A Historical Study of Kaushambi
by Nirja Sharma | 2021 | 30,704 words
This is a Historical study of Kaushambi from a literary and archaeological perspective. Kaushambi is an ancient Indian city situated to the south-east of Allahabad now represented by the extensive ruins near the village Kosam. In the 6th century B.C. (during the time of the Buddha), Kausambi functioned as the capital of the Vatsa Janapada, one of t...
General description and topography
Indian literature consistently refers to Kaushambi as a royal city, which was the capital of a kingdom, while in the Si-yu-ki of Hiuen Tsang, Kaushambi (Kiao-shang-mi) is represented rather as a country with its capital which was ' evidently named Kaushambi'.[1] The Chinese pilgrim must have followed the later usage which went to represent Kaushambi as a political unit instead of as a mere city. For instance, in the inscription of Yasapala, dated Samvat 1093 (-A.D. 1037), Kaushambi is mentioned as Kosambamandala.[34] According to Hiuen Tsang, the country or kingdom of Kaushambi was above 6,000 li (1,200 miles), and its capital (i.e., the city of Kaushambi) was above 30 li (6 miles) in circuit.[2]
We have seen that according to one tradition, the city of Kaushambi was founded by prince Kushamba, the third sou of the Chedi king Uparichara Vasu, while according to another tradition, it was founded by prince Kushamba, the eldest son of the righteous king Kusa of yore. In the Vishnu Parana (IV. 19) Uparichara Vasu figures as a Kaurava, i.e.; a scion of the family of the Kurus. The epic tradition of foundation of the city by prince Kushamba its first king, finds its echo in the Pali Jataka story relating that in the past king KosamHka reigned in Koshambi-in the territory of the Vachchhas.[3]
We have also seen that the Pali scholiasts agree in representing Kosam as a royal city, which grew up around the abode of a sage named Kosamba. It does not, therefore, come as a surprise to us when Ashvaghosha speaks of the asrama or hermitage of Kushamba with reference to the city of Kaushambi.[4]
According to the Jaina description, Kaushambi was a flourishing city, which abounded in large-sized Kosamba trees providing cool shade.
Kaushambi is described in the Trikandashesha (2. 1. 14) as Vatsapattama, "the capital of Vatsa".[5] In the Buddhist literature too, Kaushambi is described as "the capital of the Vatsa (in Chinese Tu-tzu, Calf) country."[6] The Katha-saritsagara places the great city called Kaushambi at the centre of the Vatsa country of which it was the capital.[7] The Buddhists legend of Bakkula unmistakably proves that Kaushambi was situated on the bank of the Yamuna. It also suggests that waters of the Yamuna also flowed through the Ganges to make it possible for a fish to carry to Benares a child that fell into the Yamuna near Kaushambi.[8] The Vividhatirtlmkalpa (p. 23) definitely states that the forests of Kaushambi were reached by the flow of waters of the Kalimdi (i.e., Yamuna).[9]
According to the description in the suttanipata of a journey of Bavari’s disciples from Patitthana to Rajagaha, Kaushambi was one of the halting places on the same high road which led the travellers to Saketa[10] and Sravasti. Vana (Tumbavana[11] or Vana-Savatthi, according to commentary) was the halting station which stood next to Kaushambi in walking towards Vidisa from Kaushambi.[12] According to Rathavinita-Sutta in the Majjlina Nikaya. Saketa could be reached from Savatthi by a relay-drive of seven chariots.[13] The Mahaparininibbana-Sut ibbaiig-Sut-tanta mentions Koshambi as one of the six principal cities of Northern India in Buddha's time, where many wealthy nobles, Brahmins and traders having strong faith in the Tathagata lived. It was certainly by the above high road that the Buddha or his disciples usually travelled from Sravasti to Kaushambi and back via Saketa. The Vinaya Mahavagga, however, gives also the description of a somewhat different route that lay between Kaushambi and Sravasti. According to this description, the Buddha walked from Koshambi to Balakalona karagama, from Balakalonakaragama to the reserve forest in parileyyaka and at last from Parileyyaka to Savatthi.[14] But it is more probable that both Balakalonakaragama and Parileyyaka were situated on the same high road connecting Koshambi with Saketa and Savatthi. In the Jataka commentary, the Buddha is said to have passed through a town of Bhaddavatika en route from Sravasti to Kaushambi,[15] while in the Vinaya Mahavagg Bhaddavatika occurs as a name of a swift she-elephant of King Udena of Kaushambi by which Jivaka left Ujjayint for Koshambi.[16]
