Kaushambi district

Mythology and history

Kaushambi was the capital of the ancient Indian Vatsa Mahajanapada, one of 16 such kingdoms. According to the Puranas, Vatsa was named after a Kāśī king. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata attribute the founding of its capital' Kauśāmbī, to a Chedi prince (Kuśa or Kuśāmba). The Puranas state that after Hastinapur was washed away by the Ganges, the Bharata king Nicakṣu (great-great grandson of Janamejaya), abandoned the city and settled in Kauśāmbī. This is supported by the Svapnavāsavadattā and the Pratijñā-Yaugandharāyaṇa, attributed to Bhāsa. Both described the king, Udayana, as a scion of the Bhārata family (Bhārata-kula). The Puranas contain a list of Nicakṣu’s successors which ends with the king Kṣemaka. Gautama Buddha visited Kaushambi several times during the reign of Udayana in his effort to spread the dharma, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Four Noble Truths, and Udayana was a Buddhist upāsaka. According to the Chinese translation of the Buddhist canonical text Ekottara Āgama, the first image of the Buddha (carved from sandalwood) was made at Udayana's request. The Puranas state that his four successors were Vahināra, DanḍapāṇI, Niramitra and Kṣemaka. Vatsa was later annexed by Avanti, and Maniprabha (Pradyota's great-grandson) ruled at Kauśāmbī as a prince of Avanti. Ashoka considered Kaushambi important, and placed a pillar there with inscriptions in Pali; a Jain temple was also constructed. The pillar and temple still stand, and Vatsa is being excavated by archaeologists.

Kaushambi district was carved from Allahabad district on 4 April 1997. In 2006, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Kaushambi one of India's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the 34 districts in Uttar Pradesh receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).