4 
W. Hoe j—Set Mahet. 
[Extra-No. 
‘ set-met * meaning ‘ topsy turvy,’ and seeing its resemblance to Set 
Mahet, have supposed that the place as a great ruin has been so called 
in allusion to its upheaval, which tradition says occurred on Suhel Deo’s 
fall. The people on the spot tell the story and the curious fact exists 
that they call the Jetavana mound Set. The settlement map first 
prepared after the annexation calls it Set, and the patwaris of the 
neighbourhood preserve the name. This is of vast importance, for the 
name Set Mahet, which is the correct spelling as I have ascertained, is 
wholly different from the word ‘ sent-ment ’ which is suggested as its 
derivation, and the name would obviously have been not Set Mahet, or 
Sahet Mahet, but Set Met if this derivation were correct. The name 
Sahet Mahet hitherto applied by those who follow General Cunningham 
must be discarded. It seems to me that Set is a corruption of Sawatthi 
and that it probably came to be applied eventually by visitors to the 
Jetavana, as it was the chief attraction after the decline of the city, 
which, though larger, was but a decayed ruin, and was less attractive to 
the pilgrim. The city was then probably known as Sawatthi Mahati, 
the larger Srawasti, and this, having been curtailed locally to Mahati, 
became corrupted to Mahet. 
The name which the city bears in Sanscrit, Sravasti, is said to have 
been given to the city by its legendary founder, Saravasta, who is re¬ 
presented to have been a king of the Solar dynasty : but this may be 
set aside for the more obvious derivation, the 1 pleasant city ’ or ‘ city 
sacred to Sri’ [Sraya Vasti], implied in its fame as 4 the city of the 
seven precious things’ and thus sacred to the goddess of wealth and 
plenty. A remarkable passage occurs in the 4 Romantic History of 
Buddha ’ [Beal, p. 11], where Buddha is consulted prior to his concep¬ 
tion as to the place where he would elect to be born. Savatthi is pro¬ 
posed, the capital of the kings of Kosala. Buddha declines the sugges¬ 
tion, saying: 4 The kings of Kosala have descended from Matangas 
[probably we should read Malangas] “ both on the mother’s and father’s 
“ side, of impure birth : and in former days they were of small repute, 
“ without any personal courage or nobleness of heart : the country com- 
‘‘ paratively poor : although there are the seven precious things there, yet 
“ they are in no abundance. Therefore I cannot be born there.” 
It is, 1 think, equally fallacious to attempt to establish a connection 
between the name of the city and the name of the river. The Pali 
name of the Rapti is Aciravati, which still survives in the softened form 
of Ahiravati, which the river bears in its course through the hills, a 
name which reappears as Irrawaddy in Burmah. The Sanscrit form of 
the name is Airavati. Thus the Sanscrit words Sravasti and Airavati 
stand corresponding to the Pali Savatthi and Aciravati, and it is not easy 
