DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0066
44
CHAPTER II.
RAJGIR,
Rajagriha, or Rajgir as it is now popularly called, was the capital
of Magadha or central India during the whole period of Buddha's
ministrations in India. It was the residence of Bimbasara, during
whose reign he attained Buddhahood, and of Ajatasatru, in the 8th
year of whose reign he entered into Nirvana, B.C. 481, according to
the recently adopted chronology (ante, p. 24,25). It is quite true that
he resided during the greater part of the 53 years to which his mission
extended at Benares, Sravasti, or Vaisaka (Lucknow1), but still he
frequently returned to the capital, and the most important transac-
tions of his life were all more or less connected with the kings who
then reigned there. Under these circumstances it is hardly to be
wondered at that Rajgir was considered almost as sacred in the eyes
of his followers, as Jerusalem became to the Christians, and that
such pilgrims as Fa Hian and Hiuen Thsang, naturally turned their
steps almost instinctively to its site, and explored its ruins with the
most reverent care. Long before their time, however, the old city
had been deserted. It never could have been a healthy or com-
modious city, being surrounded on all sides by hills, which must
have circumscribed its dimensions and impeded the free circu-
lation of air to an inconvenient extent. It consequently had
been superseded long before their time, in the fifth and seventh
century, by a new city bearing the same name but of much
smaller size just outside the valley, to the northward. This,
however, could never have been more than a provincial capital.
The seat of empire during Asoka's reign having been transferred
to Palibothra (Patna) on the Ganges, which we know from the
1 I state this deliberately, notwithstanding what is said by General Cunningham in
the Ancient Geography of India, p. 401, et seq., though this is not the place to attempt
to prove it. Hiuen Thsang, however, places Vaisaka 500 li or 83 miles S.W. from
Sravasti which can only apply to Lucknow, and Fa Hian's Sa-chi, measured from
Canouge or Sravasti, equally points to Lucknow as the city where the " tooth-brush
tree" grew. Neither of the pilgrims ever approached Ayodhya (Fyzabad), which
had been deserted long before Buddha's time. Tf the mounds that exist in the city
of Lucknow were as carefully examined, they would probably yield more treasures
than even those of Mathura.—J.F.
CHAPTER II.
RAJGIR,
Rajagriha, or Rajgir as it is now popularly called, was the capital
of Magadha or central India during the whole period of Buddha's
ministrations in India. It was the residence of Bimbasara, during
whose reign he attained Buddhahood, and of Ajatasatru, in the 8th
year of whose reign he entered into Nirvana, B.C. 481, according to
the recently adopted chronology (ante, p. 24,25). It is quite true that
he resided during the greater part of the 53 years to which his mission
extended at Benares, Sravasti, or Vaisaka (Lucknow1), but still he
frequently returned to the capital, and the most important transac-
tions of his life were all more or less connected with the kings who
then reigned there. Under these circumstances it is hardly to be
wondered at that Rajgir was considered almost as sacred in the eyes
of his followers, as Jerusalem became to the Christians, and that
such pilgrims as Fa Hian and Hiuen Thsang, naturally turned their
steps almost instinctively to its site, and explored its ruins with the
most reverent care. Long before their time, however, the old city
had been deserted. It never could have been a healthy or com-
modious city, being surrounded on all sides by hills, which must
have circumscribed its dimensions and impeded the free circu-
lation of air to an inconvenient extent. It consequently had
been superseded long before their time, in the fifth and seventh
century, by a new city bearing the same name but of much
smaller size just outside the valley, to the northward. This,
however, could never have been more than a provincial capital.
The seat of empire during Asoka's reign having been transferred
to Palibothra (Patna) on the Ganges, which we know from the
1 I state this deliberately, notwithstanding what is said by General Cunningham in
the Ancient Geography of India, p. 401, et seq., though this is not the place to attempt
to prove it. Hiuen Thsang, however, places Vaisaka 500 li or 83 miles S.W. from
Sravasti which can only apply to Lucknow, and Fa Hian's Sa-chi, measured from
Canouge or Sravasti, equally points to Lucknow as the city where the " tooth-brush
tree" grew. Neither of the pilgrims ever approached Ayodhya (Fyzabad), which
had been deserted long before Buddha's time. Tf the mounds that exist in the city
of Lucknow were as carefully examined, they would probably yield more treasures
than even those of Mathura.—J.F.