Kapilavatthu untranslated

Kapilavatthu. A city near the Himālaya, capital of the Sākiyans (q.v.). It was founded by the sons of Okkāka, on the site of the hermitage of the sage Kapila – see Kapila (3, Ja.i.15, 49, 50, 54, 64, etc.; see also Divy.548, and Buddhacarita I.v.2). Near the city was the Lumbinīvana (q.v.) where the Buddha was born, and which became one of the four places of pilgrimage for the Buddhists. Close to Kapilavatthu flowed the river Rohiṇī, which formed the boundary between the kingdoms of the Sākiyans and the Koḷiyans (Dhp­a.iii.254). In the sixth century B.C. Kapilavatthu was the centre of a republic, at the head of which was Suddhodana. The administration and judicial business of the city and all other matters of importance were discussed and decided in the Santhāgārasālā (DN.i.91; Ja.iv.145). It was here that Viḍūḍabha was received by the Sākiyans (Ja.iv.146f). The walls of the city were eighteen cubits high (Ja.i.63; according to Mvu.ii.75 it had seven walls). From Kapilavatthu to the river Anomā, along the road taken by Gotama, when he left his home, was a distance of thirty yojanas (Ja.i.64). The city was sixty leagues from Rājagaha, and the Buddha took two months covering this distance when he visited his ancestral home, in the first year after his Awakening. On this journey the Buddha was accompanied by twenty thousand monks, and Kāḷudāyī went on ahead as harbinger. The Buddha and his company lived in the Nigrodhārāma near the city and, in the midst of his kinsmen, as he did at the foot of the Gaṇḍamba, the Buddha performed the Yamakapāṭihāriya to convince them of his powers. (Ja.i.87ff; this journey to Kapilavatthu was one of the scenes depicted in the relic-chamber of the Mahā Thūpa, Mhv.xxx.81).

On this occasion he preached the Vessantarajātaka. The next day the Buddha went begging in the city to the great horror of his father, who, on being explained that such was the custom of all Buddhas, became a Sotāpanna and invited the Buddha and his monks to the palace. After the meal the Buddha preached to the women of the palace who, with the exception of Rāhulamātā, had all come to hear him. At the end of the sermon, Suddhodana became a Sakadāgāmī and Mahā Pajāpatī a Sotāpanna. The Buddha visited Rāhulamātā in her dwelling and preached to her the Candakinnarajātaka. The next day Nanda was ordained, and seven days later Rāhula (also Vin.i.82). As a result of the latter’s ordination, a rule was passed by the Buddha, at Suddhodana’s request, that no one should be ordained without the sanction of his parents, if they were alive. On the eighth day was preached the Mahā Dhammapālajātaka, and the king became an Anāgāmī. The Buddha returned soon after to Rājagaha, stopping on the way at Anupiyā, where the conversions of Ānanda, Devadatta, Bhagu, Anuruddha, and Kimbila took place.

During the visit to Kapilavatthu, eighty thousand Sākiyans from eighty thousand families had joined the Buddhist Saṅgha (Vin.ii.180; Dhp­a.i.112; iv.124, etc.). According to the Buddhavaṁsa Commentary (Bv­a.4; Bv.p.5f), it was during this visit that, at the request of Sāriputta, the Buddha preached the Buddhavaṁsa. It is not possible to ascertain how many visits in all were paid by the Buddha to his native city, but it may be gathered from various references that he went there several times; two visits, in addition to the first already mentioned, were considered particularly memorable. On one of these he arrived in Kapilavatthu to prevent the Sākiyans and the Koḷiyans, both his kinsmen, from fighting each other over the question of their sharing the water of the Rohiṇī; he appeared before them as they were preparing to slay each other, and convinced them of the futility of their wrath. On this occasion were preached the following Jātakas: the Phandana, the Daddabha, the Laṭukika, the Rukkhadhamma, and the Vaṭṭaka – also the Attadaṇḍasutta. Delighted by the intervention of the Buddha, the two tribes each gave him two hundred and fifty youths to enter his Saṅgha and, with these, he went on his alms rounds alternately to Kapilavatthu and to the capital of the Koḷiyans (Ja.v.412ff; the Sammodamānajātaka also seems to have been preached in reference to this quarrel, Ja.i.208). On this occasion he seems to have resided, not at the Nigrodhārāma, but in the Mahā Vana.

The second visit of note was that paid by the Buddha when Viḍūḍabha (q.v), chagrined by the insult of the Sākiyans, invaded Kapilavatthu in order to take his revenge. Three times Viḍūḍabha came with his forces, and three times he found the Buddha seated on the outskirts of Kapilavatthu, under a tree which gave him scarcely any shade; near by was a shady banyan-tree, in Viḍūḍabha’s realm; on being invited by Viḍūḍabha to partake of its shade, the Buddha replied, “Let be, O king; the shade of my kindred keeps me cool.” Thus three times Viḍūḍabha had to retire, his purpose unaccomplished; but the fourth time the Buddha, seeing the fate of the Sākiyans, did not interfere (Ja.iv.152).

