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44 INDIA AS DESCRIBED IN EARLY TEXTS
capital of Dakşiņa-Kosala at the foot of the Vindhyas. This may have been precisely the city which under the name of Ayodhyā is associated in the Jambudīva-pannatti with the
Vaitādhya range along which there wero sixty „Vidyadhara towns (saţthim Vijjhāharanagarāvāsā),1 referred to also in the Hathigumphā inscription of Khāravela as Vijādharādhivāsā. Besides Ayojjhā and Sāyatthi, Sākota, too, has been mentioned in some of the oarly Buddhist texts 2 as the capital of Kosala, the northern Kosala. Sāketa is said to havo stood on a high road between Săvatthi and Kosambi," at a distance of seven relay drivos of royal chariots (satta-ratha-vinītāni). Såvatthi was called Savatthí either because it was founded near the hermitage of the sage Savattha or because of its great prosperity as a city. It stood on the right bank of the Aciravati (modern Rapti). There is much to be said in favour of Dr. Barua's suggestion that the great trade-route from Rājagaha to Savatthī branched off into two roads, one the Dakkhiņāpatha or Southern (better, South-western) Road, and the
1 Jambudwa-pannattt, 1, 12. 2 Jätaka, un p. 270; Mahāvastu, 1, p 34,w. 3 Sutta-nopdta, verges 1011-1013. 4 Mahmas 1, p. 149, 6 Law, Geography, p. 5f 8 Law, Srāvasu,'p 9.
