Where did Mahāpajāpatī Gotami attained parinirvāṇa (Death)?

Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī (Mahāprājāpati Gautmī) was foster mother of Gautama Buddha. She was younger sister of Mahāmāyā (mother of Buddha). King Suddhodhana married both the sisters, and when Mahāmāyā died, seven days after the birth of the Buddha, Pajāpati looked after the Buddha and nursed him. 

After King Suddhodhana, father of the Buddha, died, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, foster mother of the Buddha, along with 500 Sākyan women, met the Buddha during his visit to Kapilavatthu (Kapilavstu) and expressed a willingness to join the Saṅgha. The Buddha’s response was ‘no’ (AA.i.186). Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī along with the 500 Sākyan women, who were firm with their resolve to get ordained, traveled to Kūtāgārasālā (Vaiśālī), where the Buddha along with the Saṅgha was residing. They again approached the Buddha with the same request and received the same answer as before. Disheartened but still hoping to find a solution, they approached Ānanda. Ānanda, at his persuasive best, answered all the queries of the Buddha who finally consented to the Bhikkhunī order with some additional vinaya rules for the Bhikkhunīs(Vin.ii.253ff). 

Read more about Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī 

Parinirvāṇa (Death) of Mahāprajāpatī Gotamī 

When Gotamī learnt about the impending parinirvāṇa of the Buddha. She met the Buddha and told, ‘I cannot bear that you quit this world while I am living. I want to die before you.’ Having returned to their monastery, she along with many other nuns sat down to meditate. Immediately Prajāpatī lifted herself in sky, exhibited all the gifts of ṛṣi, traversing in space at will, and emitting rays of light. Her followers did the same. Finally all of them passed from ecstasy into nirvāṇa. It is said that the marvels which attended her cremation rites were second only to those of the Buddha. (Cited from Mahāprajāpatī-Parinirvāṇa-Sūtra)

Episode of cremation of Mahāprjāpatī Gotamī  as Illustrated in Ming Woodcuts. [Line drawings from Shih-shis yüan-liu (Origin of the Buddha) compiled from several Sūtra-s by Monk Pao-ch’eng during Ming period(1368–1644 CE)]

Where did the Ananda attain Parinirvana

Xuanzang and Fahein’s- Journey to Ananda’s Parinirvana Stupa

 Fahein and Xuanzang both went to Ananda’s Parinirvana Stupa to pay their homage. While Xuanzang touched on two places in between, Fahein went directly to Ananda’s Parinirvana place from Vaishali. We have projected the descriptions of both pilgrimages on a GIS map in order to locate the sites mentioned by Fahein and Xuanzang (Fig-1). 

Table- 1a- Matrix of sites described by Xuanzang and Fahein

From	to	Xuanzang		Fahein
		Distance	Direction	Distance	Direction
Vaishali	2nd Council (Place)	14-15 Li	SE
2nd Council Stupa	Swetpura	80-90 Li	S
Swetpura	Ananda Stupa	30 Li	SE
Vaishali	Ananda stupa			4Yojan	E

 Fig-1- GIS Projection of Sites mentioned by Xuanzang and Fahein (table-1a & 1b)

From the GIS projection of Xuanzang’s description of places visited (Table 1a), we are able to deduct with a fair amount of certainty the most possible places that match those sites in the description (Table 1b). These places are the most appropriate places for the description available and the antiquities found at the site. Further scientific exploration and excavation is needed to reach any conclusion.

 

     Table-1-b- Matrix of possible places

Place of 2^nd Council

The 2^nd Council meeting place was the first place mentioned by Xuanzang as he left Vaishali. This site is located 15 Li south-east of Vaishali.  At the site of the council, he mentioned a great stupa (See fig. 2). According to Xuanzang, two different conversions of Li were given in his accounts.
15 Li is between 4.5km (1 Li=300 m) to 6 km (1 Li= 400 m)
Within this distance range from Vaishali, are located a group of villages, with Bhagwanpur (25° 56’ 39 N, 85° 07’ 16 E) being the most suitable place among them to match Xuanzang’s description. Bhagwanpur Village is settled on a big mound spread over a large area. In the western corner of the village is a tank (pond) and by its side is big stupa shaped mound (Fig 3 and 4). On top of the mound is a temple. The temple is very popular among the locals.

