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...
Kaushambi in Ancient Literature
The Satapatha Brahmana (XII. 2. 2. 13) mentions Prati Kausurubindi as a pupil undergoing brahmcharya.under Uddalaka Aruni of the Upanishadic fame and bearing the local epithet of Kausambeya[1] which the commentator Haris-vamin explains as meaning ‘a native of Kaushambi’.[2] The Gopatha Brahmana (I. 4. 24) contains the same reference with this slight difference that in it the name of the pupil is given as Predi Kaushambeya. The correctness of Haris-Vamin's interpretation of Kaushambeya as signifying ‘a native of Kaushambi’ is borne out by a Prakrit form, Kaushambeya, of the same local epithet occurring in one of the Barhut inscriptions.[3] The Barhut epithet was employed' to mean nothing but ‘a person from Kaushambi’.
Thus from the employment of Kaushambeya as a local epithet of a person in the Shatapatha and Gopatha Brahmanas it may be safely inferred that the name of Kaushambi was prevalent as early as the age of Brahmana literature. We need not take here into our consideration the test of the Pali canon that abounds in references to Kaushambi as a well-known city in Northern India, as the capital of the Vatsa country, the kingdom of the Vatsa king, Udayana. The high antiquity of Kaushambi as a royal city is equally proved by traditions not only in the two great Sanskrit Epics and the Puranas but also in the Vamsattkappakasini which is a commentary on the Mahavama. The Mahabharata[4] attributes the foundation of the city of Kaushambi to Prince Kushamba who was the third son of the Chedi king, Uparichara Vasu. In the Ramayana story, however, Prince. Kushamba is described as the eldest son of an ancient king named Kusha, who had four sons by his.queen Vaidarbhi, the youngest of them being Vasu.[5] According to Matsya Purana, when Hastinapura was swept away by flood in the Ganges, the Kuru or Bharata king Nichakshu, 'who was fifth in descent from Pariksbit, the grandson of Arjuna, abandoned Hastinapura and dwelt in Kaushambi.'[6] There is, however, no suggestion made in the Purana that Ni-chakshu himself was the founder of the city.
The author of the Vamsathappakasini tells us that various dynasties of kings of the solar clan from Mahasammata to Shuddhodana, father of Gautama, the Buddha, reigned severally in succession in these nineteen cities[7] : Kushavati,. Ayujjhapura, Baranasi, Kapilapura (i.e., Kapilavatthu), Hatthipura (i.e., Hastinapura), Ekachakkhu, Yajiravutti, Madhura (i.e., Mathura), Aritthapura, Inda-pattha (i.e.,, Indraprastha), Koshambi (i.e., Kaushambi), Kannagochachha, Roja, Champa, Mithila, Rajagaha, Takkasila, Kusinara and Tamalitti. The suggestion throughout is that the city used as capital was founded by its originator, the first king of the family. As regards Kaushambi we are definitely informed that fourteen kings headed by Baladatta reigned in it. All of them were pre-Ikshaku kings of the solar clan.[8]
The Pali tradition in the Mahavamsa commentary differs from those in the two Epics in two respects: (1) that Baladatta is mentioned as its founder and first king, and (2) that the cities are said to have been founded successively, while both the Epics mention Prince Kusamba as the founder of the city, and speak of four or five cities as coming into existence at the same time. According to the Ramayana story, for instance, the four cities: Kaushambi, Mahodaya, Dharmaranya, and GirivRaja (i.e., Rajagriha) were severally founded at the same time by the four sons of king Kusha.
All the three traditions agree in this respect that they attribute the foundation of the city to a prince who was its first king. The Epic traditions agree all the more in suggesting that Kaushambi was named after Kushamba, its founder-king.
It was evidently keeping in view of the epic traditions of the foundation of Kaushambi by Prince Kushamba that the Kusika suggested the following derivation of the name of Kaushambi: Kushambena nivritta Kaushambi nagari, "the city of Kaushambi was so named because it was laid out by Kushamba". The Kushika introduced this derivation only by way of an illustration of Panini's Rule 4-2-69–tena nivrittam.
The Paramatthajotika (Suttanipata Commy.) suggests a different derivation of the name of Kaushambi, obviously by the application of Panini's Rule 5-2-69 tesya nivasah. According to the Pali commentary, Kaushambi was so named because it was originally the dwelling place of Kosamba the sage.[9] Thus the Pali commentarial tradition differs from the epic in that it seeks to suggest that Kaushambi was at first a hermitage or religious settlement, around which the city grew up subsequently.[10]
Buddhaghosha says that the city came to be called Koshambi because in founding it, the Kosamba trees were uprooted here and there, while according to some, it was so named because it was built not far from the hermitage of a rishi named Kusumba.[11]
The Jaina tradition in the Vividhatirthakalpa seems to suggest a third derivation accounting for the origin of the name of Kaushambi. According to this derivation, Kaushambi came to be known as such because it abounded in huge and shady Kosamba trees.[12]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The Kusurubinda Auddalaki of the Taittiriya Samhita (VII. 2. 2.1) appears to be only an abbreviated form of the name of Proti Kausurubindi, a pupil of Uddalaka Aruni.
[3]:
[4]:
Adiparva (Bangavasi Ed.), Ch. 63, pp. 69-71.
[6]:
Rayachaudhuri, Political History of Ancient India (3rd Ed.), p. 46.
[7]:
Vamstthappakasini, I, p. 130: Jmani ekanavisatinagarani: tesu yatharaham visum rajjam kamato anusasisum.
[8]:
Vantaaltiiappakaaini, I, pp. 123, 130.
[9]:
[11]:
Papaucha-sudani, Pt. II, pp. 389-390; Koshambiyan ti evam-nimake nagare. Tassa kira nagarassa aramapokkharaniadisu tesu tesu thanesu Kosamba-rakkha va ussanna ahesum, tasma Koshambi ti sankham agamas, Kusumbassa nama isino assamato avidure mapitattati, pi ebe.
[12]:
Vividhatirthakalpa, p. 23: