Kosambi, aka: Kosambī; 3 Definition(s)

Introduction

Kosambi means something in Buddhism, Pali, the history of ancient India. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

In Buddhism

Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)

The capital of the Vatsas or Vamsas (J.iv.28; vi.236). In the time of the Buddha its king was Parantapa, and after him reigned his son Udena. (MA.ii.740f; DhA.i.164f). Kosambi was evidently a city of great importance at the time of the Buddha for we find Ananda mentioning it as one of the places suitable for the Buddhas Parinibbana (D.ii.146,169). It was also the most important halt for traffic coming to Kosala and Magadha from the south and the west. (See, e.g., Vin.i.277).

The city was thirty leagues by river from Benares. (Thus we are told that the fish which swallowed Bakkula travelled thirty leagues through the Yamuna, from Kosambi to Benares, AA.i.170; PsA.491). The usual route from Rajagaha to Kosambi was up the river (this was the route taken by Ananda when he went with five hundred others to inflict the higher punishment on Channa, Vin.ii.290), though there seems to have been a land route passing through Anupiya and Kosambi to Rajagaha. (See Vin.ii.184f). In the Sutta Nipata (vv.1010-13) the whole route is given from Mahissati to Rajagaha, passing through Kosambi, the halting places mentioned being Ujjeni, Gonaddha, Vedisa, Vanasavhya, Kosambi, Saketa, Savatthi, Setavya, Kapilavatthu, Kusinara, Pava, Bhoganagara and Vesali.

Near Kosambi, by the river, was Udenas park, the Udakavana, where Ananda and Pindola Bharadvaja preached to the women of Udenas palace on two different occasions (Vin.ii.290f; SNA.ii.514; J.iv.375). The Buddha is mentioned as having once stayed in the Simsapavana in Kosambi (S.v.437). Maha Kaccana lived in a woodland near Kosambi after the holding of the First Council (PvA.141).

Already in the Buddhas time there were four establishments of the Order in Kosambi - the Kukkutarama, the Ghositarama, the Pavarika ambavana (these being given by three of the most eminent citizens of Kosambi, named respectively, Kukkuta, Ghosita and Pavarika), and the Badarikarama. The Buddha visited Kosambi on several occasions, stopping at one or other of these residences, and several discourses delivered during these visits are recorded in the books. (Thomas, op. cit., 115, n.2, doubts the authenticity of the stories connected with the Buddhas visits to Kosambi, holding that these stories are of later invention).

The Buddha spent his ninth rainy season at Kosambi, and it was on his way there on this occasion that he made a detour to Kammassadamma and was offered in marriage Magandiya, daughter of the brahmin Magandiya. The circumstances are narrated in connection with the Magandiya Sutta. Magandiya took the Buddhas refusal as an insult to herself, and, after her marriage to King Udena, tried in various ways to take revenge on the Buddha, and also on Udenas wife Samavati, who had been the Buddhas follower. (DhA.i.199ff; iii.193ff; iv.1ff; Ud.vii.10).

India history and geogprahy

Kosambī.—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.

context information

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as 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

Pali-English dictionary

kosambī : (f.) name of the capital of Vatsas.

context information

Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.

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