                          Fig-2- GIS Projection for Possible places for 2nd Council

                           Figure 3- The Stupa shaped Mound and temple on the top (Bhagwanpur)

Figure 4- The Tank by the temple west of Village Bhagwanpur

 

Swetpura Monastery and Ashokan Stupa

Eighty to ninety Li south of the 2^nd Council meeting place (Bhagwanpur) one arrives at Hajipur by the northern banks of the River Ganges. In the biography of Xuanzang, Swetpura Monastery is mentioned as 100 Li south of Vaishali (The Life of HIUEN-TSIANG by SHAMAN HWUI LI, S.Beal,-Book-III- P-101).With many ancient remains, Hajipur seems to be a promising site for the Swetpura Monastery. This site needs systematic study to locate the remains of the Swetpura monastery where Xuanzang collected the Bodhisattava-Pitaka (The Life of HIUEN-TSIANG by SHAMAN HWUI LI, S.Beal,-Book-III- P-101). Xuanzang mentioned that near the monastery was an Ashokan stupa marking the place where the Buddha looked back north to Vaishali as he was going south towards Magadha.  The aerial distance (GIS) between Vaishali and Hajipur is 43 km and it is from here that Xuanzang crossed Ganges as mentioned in Life

                                       Figure 5- GIS Map with the places discussed

                        Figure 6- Ramcahura Temple on top of a Stupa mound at Hajipur 

Ananda Parinirvana Stupa

Ananda was the cousin of the Buddha and also his attendant. The Pali Canon is silent on Ananda's death, but the commentaries mention that Ananda lived one hundred and twenty years (DhA.ii.99 ;). He is bracketed with Bakkula, as having lived to a great age (AA.ii.596). The description of the Parinirvana of Ananda is mentioned by the pilgrims Fahein (The records of Buddhist kingdoms By James Legge, P- 89) and Xuanzang. Both of them mention the same story with minor differences, probably an old tradition which they were told here. As per the description of Fahien, when Ananda was on his way from Magadha to Vaishali, there to die, Ajatasattu heard that he was going, and, with his retinue, followed him up to the River (Ganges). The chiefs of Vesali (Vaishali) also heard the news and went out to meet him, and both parties reached the river banks. Ananda, not wishing to incur the displeasure of either party, entered into the state of Samadhi in the middle of the river and his body went up in flames (Fig-7). His remains were divided into two portions, one for each party, and they built a chetiya for the enshrinement. Xuanzang visited the half body relic stupas of Ananda at Vaishali and Rajgriha (Ref. Buddhist records of the western world- S. Beal, Book-VII, P-73, Book-IX, p-160).

Figure 7- Approaching army from both the sides and Ananda attaining Parinirvana in the middle of the River Ganges

 Xuanzang and Fahein both visited Ananda’s parinirvana place from Vaishali (See fig-1). While Xuanzang came via Swetpura Monastery, Fahein came directly from Vaishali. Xuanzang gives a more elaborate description of the events behind the Parinirvana of Ananda and the Parinirvana itself.  According to him, Ananda became the patriarch of the sangha after the Parinirvana of the Buddha and Maha Kassapa. Ananda guided the sangha from some monastery in the woods near Rajgriha.  One day a monk on being reminded by Ananda to recite the true teachings of the Buddha replied, “Your reverence is of great age; your interpretation is of the words is mistaken one……” Ananda realized that the time for his parinirvana had come and he decided to attain parinirvana at Vaishali. And from here the story matches that of Fahein, except for a detail mentioned by Xuanzang that Ananda attained parinirvana in a boat in the River Ganges

The description by Xuanzang and Fahein further leads us at Chechar. Fahein says 4 Yojan east, but Chechar is actually 53 km (Aerial Distance) southeast of Vaishali. Fahein further adds that the place is also a confluence of five rivers. We find three major rivers meeting at Fathua and Chechar. River Gandak meets from North, the Ganges coming from West and Punpun joining Ganges from south. Satellite images suggest changing courses of the River Sone in past allowed it to join the Ganges near Fathua (Fig 7, Fig 15b). River Punpun was the main stream draining into Ganges near Fathua. 

  Antiquities of Chechar are well established and the finds suggests the place was once an important Buddhist centre; and probably a gateway to the trade route north of Ganges, connecting Vaishali and further North up to Kapilavastu. Floods and the changing course of the Rivers Ganges and Gandak have washed off the northern shore, revealing many antiquities. Shri Ram Pukar Singh who is working for the preservation and promotion of the heritage of Chechar has collected many of such antiquities in his private museum. 

