Āḷavī untranslated

Āḷavī. A town thirty yojanas from Sāvatthī (Snp-a.i.220) and probably twelve from Benares (See Watters: ii.61; Fa Hsein, 60, 62). It lay between Sāvatthī and Rājagaha. (The Buddha goes from Sāvatthī to Kiṭāgiri, thence to Āḷavī, and finally, to Rājagaha). The Buddha, on several occasions, stayed at Āḷavī at the Aggāḷavacetiya (q.v.) which was near the town. In the sixteenth year after the Awakening, the Buddha spent the whole of the rainy season at Āḷavī and preached the doctrine to 84,000 listeners (Bv­a.3). The King of Āḷavī was known as Āḷavaka and the inhabitants as Āḷavakā. The town later became famous as the residence of Āḷavaka Yakkha and of Hatthaka Āḷavaka. The Therī, Selā was born in Āḷavī and was therefore known as Āḷavikā (Thīg­a.62-3). There was evidently a large community of monks at Āḷavī, some of whom seem to have chiefly occupied themselves with building vihāras for themselves (See Āḷavakā).

Once, while at Sāvatthī, the Buddha saw a poor farmer of Āḷavī, ready for conversion and decided to go and preach in that town. The farmer’s ox had strayed away, and he looked for it for quite a long while before finding it; he knew that the Buddha was in Āḷavī and decided that he still had time to visit the Buddha, and he set off without taking any food. Meanwhile at Āḷavī the Buddha and his monks had been served with a meal by the people, but the Buddha waited until the farmer came before returning thanks. On the farmer’s arrival the Buddha ordered that some food should be given him, and when the man was comforted and his mind was ready the Buddha preached a sermon, at the end of which the man became a Sotāpanna (Dhp­a.iii.262-3).

On another occasion the Buddha came all the way from Jetavana to Āḷavī for the sake of a weaver’s daughter (for the story see Dhp­a.iii.170f).

Āḷavī has been identified by Cunningham and Hoernle with Newal or Nawal in the Urao district in the United Provinces, and by Nandalal Dey, with Aviwa, twenty-seven miles north-east of Etwah, Law: Geography of Early Buddhism, p.24).

Mrs. Rhys Davids states that Āḷavī was on the bank of the Ganges (Brethren, 408), probably basing her view on the declaration of Āḷavaka in the Suttanipāta (p.32) that he would throw the Buddha “pāragaṅgāya” (over to the other side of the Ganges) unless his questions were answered. I believe that here “pāragaṅgāya” is merely a rhetorical expression and has no geographical significance.