RÂJAGṚIHA, NEW AND OLD. LEGENDS AND INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH IT.
(The travellers) went on from this to the south-east for nine yojanas,
and came to a small solitary rocky hill,[1] at the head or end of
which[2] was an apartment of stone, facing the south,—the place where
Buddha sat, when Śakra, Ruler of Devas, brought the deva-musician,
Pañcha-(śikha),[3] to give pleasure to him by playing on his lute.
Śakra then asked Buddha about forty-two subjects, tracing (the
questions) out with his finger one by one on the rock.[4] The prints
of his tracing are still there; and here also there is a monastery.
A yojana south-west from this place brought them to the village of
Nâla,[5] where Śâriputtra[6] was born, and to which also he returned,
and attained here his pari-nirvâṇa. Over the spot (where his body was
burned) there was built a tope, which is still in existence.
Another yojana to the west brought them to New Râjagṛiha,[7]—the new
city which was built by king Ajâtaśatru. There were two monasteries in
it. Three hundred paces outside the west gate, king Ajâtaśatru, having
obtained one portion of the relics of Buddha, built (over them) a
tope, high, large, grand, and beautiful. Leaving the city by the south
gate, and proceeding south four le, one enters a valley, and comes to
a circular space formed by five hills, which stand all round it, and
have the appearance of the suburban wall of a city. Here was the old
city of king Bimbisâra;[8] from east to west about five or six le, and
from north to south seven or eight. It was here that Śâriputtra and
Maudgalyâyana first saw Upasena;[9] that the Nirgrantha[10] made a pit
of fire and poisoned the rice, and then invited Buddha (to eat with
him); that king Ajâtaśatru made a black elephant intoxicated with
liquor, wishing him to injure Buddha;[11] and that at the north-east
corner of the city in a (large) curving (space) Jîvaka built a vihâra
in the garden of Âmbapâlî,[12] and invited Buddha with his 1250
disciples to it, that he might there make his offerings to support
them. (These places) are still there as of old, but inside the city
all is emptiness and desolation; no man dwells in it.
NOTES
[1] Called by Hsüan-chwang Indra-síla-guhâ, or ‘The cavern of Indra.’
It has been identified with a hill near the village of Giryek, on the
bank of the Pañchâna river, about thirty-six miles from Gayâ. The
hill terminates in two peaks overhanging the river, and it is the more
northern and higher of these which Fâ-hien had in mind. It bears an
oblong terrace covered with the ruins of several buildings, especially
of a vihâra.
[2] This does not mean the top or summit of the hill, but its
‘headland,’ where it ended at the river.
[3] See the account of this visit of Śakra in M. B., pp. 288–290.
It is from Hardy that we are able to complete here the name of the
musician, which appears in Fâ-hien as only Pañcha, or ‘Five.’ His harp
or lute, we are told, was ‘twelve miles long.’
[4] Hardy (M. B., pp. 288, 289) makes the subjects only thirteen,
which are still to be found in one of the Sûtras (‘the Dik-Saṅga,
in the Śakra-praśna Sûtra’). Whether it was Śakra who wrote
his questions, or Buddha who wrote the answers, depends on the
punctuation. It seems better to make Śakra the writer.
[5] Or Nâlanda; identified with the present Baragong. A grand
monastery was subsequently built at it, famous by the residence for
five years of Hsüan-chwang.
[6] See chap. xvi, note 11. There is some doubt as to the statement
that Nâla was his birthplace.
[7] The city of ‘Royal Palaces;’ ‘the residence of the Magadha kings
from Bimbisâra to Aśoka, the first metropolis of Buddhism, at the foot
of the Gṛidhrakûṭa mountains. Here the first synod assembled within
a year after Śâkyamuni’s death. Its ruins are still extant at the
village of Rajghir, sixteen miles S.W. of Behâr, and form an object of
pilgrimage to the Jains (E. H., p. 100).’ It is called New Râjagṛiha
to distinguish it from Kuśâgârapura, a few miles from it, the old
residence of the kings. Eitel says it was built by Bimbisâra, while
Fâ-hien ascribes it to Ajâtaśatru. I suppose the son finished what the
father had begun.
[8] See note 7.
[9] One of the five first followers of Śâkyamuni. He is also called
Aśvajit; in Pâli Assaji; but Aśvajit seems to be a military title =
‘Master or trainer of horses.’ The two more famous disciples met him,
not to lead him, but to be directed by him, to Buddha. See Sacred
Books of the East, vol. xiii, Vinaya Texts, pp. 144–147.
[10] One of the six Tîrthyas (Tîrthakas = ‘erroneous teachers;’ M. B.,
pp. 290–292, but I have not found the particulars of the attempts on
Buddha’s life referred to by Fâ-hien), or Brahmânical opponents of
Buddha. He was an ascetic, one of the Jñâti clan, and is therefore
called Nirgranthajñâti. He taught a system of fatalism, condemned the
use of clothes, and thought he could subdue all passions by fasting.
He had a body of followers, who called themselves by his name (Eitel,
pp. 84, 85), and were the forerunners of the Jains.
[11] The king was moved to this by Devadatta. Of course the elephant
disappointed them, and did homage to Śâkyamuni. See Sacred Books of
the East, vol. xx, Vinaya Texts, p. 247.
[12] See chap. xxv, note 3. Jîvaka was Âmbapâlî’s son by king
Bimbisâra, and devoted himself to the practice of medicine. See the
account of him in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xvii, Vinaya
Texts, pp. 171–194.