Figure 8- The North Bank of the River Ganges – Temple of Chechar in view

Figure 9- The shore cut by annual floods and the changing course of rivers

Figure 10- An ancient image of Buddha in the Temple by the river shore

	Figure 11- Shri Ram Pukar Singh's Museum of Antiquities collected from Chechar Figure 12- Listening to Shri Ram Pukar Singh Ji              Some precious antiquities at the Chechar Museum  Terracotta Head Terracotta Bowl Northern Black Polish Ware Terracotta items

Xuanzang and Fahein mentioned stupas to mark the Parinirvana of Ananda on each bank of the River Ganges by the respective kings of Vaishali and Magadha.  The kings received the half body relics of Ananda and built a relic stupa over them at Vaishali and Rajgriha. Shri Ram Pukar Singh has identified two stupas in the vicinity of Chechar and one of these could be the stupa marking the Parinirvana of Ananda. Both of the mounds are very big and are spread over a large area. The first mound is at Madurapur (85° 20’ 22” E 24° 37’ 49” N). The mound is 80 ft high and is spread over a 2 acre area (See fig. 12). At the top of the stupa mound is a modern temple constructed over lots of bricks dating from the Mauryan Period (2nd century BCE) (See fig. 13, 14). The second probable site for the Ananda Stupa is Bazidpur Mound (85° 22’ 43” E 24° 36’ 39” N) which is also very imposing (See fig. 15).

Figure 13- Madurapur Mound with temple on the top

Figure 14- Mauryan Bricks at the Madurapur mound

Figure 15- Bazidpur Mound with a school at the top

                                

Fatehpur Diar (85° 20’ 28” E 24° 34’ 20” N) the site of Parinirvana of Ananda?

Fahein stated that Ananda attained his parinirvana in the middle of the river while Xuanzang mentioned that it happened in a boat in the middle of the Ganges. Both of the pilgrims wrote about the tradition of the time that Ananda attained Parinirvana in the middle of the river and, probably in a boat as mentioned by Xuanzang. Possibly this corruption of the story stems from it being told over the centuries interwoven with possible myths associated with the basic story of Ananda’s parinirvana. What seems more probable is that Ananda attained parinirvana on the island in between Chechar and Fathua, the two places on north and south banks of the Ganges. The island also called Diar and is a very large stretch of land between Chechar and Fathua which measures 35 km in length and 19 km wide. There are now more than 20 villages on Diar Island. While talking to the people of Fatehpur Village they revealed that the entire island gets flooded during the monsoons but that the Village Fatehpur remains the safest of all the villages of Diar because it is at a higher altitude than all the rest (Fig 16-a, b, c and d). There are no ancient antiquities on the surface to suggest ancient habitation; however, at the house of Shri Mundrika Singh ji, we received an unexpected surprise. He showed us some ancient bricks which were found in the course of the building of his house. They reused many of the bricks they unearthed in the process. There were thousands of such bricks some 15 to 20 ft below the surface. The size of the brick is 14” X 7.5” X 4.25” (fig 18, 19 and 20). The size of the brick and the depth of the find suggest these to be ancient bricks but further study is needed. It also suggests that a brick structure, most likely a stupa or something similar is buried deep in the earth. The location is in the exact path between Chechar and Fathua. Centuries of silting by successive floods have buried an ancient past, most probably a Buddhist one, and a stupa to mark the event of Parinirvana of Ananda.

Figure 16-a- Ananda’s Parinirvana Stupa site by the River Ganges

Figure 16 b – River confluence near Chechar (place of Ananda’s Parinirvana)

Figure 16 c – A large Island formed at the confluence of rivers. The Village Fatehpur is marked by a circle in the picture

Figure 16-d- The site of Ananda’s Parinirvana on the island; a stupa to mark this event is located at the north bank of the Ganges and the Chechar – Fathua transit points, in place since ancient times

Figure 17-Shri Mundrika Singh ji sharing folklore

Figure 18- Ancient Brick found at Fatehpur

Figure 20 – The Brick weighs more than 10 kg.

Figure 19 – Ancient bricks unearthed find many uses

References

Fahein and Xuanzang – North of the Ganges

Retracing the “Echoes of the Footsteps of the Buddha”, in Bihar, with the Fahein and Xuanzang has reached us to set of places north of Ganges (Table-1). Both the Pilgrims have almost taken the same route and same set of places (Fig-1 and 2). A comparison of pilgrimage of both the Pilgrims gives us opportunity to “read” the minds of Xuanzang and Fahien, i.e. their sense of distance and direction and what they found worth detailing. These set of places has received maximum attention by the explorers and archaeologists in last two centuries. 

