31 Verification of the Itinerary of Hwan Thsang [July, 



From Vaisfrli across the Ganges to the S. to 



No. 77 — Mi-kiei-tho, Magadha, Landresse : 500 li (83 miles) in 

 extent. To the S. of the Ganges is the ruined town of Keu-su-ma-pu- 

 lo, or Kusumapura, "flower town," also called Pho-tho-li-tsu, 

 (Pataliputra or Palibothra, tsu being a Chinese translation of putra, 

 "son," Landresse. Following the indications of the Chinese pilgrim, 

 Klaproth has identified this town with the modern Patna : but the great 

 Geographer Rennell had done the same fifty years earlier, from the 

 measurements recorded by Pliny, apparently on the authority of Megas- 

 thenes. That Patna is the modern representative of the ancient Pata- 

 liputra is undoubted : but I do not believe that it occupies exactly the 

 same position ; for according to the distances of Fa Hian and Hwan 

 Thsang, it seems that Pataliputra must have been 18 or 20 miles to the 

 north of the present town of Patna. As an analogous illustration I may 

 mention that the present city of Delhi, or Shahjahdndbad, is 1 2 miles to 

 the north of the Hindu city of only 650 years ago. But in this case 

 the change seems to have been effected by the vanity of successive 

 monarchs, who built palaces, forts, and bazars, in their own names to 

 the N. of the old city until the present position was at length attained 

 by Shah Jahan. In the case of Pataliputra I believe that the change 

 has been effected by the Ganges. In approaching Vaisali Hwan Thsang 

 states that it was from 40 to 50 li (7 or 8 miles) in a N. E. direction 

 from Ma-ha-so-lo, on the southern bank of the Ganges. Again, on 

 leaving Vaisali he first visits a Stupa 2\ miles to the S. E. from which 

 he proceeds 1^ mile S. to a monastery, and thence to the Ganges, 5 

 miles more in a S. E. direction. From these two detailed statements it 

 is clear that the Ganges flowed within 8 miles of Vaisali, both to the S. 

 W. and S. E. somewhere near the present Singhia. Now the very same 

 position is indicated by Fa Hian's distance of 9 yojans (or 63 miles) 

 from Pa-li-an-fu or Pataliputra to the "small hill of the isolated 

 rock," which is called Yn-tho-lo-shi-lo-kiu-ho, or Indrasilaguha by 

 Hwan Thsang, and is placed by him close to the small town of Kiu-li- 

 kia, the Girik of Rennell' s map, which is only 43 miles to the S. E. of 

 Patna. The distance here is 20 miles less than the recorded one ; 

 whilst the actual distances of two different points on the Ganges from 

 Bassar or Vaisali are 20 miles more than the recorded ones. It seems 

 to me therefore certain that the Ganges formerly held a more northerly 



