Gadwa: (Huen Tsang page 9) This is the third ditch. Gadwa means a ditch. Huen Tsang writes in the third paragraph of page nine, “To the south of the Kukali ditch around 800 paces is a large and deep ditch. Chancha, the daughter of a Brahmin, calumniated Tathagat, and here went down alive into hell.”
From the above quote, “To the south of the Kukali ditch,” Huen Tsang means to the south of Jani Jot village cum stupa. Gadwa is 2000 feet to the south of Jani Jot stupa just as Huen Tsang says. Eight hundred paces equals to 2000 feet. Huen Tsang tells how this woman wanted to slander the Buddha. She created a plot where she put a wooden pillow against her tummy to look pregnant. Then in the middle of a crowd she yelled saying the Buddha had intercourse with her and she was pregnant with his child, a Sakya child. Sakra king of Devas knew her game so transformed into a white rat. He nibbled at the strap that bound the pillow to her body causing the pillow to loosen and fall down with a loud noise. The people were relieved to see this. The ground opened and took Chancha into hell. This is Gadwa village. Gadwa in Hindi or rural north India means a hole in the ground or a ditch. Gadwa village is just a stones throw from Jani Jot village or the Kukali ditch. The distance between Jani Jot and Gadwa is eight hundred paces just as Huen Tsang says.
Buddha, Buddhism.