The Buddhist Tradition

According to the Paramatthajyotika, the commentary on the Sutta-Nipata, Kaushambi was the hermitage of the sage Kusamba, after whom it came to be known by that name. Buddhaghosa records that Kaushambi was so named because in founding the city, a large number of kusamba-trees were uprooted. Buddhaghosa seems to echo a tradition also known to the Jainas, though in a slightly different version: according to the Jaiua Vividha-tirtha-kalpa, Kaushambi was so called because it abounded in kusamba-trees.

The Buddhist tradition also throws light on the situation arid importance of Kaushambi. The legend of Vakkula proves that Kaushambi was on the Yamuna, so that the child Vakkula, after being dropped into that river at Kaushambi, flow down the Gahga to Varanasi, where he was accidentally rescued. The Chwarakhan-dhaka of the Mahavagga, relates the interesting, though pathetic, tale of the famous physician Jovaka of Rajagriha. The physician was sent by his master, the king of Magadha, to Carida Pradyota, the king of Ujjain. The erratic king of Ujjain was cured, though not without annoyance, by the medicine administered to him by Jivaka, but the latter had to fly from Ujjain to save himself from the wrath of Pradyota. In this flight from Ujjain to Rajagriha, Jivaka, passed through and halted at Kaushambi.

According to the same text, Buddha became disgusted with the internecine quarrels of the monks of the Grhositgrama monastery at Kaushambi. When in their obstinacy they refused to listen to right counsel, Buddha, in protest, left Kausmbi for Sravasti. The journey between the two places lay through Bglakalona Karaggma and Parileyaka. In all probability Saketa also lay on this very route.

The Chulla-vagga-(KJmndhaka 12) records how the Bhikshu Yasakakanda-putta, when he had quarrelled with the monks of Vaisali, came to Kaushambi and convened an assembly of the monks from Pava and also from the whole of the south. His selection of Kaushambi as the seat of operation against the monks of Vaisali might have been largely due to its geographical situation. With the Vindhyan series, only 14 miles south of Kaushambi, the city probably served as the gateway to the south. The Chullavagga mentions a land-route from Kaiisainbi to Ahoganga Parvata. from Ahoganga Parvata to Soreya, from Soreya to Sankasya, from Sankarya to Kanyakubja and thence to Udumbara, Aggalapura and Sahajati, the last-mentioned place being reached also by boat. As wandering teachers must have generally followed well-established routes, these references clearly show that Kaushambi was an important centre on the principal routes of India, which were as follows^[1]:—

Smith to north-east: this connected Prattsthana with Sravasti and had Mahismati, Ujjayini, Gonaddhya, Vidisa, Kaushambi, Saketa. Kapilavastu, Pava. Kusinagra and Vaisali as the halting stations.

East to west: this land-route, as is clear from the Chull avagga (Khandlaka-12), connected Kaushambi with practically all the important cities of upper Madhya-desa, viz., Kanyakubja, Soreya, Sankasya, etc. The main route was along the principal rivers, the Gariga and the Yamuna-Sahajati was the terminus of the river-traffic on the Gafiga" and Kaushambi on the Yamuna.

Kaushambi was thus an important emporium for the inland trade of ancient India. It was also one of the six most important cities in the time of Buddha. The -land-roxites from north, south, east and west converged on this point.

With such extensive means of communication and consequent facilities of trade and commerce, Kaushambi soon grew into one of the important cities of northern India. According to the Mahaparinibana sutta. while Buddha was contemplating to put an end to his earthly career at Kusinagara, Ananda, his devoted disciple, requested him to choose instead one of the large cities like Campa, Rajagriha, Sravasti, Saketa, Kaushambi and Varanasi, for besides being very populous, these cities wore also inhabited by very rich, pious and religious-minded Brahmanas,. Kshatriyas and Vaigyas.

Kaushambi, as is thus clear from the gleanings from Buddhist literature, was an important commercial as well as religious centre. A large member of Buddhist monasteries sprang up in and around the city during the very life-time of Buddha and subsequently attracted pilgrims from all over the Buddhist world.

The Buddhist literature corroborates and supplements the picture of the Vatsaa and their capital, Kaushambi, as depicted in the Vedic sources. The Vatsas continued to be powerful even in the times of Buddha. The Anguttara Nikaya^[2] mentions the land of the Vamsas (Vatsas) amongst the sixteen Janapadas into which northern India was divided at the time of Buddha and which included many of the old Janapadas of the Brahmana and Upanisad periods together with a few new ones that came into prominence later on. Besides the Vatsas, these comprised Anga, Magadha, Kagi, Kosala, Vrji, Malhx, Matsya, Surasena, Agmaka, Avanti, Gandhara and Kamboja. The Janavasabha-suttanta^[3] couples the Vatsas with the Cedis arid includes them amongst the prominent groups of peoples then ruling in India viz., Kast, Kosala, Vrji, Malla, Chedi-Varhsa, Kuru-Panchala and Matsya-Surasena. According to the Anguttara-Nikaya,^[4] the land of the Vatsas was rich and prosperous and abounded in seven kinds of gems.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Rhys Davids,Buddhist India (London, 1903), pp. 103 f.

[2]:

Anjuttara-Nikaya (Pali Text Society), London, I, 1879, p. 234.

[3]:

Digha Nikaya (Pali Text Society), II, p. 200.

[4]:

Anguttara-Nikaya, IV, pp. 252, 256, 260.