KAUSHAMBI

About Kaushambi

Kaushambi district is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh state of India, and Manjhanpur town is the district headquarters. Kaushambi district is a part of Allahabad Division. In ancient India it was the capital of the Vatsa Mahajanapada,[1][2][3] one of 16 such regions. The Puranas state that Vatsa was named after a Ka king.[4] The Ramayana and the Mahabharata attribute the credit of founding its capital Kaumb to a Chedi prince Kua or Kumba. The Puranas state that after the washing away of Hastinapura by the Ganges, the Bhratas king Nicaku, great-great grandson of Janamejaya, abandoned the city and settled in Kaumb. This is supported by the Svapnavsavadatt and the Pratij-Yaugandharyaa attributed to Bhsa. Both of them have described the king Udayana as a scion of the Bhratas family (Bhrata-kula). The Puranas provide a list of Nicakus successors which ends with king Kemaka.[5]Gautama Buddha visited Kaushambi several times during the reign of Udayana on his effort to spread the dharma, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths. Udayana was a Buddhist upsaka. The Chinese translation of the Buddhist canonical text Ekottara gama states that the first image of Buddha, carved out of sandalwood was made under the instruction of Udayana.According to the Puranas, the 4 successors of Udayana were Vahinra, DanapI, Niramitra and Kemaka. Later, Vatsa was annexed by Avanti. Maniprabha, the great-grandson of Pradyota, ruled at Kaumb as a prince of Avanti.[8]Ashoka gave importance to Kaushambi and placed a pillar of Ashoka in Kaushambi, which has inscriptions there in Pali. A Jaina derasar was also constructed in Kaushambi. Both the pillar and the temple still exist there and the ruins of Vatsa and its university are still being excavated by archaeologists.Kaushambi is also the birthplace of sixth Jain Tirthankar Padam Prabhu Ji.