palamau gazetteer gives a detailed account of Lord Buddha with palamau.
LAND OF BUDDHISM.
.Amarnath Das5 propounds a novel theory regarding the course of the river Ganga and the life story of Lord Buddha. According to him the Ganga river flowed through the Vindhyas, passing by Palamau and entered the sea through Mayurbhanja, at some distance to the west of the present outlets. He fixes the head of the Ganga delta at Ramgarh, south of Chaibassa and indicates the alignment of the river connection from Chaibasa to the Ganga in the valley to the north of the Vindhyns. According to Das, a connection from Varanasi southwards penetrating the Vindhyas was existing. The two rivers North Koel and South Koel. Coalescing at the same point gave him the key and he thinks that the two Keels were one river at one time but had split into two sectious later on. From Ramgarh, the Suvarnarekha channel went up very near the channel of the South Koel where the connection must have existed and then the river entered the Vindhyas, following the course of the South and North Koel and joined the Son river near Rohtasgarh. According to him the name of the river near this locality was known as tile Ganga even so late as 1665A.D. as Tavernier mentions in his travels. As to why Koel should lose its name in the Ganga, it is suggested that Tavernier might have been misled by Pliny's account that the Ganga yielded precious stones and mistook the Son with the Ganga. Soncum- Koel was formerly, according to Das, a section of the Ganga river flowing past Sasaram, Rohtasgarh and on to Rajbara, Garhikbas, 4 miles north of Daltonganj, North Koel bed, ancient town of Netarhat, Chechhari and ancient ruins of Tamolgarh. Obstructed in its course at Daltonganj, it spilled its water eastward passing by the channel of the Amanat up to Ambakara, then through the valley of Chako river passing to the north of Levalong, close to Chatra to its north, and then close to
Chauparan to its north, it reached Monghyr(munger).
Amarnath Das had also come out with the bold theory that Gautama Buddha's birth place and travels lay within the Palamau district. He gave reasons and identified the places connected with the life of Buddha as follows:-
Palibothra— Palamau.
Kapilavastu— Rajkheta lying 60 miles south of Palamau.
Kusinagara— Kerava near Paharbul where a neglected tope still exists.
Pava— Paharbul lying 100 miles south-west of Palamau.
Mahabodhi— A place 40 miles south-west of Palamau or 20 miles west of Netarhat.
Varanasinagara— Baravenagar, 20 miles south of Netarhat.
Kotigama—Kutti village on the bank of river Koel.
Vaisali— Vesariya Kalan, 2 miles north-east of Kutti village.
Nadi—Chandika— Chando, between Kutti and Basariva, distortion of Chandika or Chandikakanana.
Mallakuta—Kutti.
Bhandagama—Bhandaria.
Amdanda—Ambagama or Amargawan.
Hathigama—Hatami.
Bhojnagara—Bhoja on the confluence of Gulafula and Mahan.rivers.
Jaluka Mahanna— Sal forest of Jaladega.
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1. Pre-Mauryan History of Bihar by Dr. D. S. Triveda.
2. Aitareya Aranyaka 2-1-1.
3. Mahabharata Bhisma Parva.
4. Mahabharata Bhisma Parva.
5. India and Jamboo Island by Amarnath Das, I.S.E., Book Company, Calcutta, 1931
Hiranyavati— Rehara river.
Saraswati—Sarasotia near Bhandaria.
Savitri— Satabaha.
Bhargava Chyavana's Ashrama— On the confluence of the Son and Koel rivers.
Yastigrahaka or Yastivana— Latehar.
Champanagara— Chanpikallan, 5 miles east of Palamau.
Devadaha— Deorwaha, 30 rolles west of Rajkbeta.
Sravasti—Saravath, 10 miles north-west of Rajkbeta.
Achiravati river or Saravati river— Ajher, a tributary of the Rehara river.
Gridhrakuta— Harilaong hills.
Saptaparni— Satbarwa.
Niranjana river— Buda river.
Kukkutapadagiri—The hill extending from Kukud hill to north west of Mahuadanr.
Budhavanagiri— Kumandi forest.
Kusagrapura— Rajagriha— Daltonganj.
Nalanda— A site within a radius of 8 miles from Ambabara.
Das identified the road from Yastivana to Kusagrapura as the road from Latehar to Satbarwa which still exists.
The theory advanced by Amarnath Das is rather ingenious and some of the similar names of sites with places well-known in Buddhist history are intriguing. But archaeological evidence is against the assumptions and later research and excavations at Vaishali and other
Place have thrown up a lot of additional evidence. No reliance, therefore, can be put on the theory of Das. But, his researches do show that Palamau had a hoary past and there was at one time clear Buddhist influence on this district. Even now at a village Murtia near Latehar
a large number of Buddhist relics could be seen.in ranka baulia village a statue of Buddha is worshiped as God.
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