Rudrapur

Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)

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Deoria District Map

Rudrapur (रुद्रपुर) is a town in Deoria district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Location

Rudrapur is a Town in Rudrapur Block in Deoria District of Uttar Pradesh State, India. It belongs to Gorakhpur Division . It is located 21 KM towards west from District head quarters Deoria. It is a Block head quarter. Rudrapur Pin code is 274204 and postal head office is Rudrapur (Deoria). This Place is in the border of the Deoria District and Gorakhpur District. Gorakhpur District Brahmpur is North towards this place .

Variants

• Rudrapura रुद्रपुर, जिला देवरिया, उ.प्र., (AS, p.797)
• Sahanakota सहनकोट दे. Rudrapura रुद्रपुर (AS, p.945)
• Sahankat (Alexander Cunningham)

Visit by Xuanzang

Alexander Cunningham mentions about 20. Kusinagara.....[p.430]:Fa-Hian places Kusinagara at 12 yojanas, or 84 miles, to the eastward of the Charcoal Stupa, a distance which is quite impossible when compared with its other recorded distances from Vaisali and Banaras. Unfortunately, Hwen Thsang, contrary to his usual custom, has omitted to note the distance, and simply states that he travelled in a north-east direction for a long time through a vast forest, full of wild bulls and wild elephants, and infested with brigands. A portion of this forest still exists to the north and east of Sahankat, and wild elephants still abound in the Tarai forests to the north of Gorakhpur. Wilson first pr posed Kasia as the site of Kusinagara, and the suggestion has since been generally adopted. The village is situated exactly 35 miles to the east of Gorakhpur, at the crossing of two great thoroughfares.

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[p.431]: It is 28 miles to the north-east of Sahankat in a direct line measured on the map, or about 35 miles by road. The distance is therefore only 5 yojanas, instead of 12, as noted by Fa-Hian. It cannot be placed further to the north-east without increasing its distance from Banaras, and lessening its distance from Vaisali. Now the former is limited by Hwen Thsang to 700 li, or 117 miles, and the latter is fixed by Fa-Hian himself at 25 yojanas, or 175 miles ; and as both estimates agree very closely with the actual position of Kasia, I am satisfied that Fa-Hian's 12 yojanas must be a mistake. Anrudhwa, near Kasia, is exactly 111 miles to the north-north-east of Banaras, measured in a direct line on the map, and cannot, therefore, be less than 120 miles by road. The distance between Kasia and Vaisali, by the route which I marched, is just 140 miles ; but this was along the new straight lines which have been laid out by the British authorities. By the old winding native tracks the distance would have been much greater, or certainly not less than 160 miles.

At the time of Hwen Thsang's visit the walls of Kusinagara were in ruins, and the place was almost deserted ; but the brick foundations of the old capital occupied a circuit of about 12 li, or 2 miles. The existing ruins between Anrudhwa and Kasia are scattered over a much larger space ; but some of these were certainly outside the city, and it is now quite impossible to ascertain its exact limits. It most probably occupied the site of the mound of ruins to the north-east of the village of Anrudhwa. The spot where Buddha obtained Nirvana would then correspond with the site of the stupa and ruins now called

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[p.432]: Matha-kuar-ka-kot, or the "fort of the Dead Prince," and the spot -where his body was burned would correspond with the site of the great stupa now called Devisthan. The former lies to the north-west of Anrudhwa, and to the west of the old channel of the Chota Gandak, or Hiranyavati river, which is still occasionally filled after heavy rain. The latter lies to the north-east of Anrudhwa, and to the east of the old channel of the Hirana, or Chota Gandak.

The only name now associated with the ruins near Kasia is that of Matha Kuar, or the " Dead Prince." Mr. Listen gives the name as Mata, but a Brahman of the neighbouring village of Bishanpur, who wrote the name for me, spelt it as I have given it, Matha. As this spelling points to the derivation of the word from Matha or Matha, " to kill," I have translated Matha Kuar as the " Dead Prince," which I refer to Buddha himself after his death, or, in the language of the Buddhists, after his obtainment of Nirvana. Hwen Thsang, when speaking of Sakya's assumption of the mendicant's dress, calls him Kumara 'Raja, or the " Royal Prince ; " but although this title was never, I believe, applied to him by the learned after his assumption of Buddhahood, it does not seem at all improbable that it may have remained in common use amongst the people. We know from Hwen Thsang that on the spot where Buddha died there was a brick vihar, or temple monastery, in which was enshrined a recumbent statue of Buddha on his death-bed, with his head towards the north. Now this statue would naturally have been the principal object of veneration at Kusinagara, and although amongst the learned it might have been called the " statue of the Nirvana".

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[p.433]: yet I can readily believe that its more popular name amongst all classes would have been the " statue of the Dead Prince." I am therefore of opinion that the name of Matha Kuar, which still clings to the ruins of Kasia, has a direct reference to the death of Buddha, which, according to his followers, took place at Kusinagara, on the full moon of the Vaisakh, 543 B.C. The continuance of this name down to the present day is a strong argument in favour of the identification of Kasia as the " death-place " of Buddha.

रुद्रपुर

रुद्रपुर (AS, p.797) उत्तर प्रदेश के गोरखपुर (अब देवरिया) ज़िले का एक ऐतिहासिक स्थान है। गौरी बाज़ार रेलवे स्टेशन से प्रायः 10 मील दक्षिण की ओर इस छोटे से कस्बे के पास सहनकोट नामक एक जीर्णशीर्ण दुर्ग स्थित है। इस स्थान का वर्णन चीनी यात्री युवानच्वांग ने अपने यात्रावृत्त में किया है। इसकी यात्रा के समय 630-645 ई. है। इस स्थान पर एक बड़ा नगर बसा हुआ था। यहां एक धनी ब्राह्मण रहता था जो परम धार्मिक तथा चरित्रवान था। इसने भिक्षुकों के स्वागत के लिए एक विशाल मंदिर बनवाया था। युवानच्वांग इस स्थान पर कुशीनगर से बनारस जाते समय आया था। किले के पूर्व में दूधनाथ का मंदिर है। कुछ दूर पर एक वृक्ष के नीचे 11 फुट ऊंची विष्णु की मूर्ति स्थापित है। रुद्रपुर के चारों ओर हिंदू नरेशों के समय के अनेक मंदिर है।