the Akshay Bat, may at least serve one useful purpose in warning us not to place too much faith in these local traditions. The name of Prayaga is recorded by Hwen Thsang in the 7th century, and is, in all probability, as old as the reign of Asoka, who set up the stone pillar about B. C. 240, while the fort was not built until the end of the 16th century.

XIV. KOSAM, OR KOSAM BI.

The city of Kosambi was one of the most celebrated places in ancient India, and its name was famous amongst Brahmans as well as Buddhists. The city is said to have been founded by Kusamba, the tenth in descent from Pururavas; but its fame begins only with the reign of Chakra, the eighth in descent from Arjuna Pándu, who made Kosâmbi his capital after Hastinapura had been swept away by the Ganges. If the date of the great war (Mahabharata) be fixed at 1426 B. C., which, as I have already shown in my account of Delli, is the most probable period, then the date of Chakra will be about 1200 or 1150 B. C. Twenty-two of his descendants are said to have reigned in Kosâmbi down to Kshemaka, the last of the dynasty; but it seems almost certain that some names must have been omitted, as the very longest period of 30 years which can be assigned to a generation of Eastern Kings will place the close of the dynasty about B. C. 500, and make the period of Udayana about 630 to 600 B. C. If we take all the recorded names of the different authorities, then the number of generations will be 24, which will place the close of the dynasty in B. C. 410, and fix the reign of Udayana in 570 to 540 B. C. As Udayana is represented by the Buddhists to have been a contemporary of Buddha, this date may be accepted as wonderfully accurate for so remote a period of Indian History.

Kosâmbi is mentioned in the Râmâyana, the earliest of the Hindu Poems, which is generally allowed to have been composed before the Christian era. The story of Udayana, King of Kosambi, is referred to by the Poet Kâli Dâsa in his Megha-duta, or "Cloud Messenger," when he says that Avanti (or Ujain) is great with the number of those versed in the tale of Udayana."* Now Kali Dâsa flourished shortly after

* H. H. Wilson, "Megha-duta," note 64.

A. D. 500. In the Vrihat Katha, of Somadeva, the story of Udâyana is given at full length, but the author has made a mistake in the genealogy between the two Satánikas. Lastly, the kingdom of Kosambi, or Kosámba Mandala, is mentioned in an inscription taken from the gateway of the fort of Khara, which is dated in Samvat 1092, or A. D. 1035, at which period it would appear to have been independent of Kanoj. Kosambi, the capital of Vatsa Raja, is the scene of the pleasing drama of Ratnávali, or the "necklace," which was composed in the reign of King Harsha Deva, who is most probably the same as Harsha Vardhana of Kanoj, as the opening prelude describes amongst the assembled audience "princes from various realms recumbent at his feet." This we know from Hwen Thsang to have been true of the Kanoj prince, but which even a Brahman could scarcely have asserted of Harsha Deva of Kashmir. The date of this notice will, therefore, lie between 607 and 648 A. D.

But the name of Udayana, King of Kosâmbi, was perhaps even more famous among the Buddhists. In the Mahâwanso, which was composed in the 5th century A. D., the venerable Yasa is said to have fled from "Vaisâli to Kosâmbi, just before the assembly of the second Buddhist Synod ‡ In the Lalita Vistâra, which was translated into Chinese, between 70 and 76 A. D., and which must, therefore, have been composed not later than the beginning of the Christian era, Udâyana Vatsa, son of Satânika, King of Kosâmbi, is said to have been born on the same day as Buddha. In other Ceylonese books, Kosâmbi is named as one of the 19 capital cities of ancient India. Udâyana Vatsa, the son of Satânika, is also known to the Tibetans as the King of Kosâmbi. In the Ratnavâli he is called Vatsa Raja, or King of the Vatsas, and his capital Vatsa-pattana, which is, therefore, only another name for Kosâmbi. In this celebrated city Buddha is said have spent the 6th and 9th years of his Buddhahood. Lastly, Hwen Thsang relates that the famous statue of Buddha in red sandal wood, which was made by King Udayana during the life time of the teacher, still existed under a stone dome in the ancient palace of King Udayana.

* Asiatic Researches, IX., 433, and Journal, Asiatic Society's, of Bengal, V., 731.⚫ + Wilson's Hindu Theatre, "Ratnavali," prelude, II., 264.

Turnour's translation, p. 16.