The Vinaya Gliuttavagga (Khandhaka, 12) records the journey of Bhikkhus by a land route from Kosambi to Ahoganga pabbata, from Ahoganga pabbata to Soreyya, from Soreyya to Sankassa, from Sankassa to Kannakujja, from Karma-kujja to Uduinbara, from Udumbara to Aggalapura, and from Aggalapura to Sahajati. The same authority records also a journey of certain Bhikkhus by a boat from Vesali to Sahajati.[17] The Ahoganga pabbata, as its name implies was a mountain on the down stream of the Ganges or of some other river, the name of the mountain being also spelt as Adhoganga.[18] According to the Vinaya Chullavagga, it could be reached by persons going from Koshambi or coming from Patheyya and Avanti in the Deccan. According to other Pali authorities, the easier way of journeying from Ahogariga or Adhogariga pabbata to Pataliputta was one by boat.[19] With such facilities of communications, north, south, east and west, both by land and river routes, Kaushambi could not but be an important centre or emporium of inland trade of ancient India.[20]
Buddhaghosha informs us that the three banker friends Ghosita, Kukkuta and Pavarika were the three business magnates of Kaushambi in the Buddha's time. All of them went on the back of elephants from Kaushambi to Sravasti to wait upon the Buddha who were at that time staying at Jetavana, and it was to keep their invitation that the Buddha agreed to visit Kaushambi. Each of the three bankers built a suitable retreat for the Buddha and his disciples at the cost of a large sum of money in the neighbourhood of the city of Kaushambi. Each of these three monastic establishments was named after its donor and builder. Thus Ghositarama built and donated by the banker Ghosita, Kukkutarama by the banker Kukkuta, and Pavarika-ambavana (Pavarika's Mango-grove) by the banker Pavarika were the three most important centres of Buddhism that grew up in the neighbourhood of Kaushambi in the Buddha's time.[21] Buddhist literature keeps us in the dark as to the location of the three dramas with reference to the city. But regarding Ghositarama Hiuen Tsang definitely tells us that it was situated "outside the city on the south-east side with an Ashoka tope over 200 feet high.” The Chinese pilgrim also records that "beside this tope was a place with traces of the sitting and walking up and down of the Four Past Buddhas, and there was another Buddha Hair-and-nail relic tope". In the south-east corner of the city, Hiuen Tsang saw the ruins of the residence of Ghosita (Chinese Ku-shih-lo or Ghoshila), where "also were a Buddhist temple, a Hair-and-nail-relic tope, and the remains of the Buddha's bath-house."[22]
Fortunately for us, Hiuen.Tsang has left hints for the location of the remaining two dramas. Kukkutarama was situated to the south-east of Ghositarama. It was at the time of his visit "a two-storey building with an old brick upper-chamber".[23] Pavarika's Mango-grove was situated to the east of Ghositarama, where the Chinese pilgrim noticed the old foundations of a building.[24]
At a distance-of 8 or 9 li (about 2 miles) south-east from the city of Kaushambi was "a venomous dragon's cave in which the Buddha had left his shadow". "Beside the Dragon's Cave was an Ashoka-built tope, and at the side of it were the traces of the Buddha's exercise-ground, and a hair-and-nail-relic tope."[25]
Fa-Hien, the earlier Chinese pilgrim arrived at Kaushambi from the Deer Park to the north of Benares. He had to walk 13 yojanas (about 91 miles) north-west from the Deer Park in order to reach Kaushambi. He mentions the vihara called Ghoshiravana without actually locating it.
Eight yojanas (about 56 miles) east of Kaushambi he noticed a place where the Buddha had converted an evil demon. Fa-Hien's Ghosiravana Vihara is no other than the Pali Ghositarama or Hiuen Tsang's Ghositarama.