 Figure 1-The Xuanzang's Travel North of Ganges in Bihar-Nepal

 Figure 2-The Fahein's Travel North of Ganges in Bihar-Nepal

 

There is a two century gap between their pilgrimages.  This time gap between the pilgrimages of Fahein and Xuanzang gives us an opportunity to observe the different time periods and the demography of the villages and sites of their pilgrimage. A difference in their ages at the time of their pilgrimage was also reflected in their written accounts; Fahein was a monk in his sixties when he took the pilgrimage and Xuanzang was in his twenties. While Xuanzang had visited a greater number of sites and left a greatly detailed travelogue, Fahein most likely visited and documented only places of great importance to the pilgrimage. Another important difference is the unit of measurement they used to mark distances. Xuanzang converted the distance into the Chinese equivalent “Li,” a more stable measurement, while Fahein used the Indian measurement unit “Yojan,” for the long distances, a vague measurement which varies from place to place. For smaller distances Fahein has used “Li”, this could mean he collected information for the long distances on hearsay and he estimated the short distance by himself. There could be some difference in their detailing for Xuanzang was already acquaint with Sanskrit when he visited India but Fahein learnt Sanskrit at Patliputra, i.e. almost at the end of his pilgrimage.
Tangible and intangible remains of the Ancient pilgrimage were buried in layers of biomass and puzzles that required to be deciphered layer by layer. The first explorers had very limited sources and insufficient tools to analyze information. Before moving further we briefly take a look at the growth of the understanding about the “Li” and “Yojan”, in recent times. A correct approximation for “Li” and “Yojan” was always very crucial for the explorers and archaeologist for correct identification of places and making of the Map of Ancient Pilgrimage (also India). The understanding about the “Li” and “Yojan” depended a lot on the understanding of demography, flood, rivers and land-use pattern during the time of Pilgrimage and when the process of rediscovery started.

Value of Li and Yojan

These are some values of Li and Yojan estimated by Orientalists and early explorers (Table-2) (Source- Ancient Geography of India, by Alexander Cunningham)

Fahien recorded places in “Yojan.” “Yojan” and “Kos” are the Indian units for measurement of long distances. Xuanzang gave the equivalent of “Yojan” in terms of “Li”. He stated that traditionally one Yojan equaled 40 Li, but at the time of his visits, it was only 30 Li, but Xuanzang doesn’t mention which equivalent (30 or 40 Li) was used by him.

Li- is a traditional measurement unit in China which found its origin in 2600 BC by the Yellow Emperor. Its values have changed with various historical periods where, for instance, 1 Li amounted to 644 meters during the Qing Dynasty. At the time of Xuanzang when the Tang Dynasty (618- 907 AD) was in power, the value was approximately 323 mt. The present value of One Li is 500 mt.

Yojan - was the longest unit of measurement employed in ancient India and had many different meanings. Yojan, emanating from Yoga, was used to indicate the distance a cow could pull a cart. Xuanzang in his “Travels” accounts has elaborately defined the measurement units existing in India during that point of time. Yojan according to him was the distance covered by a royal army in a single day. Clearly, the Yojan value differed in different places at different times. Yojan was further divided into Krosa.  Krosa or Kos, for example, meant the distance at which a cow could be heard. One “Kos” for a Buddhist monk meant the distance of an ideal place to live (monastery) from a village.

Jain tradition= 1 Yojan= 4 Kos=9 miles

As per Kautaliya’ Arthasastra 4 Kos= 1 Yojan= 9 Miles

Table 2- Value of Li and Yojan by different orientalists

	Contributors	Unit	Value	Region
1	Auriel Stein	1 Yojan	6 Miles	Uniformly
2	Samuel Beal	4 -5 Li	1 Mile	Uniformly
3	Cunningham	6 Li	1 Mile, 1 Li= 372 m	Magadha Region
4	T.W.Rhys. Davids	1 Yojan	7-8 Miles	Uniformly
5	Kittoe	1 Yojan	4 Kos	Magadha Region
6	Cunningham	1 Yojan	7-8 Miles	Uniformly
7	Beal	1 Yojan	4 Miles	Magadha Region

Cunningham’s Estimation

Let us now study how Cunningham came to his values based on his observations. Limited from the available technology at the time, Alexander Cunningham determined the values by calculating an average distance between places a set distance apart. Cunningham went into the roots of traditional measurement systems and calculated both the values of “Li” and “Yojan.” He corroborated the values with the real distance in miles between the places mentioned by Fahien and Xuanzang. While Fahien recorded distance in “Yojan” and Xuanzang used “Li”, in order to estimate the measurements of “Li” and “Yojan,” Cunningham recorded the distance between popular sites and found the equivalent of Li and Yojan in terms of meters and miles by calculating averages.