The site of this great city, the capital of the later Pându Princes, and the shrine of the most sacred of all the statues of Buddha, has long been sought in vain. The Brahmans generally asserted that it stood either on the Ganges, or close to it, and the discovery of the name of Kosambi mandala, or "Kingdom of Kosâmbi," in an inscription over the gateway of the fort of Khara, seemed to confirm the general belief, although the south-west bearing from Prayaga or Allahabad, as recorded by Hwen Thsang, points unmistakably to the line of the Jumna. In January 1861 Mr. E. C. Bayley informed me that he believed the ancient Kosâmbi would be found in the old village of Kosam, on the Jumna, about 30 miles above Allahabad. In the folfowing month I met Babu Siva Prasâd, of the Educational Department, who takes a deep and intelligent interest in all archæological subjects, and from him I learned that Kosam is still known as Kosámbi-nagar, that it is even now a great resort of the Jains, and that only one century ago it was a large and flourishing town. This information was quite sufficient to satisfy me that Kosam was the actual site of the once famous Kosâmbi. Still, however, there was no direct evidence to show that the city was situated on the Jumna; but this missing link in the chain of evidence I shortly afterwards found in the curious legend of Bakkula.* The infant Bakkula was born at Kosâmbi; and while his mother was bathing in the Jumna, he accidentally fell into the river, and being swallowed by a fish was carried to Banâras. There the fish was caught and sold to the wife of a nobleman, who, on opening it, found the young child still alive inside, and at once adopted it as her own. The true mother hearing of this wonderful escape of the infant, proceeded to Banaras, and demanded the return of the child, which was of course refused. The matter was then referred to the King, who decided that both of the claimants were mothers of the child -the one by maternity, the other by purchase. The child was accordingly named Bakula; that is, of "two kulas, or He reached the age of 90 years without once having been ill, when he was converted by the preaching of Buddha, who declared him to be "the chief of that class of his disciples who were free from disease." After this

races."

* Hardy, "Manual of Buddhism," p. 501.

he is said to have lived 90 years more, when he became an arhat, or Buddhist saint.

But the negative kind of merit which Bakkula acquired by his freedom from disease was not appreciated by Asoka, as we learn from a very curious legend which is preserved in the Divya Avadâna.* In the first ardour of his conversion to Buddhism the zealous Asoka wished to do honour to all the places which the life and teaching of Buddha had rendered famous, by the erection of Stupas, and the holy Upagupta volunteered to point out the sacred spots. Accordingly the goddess of the Sâl tree, who witnessed Buddha's birth, appeared to Asoka and vouched for the authenticity of the venerated tree, which had given support to MâyâDevi, at the birth of the infant Sâkya. Other holy sites are also indicated, such as the Bodhi-drúm, or sacred Pipal tree at Buddha-Gaya, under which Buddha sat for six years in meditation; and the Sâl trees at Kusinagura, beneath which he obtained Nirvána, besides various spots rendered famous by the acts of his principal disciples, Sâriputra, Maudgalyayana, Kasyapa, and Ananda. To all these holy places the pious King allotted large sums of money for the erection of Stupas. Upagupta then pointed out the holy place of Bakkula at Kosâmbi. "And what was the merit of this

"On

sage ?" asked Asoka. "He lived," answered Upagupta, "to a great age without once having known disease." him," said the King, "I bestow one farthing (Kákani).”† In Burnouf's version of this story Bakkula is said to be the disciple who had encountered the fewest obstacles, from which Asoka rightly argued that the fewer the obstacles the less the merit. The same idea is even more tersely expressed by the old author of the "Land of Cockaigne" in describing the sinlessness of its inhabitants:

As this legend of Bakkula is sufficient to prove that the famous city of Kausâmbi was situated on the Jumna, it now only remains to show that the distance of Kosam from Allahabad corresponds with that between Prayâga and

+ The Kakani was the fourth part of the copper pana, and was, therefore, worth only 20 cowries. Its weight was 20 raktikas, or ratis of copper, or 1 x 20=36 grains..

Kosambi, as recorded by Hwen Thsang. Unfortunately this distance is differently stated in the life and in the travels of of the Chinese pilgrim.* In the former, the distance is given as 50 li, and in the latter as 500 li, whilst in the return journey to China the pilgrim states that, between Prayag and Kosambi, he travelled for seven days through a vast forest and over bare plains. Now, as the village of Kosam is only 31 miles from the fort of Allahabad, the last statement would seem to preclude all possibility of its identification with the ancient Kosâmbi. But, strange to say, it affords the most satisfactory proof of their identity; for the subsequent route of the pilgrim to Sankissa is said to have occupied one month; and as the whole distance from Prayag to Sankissa is only 200 miles, the average length of the pilgrim's daily march was not more than 5 miles. This slow progress is most satisfactorily accounted for, by the fact that the march from Prayâg to Sankissa was a religious procession, headed by the great King Harsha Vardhana of Kanoj, with a train of no less than 18 tributary Kings, besides many thousands of Buddhist monks, and all the crowd of an Indian camp. According to this reckoning, the distance from Prayag to Kosâmbi would be 38 miles, which corresponds very closely with the actual road distance as I found it. By one route on going to Kosam, I made the distance 37 miles, and by the return route 35 miles. The only probable explanation of Hwen Thsang's varying distance of 50 li and 500 li that occurs to me is, that as he converted the Indian yojanas into Chinese li at the rate of 40 li per yojana, or of 10 li per kos, he must have written 150 li, the equivalent to 15 kos, which is the actual distance across the fields for foot passengers from Kosam to the fort of Allahabad, according to the reckoning of the people of Kosam itself. But whether this explanation be correct or not, it is quite certain that the present Kosam stands on the actual site of the ancient Kosámbi; for not only do the people themselves put forward this claim, but it is also distinctly stated in an inscription of the time of Akbar, which is recorded on the great stone pillar, still standing in the midst of the ruins, that this is Kausámbi pura.

The present ruins of Kosâmbi consist of an immense fortress formed of earthen ramparts and bastions, with a

See Julien's Hwen Thsang, I., 121, 260 p., and II., 283.