Verse 3.14.39 < [Book 3 - Pada-kāṇḍa (14): Vṛtti-samuddeśa (On Ccomplex Formation)]

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Annadatri-carita (study) (by Sarannya V.)

8. The South Indian representation in Kurukshetra war < [Chapter 1 - The Myth of Grand Feast]

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