78 W. Hoey — Identification of Kusinara, Vaisali, ^c. [Ko. 1, 
still known east of Revilganj. We also have the story of Ananda’s 
leaving Pataliputra for Vaisali and we read that when he reached the 
Ganges he discovered that the people of Vaisali had come out to meet 
him in the hope of obtaining his body as they knew he was about to 
die and they wished to do it honour : but he was pursued by Ajata9a- 
tru’s army which had been sent with the same object. He therefore 
surrendered himself to death (entered samadhi) on an island in the 
river and his body parted in two so that the rival claimants obtained 
equal parts. This story is preserved for us in the name Cherand, 
which is simply Chidra 4- a:gga ; the divided body. 
It is very remarkable that there is a local tradition at Cherand 
based on this story. It is this. There was a king at Cherand named 
Moraddhuj (Mayuradhvaja) in the Dwapara Yuga who professed great 
devotion to the gods. Krishna determined to put the king’s faith to 
a test and came one day to his palace disguised as a mendicant and 
asked for the right half of the king’s body for some sacrificial purpose. 
He explained to the king that his wife and son must each hold one 
end of a saw (ara) and saw him in two, but if he shed tears the gift 
would not be acceptable. The king agreed and the operation com- 
menced but presently he began to shed tears from his left eye. The 
mendicant reminded the king that the professed gift was liable to 
rejection but the latter explained that the left eye wept because the 
right half of the body was alone being taken and the other left. 
Krishna was so pleased with this devotion that he exercised his divine 
power, stopped the operation, restored the body to its former state 
and flung the saw away. It fell at Arrah in the Shahabad district, 
giving its name to that place. This story is certainly the same in 
origin as that told of Ananda. It is a Hindu version of facts under- 
lying the Buddhist story. 
The conclusion to which I come is that Vaisali did not lie on the 
east but on the west of the present Great Gandak. I shall presently 
fix it beyond doubt east of Chupra probably at Cherand itself. The 
whole of the northern bank of the Ganges from Hajipur right up to 
Manjhi (Mangchi in the Aln-i-Akbari) would repay careful and minute 
examination. 
I may here digress for a moment to make some notes as to Saran 
Khass which I at first erroneously surmised to be Vaisali and visited 
for that reason. Saran Khass lies about 16 miles due north of Manjhi, 
and contains extensive ancient remains covered for the most part by 
cultivated fields. There is an abrupt rise at Makhdum Shah’s Dargah, 
a little south of Harpur, which continues for a couple of miles south 
until it terminates somewhat more abruptly beyond Khwajah Fir’s 
