Madhurā untranslated

Madhurā 01. The capital of Surasena, situated on the Yamunā. Its king, soon after the death of Bimbisāra, was Avantiputta (MN.ii.83), who, judging by his name, was probably related to the royal family of Ujjenī. Madhurā was visited by the Buddha (AN.ii.57; iii.256), but there is no record of his having stayed there. In fact, the Madhurasutta (2) (q.v.) states that he viewed the city with distinct disfavour. But Mahā Kaccāna evidently liked it, for he stayed there in the Gundāvana, and was visited there by the king of the city, Avantiputta (MN.ii.83), and the Brahmin Kaṇḍarāyana (AN.i.67). One of the most important Suttas on caste, the Madhurasutta 1, was preached to Avantiputta by Mahā Kaccāna at Madhurā. Perhaps it was through the agency of Mahā Kaccāna that Buddhism gained ground in Madhurā. Already in the Buddha’s time there were, in and around Madhurā, those who accepted his teachings, for the Aṅguttaranikāya (AN.ii.57) mentions that once when he was journeying from Madhurā to Verañjā and stopped under a tree by the wayside, a large number of householders, both men and women, came and worshipped him. Later, about 300 B.C., Madhurā became a Jain centre (CHI.i.167), but when Faxian (Giles, p. 20) and Xuanzang visited it, Buddhism was flourishing there, and there were many saṅghārāmas and stūpas. Beal-Xuan.i.179ff.; for a prophecy (attributed to the Buddha) regarding the future greatness of Madhurā, see Divy.348ff.

From Saṅkassa to Madhurā was a distance of four yojanas (thus in Kaccāyana’s Grammar, iii.1).

Madhurā is sometimes referred to as Uttara Madhurā, to distinguish it from a city of the same name in South India. Thus, in the Vimānavatthu Commentary (Vv-a.118f), a woman of Uttara Madhurā is mentioned as having been born in Tāvatiṁsa as a result of having given alms to the Buddha.

The Ghaṭajātaka (Ja.iv.79ff) speaks of Mahā Sāgara as the king of Uttara Madhurā, and relates what is evidently the story of Kaṁsa’s attempt to tyrannize over Madhurā by overpowering the Yādavas and his consequent death at the hands of Kṛṣṇa, a story which is found both in the Epics and in the Purāṇas. This Jātaka confirms the Brahmanical tradition as to the association of Vasudeva’s family with Madhurā (PHAL, p. 89).

There is a story (Cv.xcii.23ff) of a king called Mahā Sena of Pāṭaliputta, who was very generous in feeding the monks, and once thought of giving alms by cultivating a piece of land himself. He, therefore, went to Uttara Madhurā in disguise, worked as a labourer, and held an almsgiving with the gains so obtained.

Madhurā is generally identified with Maholi, five miles to the Southeast of the present town of Mathurā or Muttra. It is the Modura of Ptolemy and the Methoras of Pliny (CAGI.427f).

The Milindapañha (p. 331) refers to Madhurā as one of the chief cities of India. In the past, Sādhīna and twenty-two of his descendants, the last of whom was Dhammagutta, reigned in Madhurā (Dpv.iii.21).

Madhurā 02. A city in South India, in the Madras Presidency, and now known as Madura. It is generally referred to as Dakkhiṇa Madhurā, to distinguish it from (Uttara Madhura) on the Yamunā. Dakkhiṇa Madhurā was the second capital of the Paṇḍyan kingdom (their first being Korkai, see Vincent Smith, EHI.335ff), and there was constant intercourse between this city and Ceylon. From Madhurā came the consort of Vijaya, first king of Ceylon, and she was accompanied by many maidens of various families who settled in Ceylon (Mhv.vii.49ff). Sena II. sent an army to pillage Madhurā, and set upon the throne a Paṇḍu prince who had begged for his support (Cv.li.27ff). Later, Madhurā was attacked by Kulasekhara, and its king, Parakkama, sought the assistance of Parakkamabāhu I. of Ceylon. The latter sent an army under his general Laṅkāpura, but in the meantime the Pāṇḍyan king had been slain and his capital taken. The Sinhalese army, however, landed on the opposite coast and carried on a war against the Coḷas, and built a fortress near Rāmnād, which they called Parakkamapura. They managed to defeat Kulasekhara and restore the crown of Madhurā to the Pāṇḍyan king’s son, Vīra Paṇḍu. The captives taken by the army were sent to Ceylon. For details see Cv.lxxvi.76ff.; lxxvii.1ff.; see also Cv.Trs.ii.100, n.1.

Rājasīha II. is said to have obtained wives from Madhurā (Cv.xcvi.40), as did his successors Vimaladhammasūriya II., Narindasīha and Vijayarājasīha. (Cv.xcvii.2, 24; Cv.xcviii.4.)