Kapilavastu

Kapilavastu (कपिलवस्तु) is a town in the Lumbini Zone of southern Nepal. It was one of the Buddhist places visited by Xuan Zang in 636 AD.

Location

It is located roughly 25 km to the northwest of Lumbini, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is widely believed to be the birthplace of Gautama Buddha.

Visit by Xuanzang in 636 AD

Alexander Cunningham writes that From Sravasti both of the Chinese pilgrims pro- ceeded direct to Kapila^ which was famous throughout India as the birth-place of Buddha. Hwen Thsang makes the distance 500 li^ or 83 miles, to the south- east ;* but according to the earlier pilgrim Fa-Hian the distance was 13 yojanas, or 91 miles, in the same direction.f The difference oil yojana, or 7 miles, seems to be due to some confusion as to the relative positions of Kapila, and the birth-place of Krakuchanda, which were just one yojana apart. Fa-Hian reached the latter place first before visiting Kapila ; but Hwen Thsang went first to Kapila, and afterwards to the birth-place of Krakuchanda. As the site of this place may with great probability be identified with Kakila, 8 miles to the west of Nagar^ which I propose to identify with Kajnia-naffara, I am inclined to adopt the narrative of Fa-Hian. Now the distance between Sdhet and Nagar is rather more than 81^ miles, as I found the road from Sahet to Asokpur 42^ miles, and from Asokpur to

• Julien's ' Iliouen Thsang,' ii. 309.

t Seal's ' Fali-Hian,' xxi-xxii.

---

[p.415]:

Nagar the distance is 39 miles measured direct on the large map of the Indian Atlas. The actual distance by the winding roads of this part of the country cannot therefore be less than 85 miles, and is probably about 90 miles, as stated by Fa-Hian.

Hwen Thsang estimates the circuit of the district at 4000 li, or 667 miles, which agrees very well with the size of the tract lying between the Gh^gra and the Gandak from Faizabad to the confluence of those rivers. The direct measurement is 550 miles, which would be upwards of 600 miles in road dis- tance.*

No trace of the name of Kapila has yet been disco- vered ; but I believe that the position of the city can be fixed within very narrow limits by many concurring data. According to the Buddhist chronicles of Tibet, Xapilavastu or Kapilanagara was founded by some de- scendants of the solar hero Gotama,f on the bank of a lake near the river Eohini in Kosala. Now the town of Nagar, or Nagar-khds, that is " the city," is situated on the eastern bank of the Chando Tal, near a large stream named Kohana, a tributary of the Eapti, and in the northern division of Oudh beyond the Gh^gra river, and therefore in Kosala. Its distance and bear- ing from Sravasti have already been noted as agreeing most precisely with those stated by the Chinese pilgrims. To the west a small stream named Sidh falls into the lake. This name, which means the "per- 'fect or the holy one," is always applied to the sages of antiquity, and in the present instance I think that it may refer to the sage Kapila, whose hermitage was

• See Map No. XI.

t Csoma de Eoros in Joirrn. Asiat. Soc. Bengal, ii. 391.

---

[p.416]:

also on the bank of the lake opposite the city. The Gautamas had at first established themselves near the sage's dwelling ; but, as the lowing of their kine had disturbed his meditations, they founded their new city of Kapilanagara at some distance, that is on the oppo- site or eastern end of the lake.

The position of the Eohini river is more precisely indicated by the Chinese pilgrims and Ceylonese chronicles. According to Fa-Hian* the royal garden, named Lun-ming^ or Lumbini, in which Buddha was bom, was situated at 50 /«', or 8-g- miles, to the east of Kapila. Hwen Thsangf calls the garden La-fa-ni, and places it on the bank of a small stream flowing to the south-east which the people called the " River of Oil." According to the Ceylonese Chronicles, | the Rohini flowed between the cities of Kapila and Koli, the latter being the birth-place of May^ Devi, the mother of Buddha. It was also called Vydghra-jjura, or " Tiger-town. "§ When Maya was near her confine- ment she went to pay a visit to her parents at Koli. " Between the two cities there was a garden of Sal trees called Lumbini. to which the inhabitants of both cities were accustomed to resort for recreation." There she rested and gave birth to the infant Buddha. In another place it is said that during a season of drought the inhabitants of Kapila and Koli quarrelled about the distribution of the waters of the Eohini for the irrigation of their rice-fields. || From all these details I infer that the BoJtini was most probably the Kohdna river of the present day, which flows in a south-easterly

• Seal's ' Fah-Hian; xxii. 87. t 'Hiouea Thsang,' ii. 32-2.

t Hardy's ■ .Manual of Buddhism,' p. 307.

§ Ihicl., p. 136. II lUd., p. 307.

---

[p.417]:

course about 6 miles to the eastward of Nagar. It is the Kooana and Quana of the maps, and the Koyane of Buchanan,* who describes it as " a fine little river, which, with its numerous branches, fertilizes all the south-eastern parts of the district." It therefore cor- responds in all essential particulars with the Eohini of the Buddhist chronicles.

The position of Koli is doubtful ; but it may per- haps be referred to the village of Am Kohil, which is exactly 11 miles to the east of Naym\ and rather less than 3 miles from the nearest point of the Kohana river. The road from Nagar to Kolnl crosses the Kohana opposite the small town of Mokson^ which may probably be the site of the once famous Lumbini garden, as it was also called parddi-moJcsha,-\ or "supreme beatitude." In later times this appella- tion would have been shortened to Moksha or Mokshan^ to which I would refer the possible origin of Hwen Thsang's name of the " Eiver of Oil," as mrakshan is the Sanskrit term for oil. Abul Fazl calls the place of Buddha's birth Mokia,X which is perhaps only a mis- reading of Moksa.