Hiuen Tsang who visited Kaushambi twice, arrived at the Kaushambi country by going from, Prayaga "south-west through a forest infested by wild elephants and other fierce animals, and after a journey of above 500 li (about 100 miles)."[26] Hiuen Tsang's account is silent as to the actual distance or direction of the city of Kaushambi. When he departed from the city of Kaushambi, he proceeded "' in a north-east direction through a great wood and, after a journey of above 700 H, he crossed the Ganges to the north, to the city of Ka-ske-pu-lo {Kasapura or Kajapura)". From Kasapura he walked north. 170 or 180 li and came to the country called Pi~sho-Jca (Visoka) from which place he afterwards travelled above 500 li (about 100 miles) north-east and arrived at the kingdom of Sravasti (i.e., Kosala).[27]
(As for the identification of the city of Kaushambi, we have so far only two suggestions for consideration, one offered by Cunningham in 1871, and the other by Vincent A. Smith in 1898. In the; opinion of Cunningham the present village of Kosam "stands on the actual site of the ancient Kaushambi.[28] According to Vincent A. Smith, the site of Kaushambi "is to be looked for, and when looked for, will be found, in one of the Native States of Baghelkhund Agency, in the Talley of the Tons river and not very far from the East Indian Railway, which -connects Allahabad with Jabalpur. In short, the Satna (Sutna) railway station marks the approximate position of Kaushambi."[29] Watters simply points out the difficulties in accepting either of them as reconcilable with the statements of the Chinese pilgrims without bringing forward any new suggestion from his side.[30] The two main data relied upon by Cunningham were these: (1) that Kaushambi was situated on the Yamuna, and (2) that the Life of Hiuen Tsang gives the distance between Prayaga and Kaushambi as 50 li, instead of 500 of the Records,.50 being a clerical error for 150, " the equivalent of 15 kos, which is the actual distance across the fields for foot passengers from Kosam to the fort of Allahabad.”
Watters has, on the other hand, conclusively shown that there is a perfect agreement between the Life and Si-yu-H of Hiuen Tsang as regards the distance and direction of Kaushambi from Prayaga. In both of them, the distance is given as above 500 li (about 100 miles) to the south-west of Prayaga. The pilgrim's journey from Prayaga to Kaushambi lay through a jungle and bare plains, and he took seven days to cover the distance of 500 li. There is nothing however, in the actual records of Hiuen Tsang to suggest that the distance given was the distance between Prayaga and the city of Kaushambi. What is most likely is that the pilgrim went to the country of Kaushambi by around about way instead of going straight by a short-cut from Prayaga to the city of Kaushambi. The distance and direction of Kaushambi from Sarnath as given by Fa-Hien may^be taken as fairly correct. The distance of 13 yojanas (about 90 Or 104 miles) is almost the present distance by road from Benares to Kosam. It need not worry us if Fa-Hien placed Kaushambi to the north-west of Benares, for he may have walked by a road following north-west direction over some distance. (The reader must, of course, note that Kosam, which is supposed to be the site of Kaushambi, is about 30 or 31 miles from Allahabad across the fields, 137 or. 138 miles by road, above the Yamuna.
