[On the basis
of the Ashokan edicts at Paderia and Nigliva and their location along with
reports of Rohan L. Jayetilleke (Article in The Himalayan Voice, March 22,2010) and Robin Coningham of Bradford University we can accept the location of
Kapilavastu in Nepal Tarai zone. In this context the view of Charles
Allen in his famous text The Buddha And Dr Fuhrer ( Penguin
Books, 2010) is very interesting. According to Allen the best hypothesis we are
ever likely to arrive on the basis of what we know at present is that the
Kapilavastu in which the prince Siddhartha grew to manhood was a settlement
enclosed within a walled palisade beside the modern river Banganga, pretty much
where the ruins of Tilaurakot are to-day. Hiuen Tsang saw the city in Tilaurakot.
]
By Kailash Chandra Dash
 |
| Kapilvastu Western Gate: Courtesy Google |
The homeland of Gautam
Buddha which is described in
the vast Buddhist literary texts as Kapilavastu, the land and
capital city of the Sakyas is now a central point of debate regarding its
location among some historians and archaeologists. It is a subject
of considerable interest from the last decade of the 19th century
A.D. and now it is associated with national interest and pride. Some historians
locate Kapilavastu in Piprahwa, some others locate it in Tilaurkot and still
others locate it in Bhubaneswar of Odisha. I have presented the arguments
against the location of Kapilavastu in Odisha in the pages of The
Himalayan Voice. Hence in this paper my focus is directed to the debate on
the location of Kapilavastu either in India or in Nepal.
The location of
Kapilavastu is to be studied in the context of Lumbini, the real spot of the
birth of Gautam Buddha. We find the name of Lumbini Grama in the edicts of
Ashoka as well as in the famous text Buddha Charita of Asvaghosh of
1st century A.D. Interestingly Buddha Charita explains Lumbini
as Vananta-bhumi(a forest area), This term Lumbini is in all
probability a local term whose Sanskrit equivalent was given by Asvaghosh as Vanantabhumi.
This explains the fact that Lumbini-the spot where Gautam was born was a
peculiar term of the areas on the Hmalayan zone. This compels us to think that
the term was associated with ancient Nepal and not with ancient
India. The text Buddha Charita states of Kapila Janapada Nagara where
Sakyas and their leader Suddhodana-the father of Gautama were living with
prosperity. Thus Lumbini and Kapilavastu(the land of Kapila) were connected.
The inscriptions(pillar edicts) of Ashoka refer to the birthplace of Kanakamuni
Buddha and Gautam Buddha which he had visited and erected stupas in his 20th reganl
year. This suggests that both the sites were included in the kingdom of
Kapilavastu. Considering their present location and the reading of the edicts
of Ashoka it is now clear that they were in ancient time located near the Himalayan
area which is now called Nepal Tarai zone. This also explains the location of
Kapilavastu in Nepal Tarai.
The Sakyas of
Kapilavastu were in control of a part of Himalayan region which was attached to
the Kosala kingdom in 6th-7th century A.D. Sakya was
a republican state in ancient Bharat Varsha. But according to Buddhist sources
like Bhaddasalajataka Kapilavastu and the Sakyas were
destroyed by king Vidudabha, son of Prasenjit of Kosala during the
lifetime of Gautam Buddha. But probably the city was not completely destroyed
because the Sakyas of Kapilavastu got a part of the ashes of
Buddha after his death which were divided into eight parts-the
recipients being Ajatasatru of Magadha, Lichhavis of Vaisali, Bulis
of Allakappa, A Brahmin of Vethadipa, Mallas of Kusinagara, Koliyas of
Ramagrama and the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, Thus even after the
destruction by the Kosalan king some parts of Kapilavastu remained. By the time
of Samudragupta the Sakya clan was not prominent, but Nepal was famous then as
a frontier state. Accordng to Allahabad Pillar inscription Nepal remained a
frontier kingdom under Samudragupta after paying all taxes. Thus this explains
the fact that the remaining portions of Kailavastu must have been a part of the
frontier kingdom of Nepal during the Gupta phase. Kapilavastu could not be
separated from the border areas which covered Nepal then.
