Vol. X, No. 9.] Notes on Ancient Anga. 335 



[N.8 J 



resided. 1 It is curious that the Mahabharat* also says that 

 Campa was surrounded with Campaka trees. This lake may be 

 identified with the large silted-up lake now called Sarovara 

 situated on the skirt of Campanagar, from the depth of which 

 Buddhist and Jaina statues were recovered when partially 



re-excavated from time to time. 



Campa was also a sacred place to the Hindus. It is 

 described in the Mahabbarata 3 and the Padma Puran*as a 



tirtha or place of pilgrimage. 



Asoka's mother Subhadrangi was born in Campa Her 

 father was a poor Brahmin who took her to Pataliputra and 

 presented her to Bindusara, called also Amitraghata, king of 

 Magadha (297-272 B.C.), in consequence of a prognostication 

 that she would be a great queen. The jealous queens, how- 

 ever, employed her in menial works, but she attracted the 

 attention of the king who made her his queen. She became 

 the mother of Asoka and VitaSoka. 5 



Dandin in the 6th century a.d. describes it as a wealthy 

 town. 6 Hiuen Tsiang, who visited Campa in the 7th century, 

 says that it was situated on the southern bank of the Ganges 

 and that it was 40 li or 8 miles in circumference. There were 

 many Buddhist monasteries in a ruinous state belonging to 

 the Hinayana system with about 200 priests and some 20 

 Deva temples. The town was surrounded by a brick wall many 

 feet in height, and the "foundations of the wall were raised 

 on a lofty embankment, so that by their high escarpment, 

 they can defy the attack of enemies." The remains of the 

 11 embankment " on which the surrounding wall of the town was 

 raised, may still be seen in the scooped-out and worn-off wall- 

 like heaps' of earth close to the Xathnagar Railway station, 

 though the brick superstructure has long since disappeared. 

 TheMaha-Janaka Jataka also says that Campa was surrounded 

 by walls with gates and watch-towers. 7 



Campanagar is traditionally the abode of Cand Sadagar, 

 the story of whose son Xakhindhara and his wife Behula is so 

 graphically described in the poem called Manasara-bhasan. 

 The place where Nakhindhara was bitten by a snake and the 

 Ghat where the raft containing his dead body was launched are 

 still pointed out. The Ghat is still called the Behula-Ghat and 

 is situated at the junction of the Ganges and the Candan, 

 whence Behula is said to have carried the raft to different 

 places till her deceased husband was miraculously restored to 

 life. A fair is held here every year in the month of Bhadra in 



l Sonadanda Sulfa with Rhys Davids' note ; Mvg., ix. 1. 



* xiii, ch.42, v, 1<> : -?f^T 5TJIT* g^W **fi ^*OT»Tfa*tl[ I 



3 iii, chs. 84. 85. • Svurga kh.. ch. 19. 



6 Asoka Avadana. 6 Dasakum., ch. 2. 



1 Jataka (Cam. Ed.), vi, 20— No. 539. 



yy 