The Buddha certainly paid other visits besides these to Kapilavatthu. On one such visit he preached the Kaṇhajātaka (Ja.iv.6ff). Various Sākiyans went to see him both at the Nigrodhārāma and at the Mahā Vana, among them being Mahā Nāma (SN.v.369f; AN.iii.284f; iv.220f; v.320f), Nandiya (SN.v.403f; 397f; AN.v.334f), Vappa (AN.ii.196; MN.i.91), and perhaps Sārakāṇi (SN.v.372).

During one visit the Buddha was entrusted with the consecration of a new mote-hall, built by the Sākiyans; he preached far into the night in the new building, and, when weary, asked Moggallāna to carry on while he slept. We are told that the Sākiyans decorated the town with lights for a yojana round, and stopped all noise while the Buddha was in the mote-hall (MN­a.ii.575). On this occasion was preached the Sekhasutta (MN.i.353ff).

The books record a visit paid by the Brahma Sahampati to the Buddha in the Mahā Vana at Kapilavatthu (this appears, from the context, to have been quite close to the Nigrodhārāma).

The Buddha, worried by the noisy behavior of some monks who had recently been admitted into the Saṅgha, was wondering how he could impress on them the nature of their calling. Sahampati visited him and, being thus encouraged, the Buddha returned to Nigrodhārāma and there performed a miracle before the monks; seeing them impressed, he talked to them on the holy life (SN.iii.91f; Ud.25).

A curious incident is related in connection with a visit paid by the Buddha to Kapilavatthu, when he went there after his rounds among the Kosalans. Mahā Nāma was asked to find a place of lodging for the night; he searched all through the town without success, and at length the Buddha was compelled to spend the night in the hermitage of Bharaṇḍu, the Kālāma (AN.i.276f). On another occasion we hear of the Buddha convalescing at Kapilavatthu after an illness (AN.i.219).

Not all the Sākiyans of Kapilavatthu believed in their kinsman’s great powers, even after the Buddha’s performance of various miracles. We find, for instance, Daṇḍapānī meeting the Buddha in the Mahā Vana and, leaning on his staff, questioning him as to his tenets and his gospel. We are told that in answer to the Buddha’s explanations, Daṇḍapānī shook his head, waggled his tongue, and went away, still leaning on his staff, his brow puckered into three wrinkles (MN.i.108f.; this was the occasion for the preaching of the Madhupiṇḍikasutta).

Others were more convinced and patronised the Saṅgha – e.g., Kāḷa Khemaka and Ghatāya, who built cells for monks in the Nigrodhārāma (MN.iii.109. As a result of noticing these cells, the Buddha preached the Mahā Suññātasutta).

It is said that the Buddha ordained ten thousand householders of Kapilavatthu with the “ehi-bhikkhu pabbajā.” (Vin-a.i.241).

Mahā Nāma (q.v.) was the Buddha’s most frequent visitor; to him was preached the Cūḷa Dukkhakkhandhasutta (MN.i.91f).

The Dakkhiṇāvibhaṅgasutta was preached as the result of a visit to the Buddha by Mahā Pajāpatī Gotamī. Apart from those already mentioned, another Sākyan lady lived in Kapilavatthu, Kāḷigodhā by name, and she was the only kinsman, with the exception of the Buddha’s father and wife, to be specially visited by the Buddha (SN.v.396).

The inhabitants of Kapilavatthu are called Kapilavatthavā (e.g., SN.iv.182).

From Kapilavatthu lay a direct road to Vesālī (Vin.ii.253), and through Kapilavatthu passed the road taken by Bāvarī’s disciples from Aḷaka to Sāvatthī (Sn.p.194).

From the Mahā Vana, outside Kapilavatthu, the forest extended up to the Himālaya, and on the other side of the city it reached as far as the sea (MN­a.i.449, Ud­a.184; Vin-a.ii.393).

It is significant that, in spite of the accounts given of the greatness of Kapilavatthu, it was not mentioned by Ānanda among the great cities, in one of which, in his opinion, the Buddha could more fittingly have died than in Kusinārā (DN.ii.146). After the Buddha’s death, a portion of the relics was claimed by the Sākiyans of Kapilavatthu, and a shrine to hold them was erected in the city (DN.ii.167; Bv.xxviii.2). Here was deposited the rug (paccattharaṇa) used by the Buddha (Bv.xxviii.8).

In the northern books the city was called Kapilavastu, Kapilapura, and Kapilāvhayapura (E.g. Lalitavistara p.243, 28; The Buddhacarita, I.v.2 calls it Kapilasyavastu). According to the Dulva (Rockhill, p.11), the city was on the banks of the Bhagīrathī.

The identification of Kapilavatthu is not yet beyond the realm of conjecture. Xuanzang (Beal-Xuan.ii.,p.13f) visited the city and found it like a wilderness. The Asoka inscriptions of the Lumbinī pillar and the Niglīva pillar are helpful in determining the site. Some identify the modern village of Piprāwā – famous for the vases found there – with Kapilavatthu (e.g., Fleet, JRAS.1906, p.180; CAGI.711f). Others, including Rhys Davids, say there were two cities, one ancient and the other modern, founded after Viḍūḍabha’s conquest, and the ancient one they call Tilaura Kot. But the theory of two Kapilavatthu is rejected by some scholars. JRAS.1906, pp.453, 563. See also the article by Mukherji on Kapilavastu in ERE.