The preceptor Upagupta, who probably converted Asoka, as Hemachandra converted Kumârapâla in a later age, seems to have been a real historical personage. The famous monastery at Mathurâ which bore his name appears to have been situated at the Kankâlî Tila, a Buddhist as Well as a Jain site, and his memory was also associated with various localities in Sind. He is said to have been the son of Gupta the perfumer. In the traditions of Ceylon his place is taken by Tissa, the son of Mogali, who should be regarded as a fictitious person made up from the names of Buddha's two principal disciples, as ingeniously argued by Colonel Waddell[1].
The eleventh 'regnal year' (B. C. 259), memorable
- ↑ Growse placed the Upagupta monastery at the Kankâlî mound (Mathurâ, 3rd ed., p. 122). For references to other books and papers see 'Asoka's Father-Confessor' in Ind. Ant., 1903, p. 365.
well known. The discoveries made at Sârnâth in 1904 and subsequent years include an edict of Asoka. The site of Kusinagara has not been finally determined. I believe it to have been near Tribeni Ghât, where the Little Râptî joins the Gandak (E. Hist. India, 3rd ed., p. 159 n.). See also the author's work, The Remains near Kasia, the reputed Site of Kuçanagara (Allahabad, 1896); 'Kusinârâ or Kuśinagara,' J. R. A. S., 1902; Archaeol. S., Annual Rep., 1904-5. The site of Srâwastî seems to be at Sahât-Mahât on the south bank of the Râptî in Oudh. I once believed it to be in Nepal on the upper course of the Râptî; but contra, Vogel, J. R. A. S., 1908, p. 971. The legend of Bakkula or Vakkula is told in the Bakkula-sutta (J. R. A. S., 1903, p. 373). There were two stûpas of Ânanda, one on each side of the Ganges (Legge, Travels of Fa-hien, ch. xxvi; Hiuen Tsang). For the Asokâvadâna see Burnouf, Introduction à l'Histoire du Buddhisme, or Râjendralâl Mitra, Sanskrit Nepalese Literature.
