p. 41

   Fa-Hian tells us  that a  journey of  four  yojanas to the
east from Vaisali  brought him to "the confluence of the five
rivers," and that then,  crossing the river (the Ganges)  and
going south for one yojana,  he arrived at Pataliputra in the
kingdom of Magadha.

   There is not, and there  can never have been in historical
times, any actual  meeting  of five rivers at or near Patali-
putra, i.e.  Patna.  We can, however, easily understand  what
Fa-hian  meant if we turn to the  Buddhist  books and observe
the special connection  of certain rivers mentioned together.
In the Vinayapitaka, for instance, we find in the Cullavagga,
9.  1, 3, and  4  (S.B.E., 20.  301f., 304),  the  Ganga, the
Yamuna, the Aciravati, the  Sarabhu, and  the Mahi, mentioned
as "the great rivers"; and in the Milindapanha, 4.  1, 35, we
meet  again  with  these  rivers  and  five  others,  in  the
following passage (text, 114; S.B.E., 35.  171):-- "There are
five  hundred  rivers  which  flow down  'from  the Himavanta
mountain;  but of these ten only are reckoned in enumerations
of rivers--the Ganga, the Yamuna, the Aciravati, the Sarabhu,
the  Mahi, the  Sindhu,  the  Sarasvati  the  Vetravati,  the
Vitamsa, and the Chandrabhaga --the others not being included
in  the  catalogue  because  of their  intermittent  flow  of
water."  This latter  passage  gives us two groups of rivers,
five in each group, which  rise in the Himalayas, and we know
so many main rivers  which  have been omitted, and yet cannot
have been omitted because their flow is intermittent, that we
feel compelled to seek for some more satisfactory  reason for
an apparently invidious selection. That reason is to be found
in the Buddhist system

                           p. 42

of the universe, which  has been  expounded  by Hardy  in the
opening  chapter  of his Manual  of Buddhism.  The  following
quotations from pages 15 to 17 will suffice to illustrate the
point:-

   "The great forest  is in the northern  part of Jambudwipa,
which, from the southern  extremity, gradually  increases  in
height, until it attains an elevation  of 500 yojanas, in the
mountains  of Gandhamadana, Kailasa, Chitrakuta, and  others,
there being in all 84,000..  These mountains are inhabited by
an infinite number of dewas and yakas, and are beautified  by
500 rivers, filled with the most delicious  water, and by the
seven  great lakes, among  which  is the Anotatta-wila.  This
lake is 800 miles long, and as many broad and deep; and there
are  four  places  in it in  which  the  Budhas, Pase-Budhas,
rahats, and rishis  are accustomed  to bathe;  and six  other
places where the dewas from the six inferior  heavens  bathe.
..... On the four sides of Anotatta are four mouths or doors,
whence proceed as many rivers;  they are, the lion-mouth, the
elephant, the horse, and the bull.  The banks of these rivers
abound with the animals from which they take their name.  The
rivers that pass to the north-east  and west flow three times
round the lake without touching each other, and after passing
through  countries  not inhabited  by man, fall into the sea.
The river  that runs to the south  also  passes  three  times
round  the lake, then  rushes  from the midst  of a rock, and
flows in a straight line 60 yojanas.. It then strikes against
another rock, and rises into the sky, like a mount of gems 12
miles  in size, flows  through  the sky for  the space  of 60
jojanas, and strikes against the rock Tiyaggala. This rock it
has broken by its immense force;  and after this it violently
rushes on a further space of 60 yojanas, after which it flows
on  an  inclined  plane, strikes  and  breaks  the  ponderous
Pansu-parwata  or  Five  Mountains, and  again  passes  on 60
yojanas.  It then flows 60 yojanas  further, through  a cave,
strikes the four-sided rock Wijja, and is lastly divided into
five  streams, like  five  fingers, that  are the five  great
livers  (Ganga, Yumuna, Acirawati, Sarabhu, and Mahi), which,
after watering Jambudwipa, fall into the sea."