Besides the present name of the village on the Yamuna, Kosam, a shortened form of the Pali or the Prakrit name Koshambi or Koshambi, there are more positive epigraphic evidences to support Cunningham's identification of the ancient site with the present Kosam. First, a stone pillar which stands in situ at Kosam, resembles in certain characteristic features Ashoka's monolith, bears an inscription in its upper part which is dated in Chaitrabadi Pancliami in Samvat 1621. The date of the record corresponds, according to Fleet, to February, 1565 A.D. In it, the locality is distinctly referred to as Kaushambipuri.[31] As Mr. Ghosh rightly observes, "this undoubtedly proves that Kosam which contains the stone pillar referred to above and the inscription which was engraved in the reign of Akbar was known to its residents to be Kaushambi even in the sixteenth century A.D.”[32]
Secondly, the Jaina Dharmasala in the village of Pabhosa, which lies only “at a distance of 2 miles north-west of the remains at Kosam,” contains a -dedicatory inscription, dated in Samvat 1881 corresponding to 1824 or 1825 A.D,; i.e., nearly half a century before Cunningham's identification of the site of Kaushambi with Kosam in 1871 A.D, In this inscription, the hill of Pabhosa, on the top of which the Jaina temple was built, is placed just outside or in the suburb in the city of Kaushambi (Kaushambi-nagara-bahya-prabhasachalopara).[33]
The discussion of the point at issue may be closed with the following observation:
“The question of the site of Kaushambi has been much debated chiefly because of the impossibility of reconciling Cunningham's identification (Kosam on the Jumna in the Allahabad district of the United Provinces) with the description of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims. But in all this controversy it seems to have been forgotten that such descriptions may either have been incorrect originally or misinterpreted subsequently. (The tangible facts seem undoubtedly to support the identification of Kosam with Kaushambi. It seems to have been on the north bank of the Jurana, at a point about 400 miles by road from Ujjeni and about 230 miles upstream from Benares."[34]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Watters, Yuan Chwang, I, pp. 365-66.
[2]:
The inscription first published by Cole brook in Asiatic Researches, Vol. IX, pp. 440-41 i by Prinsep in J. A. Vol. V, p. 731: by Cunningham in A. S. I. R., Vol. I, pp. 302-303; and Sahni and Chanda in J. R. A. S., Vol. IV, Oct. Cunningham's interpretation of Kosambamandala as a kingdom is challenged by Ghosh in his Early History, p. 96, f. n. 17.
[3]:
Watters,Yuan Chwang, I, pp. 365-66.
[4]:
Fausboll, Jataka, IV., pp. 28 foll.
[5]:
Saundarananda-kavya, ed. Johnston, Canto I, V. 58.
[6]:
Ghosh, Early History of Kaushambi, Introd., p. xvii
[7]:
Watters, Yuan Chwang, I, p. 368.
[8]:
Kathasarit-sagara, Second Stambaka, Ist Taranya: “Asli Vatsa iti khyato desah Kaushambi nama tatrasti madhyabhage mahapuri.”
[9]:
[11]:
This has been identified by Mr. M. B. Garde, Director of Ardchaeology, Gwalior State, with Tumain in that State.
[12]:
Suttanipata, VV. 1011-2013; Sutttanipata Commy., p. 583; Buddhist India, p. 103; Law’s Sravasti in Indian Literature, p. 8.
[13]:
Majjhima Nikya, I, p. 149.
[14]:
Vinaya Mahavagga, Vol. I,p. 352.
[15]:
Fausboll’s Jataka, I, p.360.
[16]:
Vinaya Mahavagga, p. 277
[17]:
Ghosh, Early History, p. 8, notes that Sahajati was the nearest river station of Kaushambi down the Yamuna near its confluence, and that it is identified with Bhita about 8 miles from Allahabad. Rhys Davids (Buddhist Indian, pp. 103-4), characteristically observes: “Upwards the rivers were used along the Gangas as far west, as Sahajati, and along the Jumna as far west as Koshambi. Downwards, in later times at least, the boats went right down to the mouths of the Ganges, and thence either across or along the coast t Burma.”
[18]:
Kathavatthu Commy., Siamese ed., Nidanakatha.
[20]:
Rhys Davids, Bvddhist India, p. 102.
[21]:
Sumangalarilasini, I, pp. 317, 319.
[22]:
Watters, Yuan Chwang, I, p. 369.
[23]:
Ibid., p. 370.
[24]:
Ibid., p. 371
[25]:
Ibid., p. 371
[26]:
Waiters, Yuan Chwang, pp. 366, 372-77.
[27]:
Waiters, Yuan Chwang, pp. 366, 372-77.
[28]:
Cunningham, The Ancient Geography of India, (S. N. Majumdar's Edition), p. 454.
[29]:
J. R. A. S., 1898, p. 503.
[30]:
Watters, Yuan Chwang, I, pp. 366-67. Cf. Cambridge History of India, Vol. I, p. 308.
[31]:
E. I., XI, pp. 91-92.
[32]:
Ghosh, Early History, pp, 93-94.
[33]:
Ibid., pp. 94-95.