(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.
[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.