   Here  we  have  both  the  five  hundred   rivers  of  the
Milindapanha  and the five  rivers  of the Vinayapitaka.  The
latter  flow  into  each  other, not  all  at one  place, but
consecutively. We must understand "the confluence of the

                           p. 43

five rivers " as denoting  the place where the fifth and last
of them flows  into the already  united  stream  of the other
four.  And thus we arrive, as will  be explained  below, at a
confluence  of five rivers in the neighbourhood  of Patna, as
stated  by  Fa-hian.  Further,  we  now  see  that  Fa-hian's
expression,''  the  confluence  of the  five  rivers," had  a
specific  meaning  which  was  so  familiar  to the  ordinary
Ruddlnist  of his day as to obviate  the necessity  of naming
the rivers.  And it is possible  that a further knowledge  of
the crude but graphic details of the Ruddhist  notions of the
geography  of India, as  described  in  this  system  of  the
universe, might  help us to elucidate  other  problems  which
arise in connection  with the records  of the travels  of the
Chinese pilgrims.  How far and how long the geographical myth
of the origin of the rivers  in the Himalayan  watershed  has
misled the natives  of India and China, may be realized  when
we observe  that a map of India prepared  in Japan in 1710 to
illustrate   those   travels,  and  reproduced   in  Julien's
Me'moires  sur  les Contrees  Occidentales, shows  the rivers
issuing  from  the  mouths  of  animals  as mentioned  in the
passage which I have quoted from Rardy's work.

   What  are  "the  five  rivers"  of Fa-hian? The Ganga  and
Yamuna, the Ganges  and the Jamna, are known to everyone;  as
also is their confluence  at Prayaga, Allahabad.  The Sarabhu
is the modern Sarju or Gogra;  it is the Sarabos  of Ptolemy,
and the Sanskrit Sarayu, on which Valmiki, in Ramayana, i. 5,
6, places the city of Ayodhya. The Aciravati is the Airavati,
the modern Rapti;  and when we remember that Airavata was the
elephant  of Indra, we see how it is that this system of five
rivers  issues  from  the mouth  of an elephant.1  The  Rapti
(Aciravati) flows into the Sarju, or Gogra (Sarabhu, Sarayu),
in  lat.  26  15', long.  83  42',  between  Barhaj  in  the
Gorakhpur  district  and Dharampur  in the Azamgarh district;
and the united two rivers flow into the Ganges near Revelganj
in the
-----------------------------
1. The Indus (Sindhu) issues from lion's mouth. Hence that
river is called Sinh ka bab. the lion's gate or mouth.

                           p. 44

Saran  district.  1 Finally, the river which  is now known as
the Mahi flows  actually  into the Gandak, the Great  Gandak,
about  half  a mile above  its junction  with the Ganges, but
practically  into the Ganges, near Sonpur  (Sonepore), in the
same district.

   Regarding  this  latter  river, the Mahi, which  is not so
well  known   as  the  others,  I  must  make  the  following
observations.  The identity  of it was not known to me when I
wrote  in  J.A.S.B., 1900.  74  ff., about  the  location  of
Vaisali.  The  first  clue  was  given  to  me by  a Resident
Engineer  of  the  Bengal  and  North-Western   Railway,  who
reminded  me that, on its course  from Sewan to Paleza  Ghat,
the  line  crosses  a  river  shown  in  the  railway-map  as
'Mhye.'(2) And he informed me that, when he was surveying for
the  alignment,  there  was  trouble  with  the  learned  and
priestly Brahmans  of the locality, who claimed that the name
Mahi should be retained, instead of being replaced by that of
another  river, the Gandaki, which  flows  into  it.  But the
identity  of the Mahi does not rest upon only the information
so given to me.  The river is mentioned as the "Mahi nadi" in
the  Statistical  Account  of  Bengal,  11  (1877).  358,  as
intersecting the Kasmar pargana of the Saran district; and
-----------------------------
1. It's to be noted that at a point about sixteen miles above
   the  confluence  of the Gogra  and the  Rapti, and near  a
   place called Muhoolah, just west of Dohri, in the Azamgarh
   district, there branches off to the south and south-east a
   river,.shown  in Indian  Atlas  Sheet  No.  103 as 'Surjoo
   Suddee,' which flows into the Ganges at Ballia.  It is not
   an  insigniticant  stream;  the  Gazetteer  of the  Ballia
   district  tells us, on p.  128, that it is "navigable  for
   large country  vessels  for five or six months in the vear
   and for small  boats  all.the  year round."  And it may be
   added  that, at the place  where  this  river  leaves  the
   Gogra, the latter  river has to be strongly  embanked  and
   protected  by spurs to beep it to its present course.  The
   plans and estimates have passed through me officially.  In
   fact, the  people  of the Azamgarh  and  Ballia  districts
   allege that the 'Surjoo Nuddee'  runs in the original  bed
   of the Gogra, and it is feared  that the latter  river may
   so break its present south hank as to return wholly to its
   old course.  It is not impossible  that in ancient  times,
   and in fact in the davs of Fa-hian  and Hiuen Tsiang, this
   Sarjh Nuddee was the real bed of the Gogra; that there was
   then no stream between Muhoolah-Dohri and Barhaj; and that
   consequently  the Gogra had its confluence with the united
   Ganges  and Jamna  at Ballia, and the  Rapti  had  its own
   separate  confluence  with the united  three streams  near
   Revilganj.  I show the Surjoo  Nuddee by a dotted  line in
   the annexed sketch-map.

