Some Thoughts on Kusinara

by Bhante Dhammika of Australia

It is at Vesaka more than at other times that devoted Buddhists turn their attention to the Buddha and the three most important events in his life. The last of these, his attainment of final Nirvana, took place in a town called Kusinara, a name associated forever with this event as well as with sal flowers, and perhaps his final exhortation: “Now, I declare to you: all conditioned things are impermanent. Strive on with awareness.”

Something else that often comes to mind when thinking of Kusinara is why the Buddha would pass away in what we are always told was a rather obscure and miserable little town. At least that’s how the Tipitaka describes Kusinara, isn’t it? Perhaps! But maybe the Pali of this description of the town might be interpreted in another way.

A Wretched Place?

Ananda famously described Kusinara as kudda nagaraka, ujjangala nagaraka, sakha nagaraka, which Prof. Rhys Davids translated as “this little wattle-and-daub town, in this town in the midst of the jungle, this branch township”. Subsequent translators have followed the gist of this, giving the impression that Kusinara was a wretched and dismal place. Some of the variations include “this sorry little town” (Lord Chalmers); “this mean place, this uncivilized township in the midst of the jungle, a mere outpost of the province” (Sister Vajra and Francis Story); “this miserable little town…right in the jungle in the back of beyond” (Maurice Walsh); “this small town, this barren town, this branch town” (Bhikkhu Anandajoti); and “a little hamlet, a jungle hamlet, a branch hamlet” (Bhikkhu Sujato). These last two translations follow the wording of the Pali more closely than the others.

Nonetheless, there are problems with what branch (sakha), could mean in this context. In English it would mean off the main route, usually in reference to a path, road or railway line. But far from being off the main road, it is fairly certain that Kusinara was situated right on the main road running from Magadha and Vajji to Kosala’s capital at Savatthi and beyond – the northern equivalent of and roughly parallel to the Uttarapatha, what later came to be called the Grand Trunk Road.

Also, no town or village in the Tipitaka, or in any other Indian literature, to the best of my knowledge, is ever described as being sakha, a word which is always used in reference to bush or tree branches. Kudda is from the Sanskrit kuḍya, meaning ‘a wall’, and could be related to the Sanskrit ksunna, ‘to grind, and the Pali cunna, ‘powder’. Both meanings might be relevant to Kusinara and may refer to the defenses of the town—a wall or rampart—or to the lime plaster coating that was put over mud bricks to protect them from rain. Ujjangala can refer to hard or compact soil or mud.

Modern visitors to Kusinara will note that the soil around the town is not noticeably hard or barren (or no more so than anywhere else in northern Uttar Pradesh); in fact, it is fertile and productive. Thus, in relation to Kusinara, ujjangala may refer to the rammed earth or mud used in ramparts. Likewise, sakha could well refer to the branches of thorny bushes that were cut and used for defensive purposes or, alternatively, to a palisade running along the top of a rammed earth rampart.

If this interpretation is correct, Ananda’s comparison of Kusinara with the great cities of the time was that it was a small place with basic or antiquated defenses, the main cities having more impressive and substantial ones of stone and bricks. Ananda’s concern, as he clearly stated, was that there were not enough wealthy people in Kusinara who could arrange a fitting funeral for the Buddha, not that the town was a miserable backwater.

Why Kusinara?

After the Buddha passed into final Nirvana and preparations were being made for his funeral, a large group of monks led by Mahā Kassapa happened to be going along the main road to Kusinara when they met an Ajivaka ascetic who was coming from the town. Kassapa asked him if he knew his and his party’s teacher, the Buddha, to which the Ajivaka replied that he did know of him, and he had passed away in Kusinara only a week ago. This news caused dismay, confusion and grief amongst the monks

But the fact that Kassapa and the monks with him were on this road and heading in the direction they were is intriguing. A look at a map will show that the ancient road would have passed through Kusinara and continued all the way to Savatthi and that at some point beyond Kusinara, it would have branched off to Kapilavatthu. Where was Kassapa going and why was he with/did he have a group of monks with him? The gruff and ascetic Kassapa was known for his penchant for solitude, not mixing with other monks and keeping to his forest hermitage. I would like to offer a possible explanation.

It would not be unreasonable to conjecture that the Buddha planned to spend his final days in his hometown amongst his kin. The evidence shows that he had a special affection for the Sakyans. When the brahman Ambatta disparaged the Sakyans for not respecting him in the proper way, the Buddha defended his kinsmen, saying: “But even the quail, such a little bird, can talk as she likes in her own nest.” We also know that the Buddha always addresses the people he was talking with by their clan names except when he was talking with Sakyans when he would use their given name.

So it is quite possible that when the Buddha set off from Rajagaha on his final journey, his destination was Kapilavatthu, where he hoped to spend his last days. If so, before departing he would have asked some monks to spread word to senior disciples that they should meet him in Kapilavatthu for final instructions and goodbyes, but as it happened, he died in Kusinara before reaching his planned destination.

This conjecture would also explain why Maha Kassapa, one of the Buddha foremost disciples and one who preferred to live alone in the forest, was where he was when he heard of the Buddha’s passing—he had been on his way to Kapilavatthu for a final meeting with the Buddha.