Another strong point in favour of the identification of Nagar with the ancient Kapila is the fact that the present chief of Nagar is a Gautama Rajput, and the districts of Nagar and Amorha are the head-quarters of the clan, as well as of the Gautamiya Rajputs, who are an inferior branch of the Gautamas. Now the Sdhyas of Kapilavastu were also Gautama Eajputs, and Sakya Muni himself is still known amongst the people

• ' Eastern India,' ii. 301.

t ' Fo-hwe-Jci,' c. xxii., note 17, by Klaproth.

X ' Ayin Akbari,' ii. 503.

2 E

---

[p.418]:

of Banna as Gautama Buddha, or simply Gaulama. In the Vansalata* the Gautamas are said to be descendants of ^Irkabandhu, which is one of the names of Buddha given in the Amara Kosha of the famous Amara Sinha, who was himself a Buddhist.

I have not visited Nagar myself, but I am iaformed that it possesses a khera, or mound of brick ruins, and that there are numerous remains of brick buildings in the neighbourhood. As Fa-Hian describes Kapila in the beginning of the fifth century as " literally a vast solitude, in which there was neither king nor people," but only a few monks and some ten or twenty houses, it is scarcely possible that there would be any conspicuous traces of the city which has lain desolate for upwards of twelve centuries. In the middle of the seventh century Hwen Thsang found the place so utterly ruined that it was impossible to ascertain its original size, I am therefore quite satisfied that the absence of any cxteiisive ruins at the present day cannot overthrow the very strong claims which Na^ar certainly possesses to be identified with the ancient city of Kapila. But this identification is still further strengthened by the names of several places in the vicinity, which would appear to represent some of the more holy spots that were famous in the early history of Buddhism. I allude more especially to the birth- places of the two previous Buddhas, Krahichanda and Kanaka-muni, and the Sara-kupa, or "arrow-fountain," which sprang into existence at the stroke of Buddha's

arrow.

Fa-Hian names Na-pi-kla as the birthplace of Era-

• Buchanan, ' Eastern India,' ii. 458.

---

[p.419]:

kuchanda ; but in the Buddhist chronicles * the city is called Kshemacatt aud Khemavati.'\ In the books of Ceylon, however, J Krakuchanda is said to have been the Puro/nt, or family priest, of Eaja Kshema, of Mekhala. According to Fa-Hian, the city was about 1 yojana^ or 7 miles, to the west-north-west of Kapila ; but ac- cording to Hwen Thsang it was 50 /?', or 8-g- miles, to the south of Kapila. Tn the absence of other data, it is difficult to say which of these statements may be correct ; but as I find a town named Kakiia, exactly 8 miles to the west of Nagar, I am strongly inclined to adopt the account of Fa-Hian, as Kakti is the Pali form of Krakti. According to Hwen Thsang's bearing, the city should be looked for in the neighbourhood of Kalwi,ri Khas, which is 7 miles to the south of Kagar.

A similar discrepancy is found in the position of the birthplace of Kanaka-muni, which, according to Fa- Hian, was to the south of Krakuchanda's birthplace, but to the north-east of it according to Hwen Thsang. They agree exactly as to the distance, which the latter makes 30 li, or just 5 miles, while the former calls it somewhat less than 1 yojana, that is about 6 or 6 miles. In the Ceylonese chronicles the town is named Sobhavati-nuffara, § which may possibly be repre- sented by the village of Subhay-Pursa, at 6^ miles to the south-east of Kakiia, and the same distance to the south-west of Nagar.

The same unaccountable difference of bearing is found also in the position of the 8ara-Kupa, or the

• ■ Sapta Buddha Stotra,' quoted by Eemusat in ' Fo-kwe-ki,' c. xxi.

note 3. t Tumour's ' Mahawanso," Introduction, p. 33. { Hardy's ' Manual of Buddhism,' 96. § 'Mahawanso,' Introduction, p. 34.

2 E 2

---

[p.420]:

" Arrow Eountaiu," which Fa-Hian places at 30 li, or 5 miles, to the south-west of Kapila, while Hwen Thsang places it at the same distance to the south-east. In this instance also I believe that Fa-Hian is right, as Hwen Thsang makes the distance from the Sara-Kupa to the Luvibini garden from 80 to 90 li, or 13 to 15 miles, Avhich, as I have already shown, was on the bank of the Eohini or Kohana river, to the east of Kapila. Now, if the Arrow Fountain was to the south-east of the capital, its distance from the Lumhini garden could not have been more than 6 or 7 miles, whereas if it was to the south-west, as stated by Fa-Hian, the distance would be about 12 or 13 miles. The probable position of the Sara-Kiipa^ or Arrow Fountain, may therefore be fixed near the village of Sanoanpur, which is ex- actly b\ miles to the south-west of Nagar.

In proposing all these identifications, I have assumed that Nagar is the site of the ancient Kapila^ but as I have not examined this part of the country myself, and as the information which I have been able to obtain is necessarily vague, I feel that the final settle- ment of this important inquiry can only be satisfac- torily determined by an actual examination of Nagar itself and the surrounding localities. In the meantime I offer the results of the present disquisition as useful approximations until the true sites shall be determined by actual observation.