2. This form was evidently borrowed from the same form estab-
   lished many long years ago in the case of the river Mahi of
   Western India, which flows into the Gulf of Cambay.

                           p. 45

that though its total course is only some forty to forty-five
miles, it's not an insignificnt stream, is shown by the facts
there stated, that it's navigable for boats of 600 maunds all
the year round and that  during the  rains boats of all sizes
can go up it.  Further, the whole course of the Mahi with the
name attached throughout is shown in the Bengal Survey Sheets
Nos. 83, 84, 113,  and 114, of 1902 to 1904.1 The Mahi leaves
the  Gandak, the Great Gandak, at Sarangpur, 2 in lat. 26 9',
long. 84 58', about  eleven miles towards the south-east from
Dighwa-Dubauli,  well  known  as the find-place of an ancient
copper-plate record (I.A., 15. 105). Flowing through a cut in
the  Saran  embankment on the south of the  Great Gandak, and
passing a large village called Amnaur, it comes eventually to
Sitalpur, about nineteen miles on the east of Chhapra.  There
it receives the waters of the Gandaki. And, the latter  river
then losing its own name, the two united rivers flow on under
the  name of the  Mahi  into the  Gandak, or,  as said above,
practically into the Ganges.

   Whether  the  Mahi  of  the  present  day  is the  ancient
Mahi-that is,  whether  its  bed marks  the original  riveris
perhaps  open to question.  My opinion is that the name is an
ancient name of the Gandak, the Great Gandak; that the latter
river was flowing  along its present  course  in the times of
Fa-hian and Hiuen Tsiang; and that in the modern Mahi we have
a branch, or an overflow-channel, of the  Gandak, by transfer
to which  the ancient  name has been preserved.  But, however
that  may be, it has now been made cl ear that a river  known
as the Mahi still exists in the exact locality  indicated  by
Fa-hian.  I append a small map showing the five rivers of the
Buddhists, referred to by Fa-hian. I think it will illustrate
how apt is the simile in the passage quoted from Hardy's
-----------------------------
1. In the Indian Atlas Sheet, No. 103 of 1857, with additions
   to 1895, the name Mahi is not shown, and the course of the
   river is given under the name of 'Kuthar N (uddee).'
2. There is  another  Sarangpur  exactly 25 miles due west of
   this, on the Gandaki.

                           p. 46

Manual, which compares them with the five fingers of an out-
spread hand--the Ganges below Patna being like the arm.

   I  would  add  some brief remarks on two other  points  of
importance,  which  I  shall  treat  more  fully  on  another
occasion.

   The place at which Fa-hian crossed the Ganges to enter the
Magadha  kingdom--located  by him roughly  one yojana towards
the north from Pataliputra  --  is certainly the Paleza-Digha
Ghat  or crossing, about  three  and  a half   miles  on  the
north-west  of the western  end of Patna.  Here the Ganges is
held in by steep  banks  which  have  probably  confined  its
stream from most ancient times.

   Fa-hian reached the confluence  of the five rivers and the
crossing-place  of the Ganges  by going  four yojanas  to the
east from Vaisali.  This locates Vaisali, or some part of it,
about  four yojanas  to the west from Paleza  Ghat.  With the
yojana  = 4 6/11 or roughly  4 1/2 miles  (see  this Journal,
1906, 1012), we  have  a distance  of  eighteen  miles, which
takes us to Cherand, seven  miles  towards  the southeast  by
east of Chhapra.  There are quite sufficient  ancient remains
at, between, and in the neighbourhood  of Chhapra and Cherand
to support my opinion, already expressed  in .J.A.S.B., 1900.
77 ff., that is the position of Vaisali.