The reports of the
Chinese pilgrims like Fa-hien in A.D. 399 and Hiuen Tsang in A.D. 629 refer to
Kapilavastu. According to Fa-hien after the city of Sravasti and going 12
yojanas to the south-east there was a town called Na-pi-ka which was the
birth-place of Krakuchchanda Buddha. Going north from this place less than one
yojana, there was a town where Kanakamuni Buddha was born. Going east ward from
this less than a yojana, the city of Kapilavastu appeared. Fifty li to the east
of this city was the royal garden of lumbini where Gautam Buddha was born.
According to Hiuen Tsang proceeding from Sravasti and going south-east 500 li
or so the country of Kapilavastu appeared. Taking Sravasti as a point and
calculating the distance given by both the Chinese pilgrims and
considering the location of Ashokan pillar edicts at these places we
find Kapilavastu in Nepal Tarai zone and not in India proper.
K.M.Srivastava identified ancient Kapilavastu with Piprahwa find. In other words on the basis of the Piprahwa seals . His
famous work Buddha`s Relics from Kapilavastu (Agam kala
Prakashan, Delhi, 1986) refers to some important sealings in this context.
After excavation of this area some seals were found which contain inscriptions.
One inscription of the seals states-Devaputravihara, Kapilavastu Bhikhu
Sangha and another states-Maha Kapilavastu Bhikku Sangha. On
the basis of these inscriptions Srivastava was inclined to identify Kapilavastu
in Piprahwa zone thereby presenting the location of Kapilavastu in India. A
careful study of these inscriptions do not support the great conclusion of
Srivastava. The description of Kapialvastu Bhikkhu Sangha and Devaputravihara
indicates that both are distinct terms. It might be that Kapilavastu Bhikhu
Sangha was very active in the monastery called Devaputra vihara for some years
or so. It does not conclusively state that Kapilavastu Bhikhu Sangha was a part
of Devaputra vihara. On the other hand that sangha called Maha Kapilavastu
Bhikku Sangha or Kailavastu Bhikku Sangha was there to perform some
ritual works at Devaputra vihara. It only points out that Kapilavastu was
probably located nearby or far way zone of Devaputra vihara. It does not deny
the possibility that Kapilavastu was included in the area called Tilaurkot of
Nepal and as Piprahwa is a nearby zone Kapilavastu Samgha-a premier Buddhist
organization of Tilaurkot was active there for ritual and other works. The
interpretation of the inscription supports the thesis that Kapilavastu Bhikhu
Sangha was not an original part of the Devaputra Vihara; its existence beyond
Devaputra vihara is more clear. On the basis of this inscription we can only
conclude that the name Kapilavastu was well known then and a Buddhist sangha
was active in that zone. It might have been a part of the original Kapilavastu
which had then existed beyond Piprahwa.
On the basis
of the Ashokan edicts at Paderia and Nigliva and their location along with
reports of Rohan L. Jayetilleke (Article in The Himalayan Voice, March 22,
2010) and Robin Coningham of Bradford University we can accept the location of
Kapilavastu in Nepal Tarai zone. In this context the view of Charles
Allen in his famous text The Buddha And Dr Fuhrer ( Penguin
Books, 2010) is very interesting. According to Allen the best hypothesis we are
ever likely to arrive on the basis of what we know at present is that the
Kapilavastu in which the prince Siddhartha grew to manhood was a settlement
enclosed within a walled palisade beside the modern river Banganga, pretty much
where the ruins of Tilaurakot are to-day. Hiuen Tsang saw the city in Tilaurakot.
The ancient sites
currently lying neglected east of the river Banganga between Sagarwa lake and
the Indian border need to be excavated for this purpose. The Ganwaria-Piprahwa
complex was essentially a Buddhsit monastic site that was in full developmet
from the Maurya phase to the Kushan phase. The entry of Kapilavastu Sangha in
this zone was for the progress of the Buddhit site and this connection is not
an important factor to identify Piprahwa zone with ancient
Kapilavastu, the land of the Sakyas and Gautam Buddha.
* The author is Reader in History, Binayak Acharya Government
College, Brahmapur - 6, Odisha, India Emal:
Dash.kailashchandra@rediffmail.com