From	To	Fahien	Xuanzang
Sravasti	Kapila	13 Yojan	500Li
Kapila	Kushinagar	12 Yojan	485 Li
Nalanda	Giriyak	1 Yojan	58 Li
Vaishali	Ganges	4 Yojan	135 Li
	Total	30 Yojan	1178 Li

                                                            1 Yojan= 39.25 Li

From	To	Fahien	British roads
Bheda	Mathura	80 Yojan	536 Miles
Mathura	Saniska	18 Yojan	115.75 Miles
Saniska	Kanauj	7 Yojan	50 Miles
Banaras	Patna	22 Yojan	152 Miles
Patna	Champa	18 Yojan	136.5 Miles
Champa	Tamluk	50 Yojan	316 Miles
Nalanda	Giriyak	1 Yojan	9 Miles
	Total	196 Yojan	779.25 Miles

                                    1 Yojan of Fahien = 6.71 Miles

From	To	Xuanzang	British Roads
Madawar	Govisn	400Li	66 Miles
Koshambi	Kusapura	700 Li	114 Miles
Sravasti	Kapila	500 Li	85 Miles
Kushinagar	Banaras	700 Li	120 Miles
Banaras	Ghazipur	300Li	48 Miles
Ghazipur	Vaishali	580 Li	103 Miles
	Total	3360 Li	567 Miles

                                    1 Mile= 5.925 Li, 1 Li = 329 Meters

1 Li of Xuanzang (Cunningham’s Estimation) = 329 mts= 0.169 miles

All later explorers and archaeologists have used the values mentioned by Cunningham as a standard. But the calculation by Cunningham was based on assumptions that were faulty. One basic mistake in the calculation done by Cunningham is that Fahien never visited Nalanda Mahavihara instead he talks about Nala, the birth place of Sariputra.  And Sariputra’s birth place as per Xuanzang was 20 Li southeast of the meeting place of Bimbisara and Buddha, which is around 14 Li southwest of Nalanda Mahavihara. Hence, the place of Nalanda mentioned for the comparison is different for Fahien and Xuanzang. Also, he assumes Giriyak as being the site of Indrasaila Guha which is again wrong as the Indrasaila Guha was later identified near Parwati Village which is further northeast of Giriyak. Therefore, it is unclear how Cunningham comes up with the figure of 58 Li between Nalanda to Giriyak.

 “Li” and “Yojan” using Geographic information System (GIS)

Research is a dynamic process. As improved technology in recent times becomes available, we can now calculate a better approximation for “Li” and “Yojan.” With an available set of identified places, we shall estimate the values using the Geographic Information System (GIS) tools.

We have two set of established places visited by Fahein and here we can use GIS tools to find a value of Fahein’s Yojan.

Table 3- GIS estimation for Fahein

From	to	Yojan	Minimum  Distance (GIS Estimate)	Average
Patliputra	Parwati	9	69 km	7.5 km
Parwati	Rajgriha	2	25 km	12.5 km

For Xuanzang’s value of Li, we use three sets of places visited by Xuanzang and the corresponding minimum distances between these places.

Table 4- GIS estimation for Xuanzang

From	To	Xuanzang’s measure	Min Distance (GIS Estimate)	Average
Nalanda	Telhada	3Y	27  km	1 Y= 9 Kms
Jethian	Tapobana	10 Li	3  km	1 Li= 330 m
New Fort, Rajgriha	Nalanda	30 Li	14  km	1 Li=  520 m

 We find that the values vary to a large extant even for small distances. Most likely, we have not accounted for the specifics around land use and pack and track routes of ancient times. We also cannot discount the fact that the measurements listed in the accounts may have been merely approximations based on hearsay and not actual measurements made by the monks themselves.

Instead of one fixed value of Li and Yojan we shall use a buffer of values (one Minimum and one Maximum) for calculation purpose.

For Li we shall have 

1 Li= 300 Mts (Min) - 400Mts (Max)

1 Yojan= 8 Miles (Min) – 10 Miles (Max)

We have tabulated the Description of Xuanzang and Fahein from Sravasti to Ananda’s parinirvana place, just to compare their individual approaches. We observe Xuanzang has given detailed description of the relics and events associated with the place.

 From Table-5, we find Xuanzang talks more about the contributions of King Ashoka at all the pilgrimage places, Fahein mentions King Ashoka only at Ramagrama i.e. when Raja Ashoka open the stupa to remove the Relics for rising the 84000 Stupas. Another important difference is their accounting of the inscribed Ashokan pillars. Fahien is completely silent about the tall inscribed pillars except at the Alms Bowl Stupa (on his way to Vaishali, and of which Xuanzang is silent). Why did Fahein fail to mention these imposing conspicuous pillars, which Xuanzang says were inscribed with the historic events occurring at those sites? One possible reason could be that the pillars were inscribed with Ashokan Brahmi, a script that was more than 600 years old, and which Fahein was unable to read or find a translator to read it to him.