Our worthy traveller, according to his account, passed through Southern Thibet, Little Tartary, and visited successively Cabul, Cashmere, Candahar, and the Punjaub. Following a nearly south-eastern direction, he reached Mathura on the Upper Jumna, crossed the Ganges at Kanouj, at the confluence of the Kali with that river, travelled almost in an eastern direction through Oude, and crossed the Gogra near the Fyzabad. Keeping close to the eastern bank of that stream, he struck in a slightly northern direction, passing the Rapti south of Goruckpore, and followed the same course, nearly to the western bank of the Gunduck. From thence he shaped his course in a south-easterly direction, parallel to the course of that river, which he crossed a little higher up the place where it empties into the Ganges. Following then a southern direction, he crossed the Ganges near the place where the city of Patna is now. From thence our pilgrim travelled in a south-easterly direction, crossed successively the Morhar and the Fulgo, examined all the places in the neighbourhood, south and south-west of Behar, which are so celebrated in Buddhistic annals. After having spent three years in India, busy in mastering the Pali language and collecting copies of the religious works, he then embarked on the Ganges. Near its mouth he went on board of a ship bound to Ceylon. After having visited that celebrated island, Fa-hian sailed in the direction of the Malayan Archipelago, called at Java, and safely arrived at his country, after having performed one of the most extraordinary and difficult journeys any man could have undertaken in those ancient times. It was in the beginning of the fifth century that this feat was performed in the space of more than seven years. He spent three years in India, and two at Ceylon.
The Chinese original of Fa-Hian has been translated into French by A. Remusat. The English version from the French is accompanied by the annotations of Remusat and those of other celebrated Orientalists. The book of Hwen Thsang has been translated by M. Julien. For the loan of these two works the writer is indebted to the ever-obliging kindness of the worthy and learned Chief Commissioner of British Burma, Col. A. P. Phayre. From these works we have extracted the above and following particulars.
1. The name given by northern Buddhists to Buddha is Thakiamuni, which means the religious of the Thakia family. He belonged to the Kshatria, or the warriors’ caste. The name Gaudama, according to the opinion of the late E. Burnouf, is the name of the religious instructor of his family, which members of families of that caste often adopted. This instructor might have been a descendant of the celebrated philosopher Gotama, mentioned in certain writings, but distinct from our Buddha.
2. Kapila, or Kapilawot, the birthplace of Buddha, was situated on the left bank of the Gogra, straight north of Benares.
It was a heap of ruins when Fa-Hian visited it, and the country almost a desert. Some are of opinion that it was situated near the mountains that separate Nepaul from Goruckpore, on the river Rohini, a mountain stream, feeder of the Rapti. But this assertion has very few supporters, and appears improbable.
3. The river Anauma cannot be the Amanat in Behar, south of Patna. It is probably one of the feeders of the Gogra, and to be met with half-way between Kapila and Radzagio, the site of which city, as will be subsequently seen, lies close to modern Behar. The legend bears out this supposition. Buddha travelled thirty youdzanas from Kapila to the river Anauma, thence thirty to Radzagio. The youdzana of those times in Magatha is supposed to have been equal probably to seven miles.
4. Oorouwela was one of the mountains famous for the number of the hermits that withdrew thither for the purpose of meditation. It is not far from Gaya Buddha.
5. The river Neritzara, in Mongol, Nirandzara, is a considerable stream flowing from the south-west. It unites with the Monah and forms the Fulgo.
6. Baranathee is beyond doubt the famous city of Benares. The Burmans call it by name of Baranathee, or rather Varanasi. The town is so named from its situation between the small river Varana and the Asi, a mere brook. The solitude of Migadawon, whither Buddha went to preach the law to the five Rahans that had served him during the six years of mortification which he spent in the forest of Oorouwela, lies in its vicinity. Benares is famous in the Buddhistic annals, because in its neighbourhood the law of the wheel, or rather the super-excellent law of the four sublime truths, was announced for the first time. Migadawon means the deer-forest. It lies three and a half miles from Benares in a northern direction. It is said that, after having travelled nine miles from the Bodi tree, Buddha had to go over a distance of eighteen youdzanas ere he reached Benares, making a total of about 120 miles.