) Ki-Ku-To/Galkara/Gandha Kuti: (page 4) One part of Buddhas Jetavan is the village of Galkara as it is 4500 meters south of Pure Deldar Singh which was the preaching hall presented to the Buddha and was part of the capitol city. I will quote the second paragraph of page four. Huen Tsang writes, “To the south of the city 5 or 6 Li’s is the ‘Jetavan’. This is where Anathapidada (Ki-ku-to), otherwise called ‘Sudatta’, the chief minister of Prasenajita raja, built for the Buddha a vihara.” Huen Tsang further describes how Sudatta bought the land for the Buddha and how Jeta gave the grove. So the Buddha says it will be now called Jeta garden because Jeta gave the grove and Anathapidada (Ki-ku-to) or Suddata who gave the garden. Basically ‘Ki-ku-to’ is similar to and is certainly a Chinese mispronunciation of ‘Galkara’. So ‘Ki-ku-to’ or the so-called Jetavan is a foreign mispronunciation of Ananthapindadas Jetavana where according to Buddhist scriptures there were two temples in the garden. One was the Ganda Kuti and the other was Kosamba Kuti which Kosamba made. The Ganda Kuti was a house of scent because this is where all the Buddhas stayed. The scent came from incense sticks. To decipher ‘Galkara’, it can be divided into two words ‘Gal-kara’. This tallies with ‘Ganda Kuti’ which is a modern day misinterpretation of Galkara. ‘Gal’ of ‘Galkara’ seems to be the ancient word for ‘Gandh’ of Gandh Kuti. And both ‘Kara’ and ‘Kuti’ of Gandh Kuti and Galkara mean a residence. So both mean the scented residence. The village today is on a rectangular mud mound and is very long on two sides. The mud mound has the Ghaghra river to its south and a long lake on its northern banks. This lake is mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. A mixture of Rajputs, OBC’s and Brahmins live in this village. Wikipedia says Suddatas or Anathapindika monastery covered a space of eighteen Karisas. Galkara village was on a long mud mound. Wikipedia also states that in the grounds of Jetavan there was a large pond known as Jetavanapokkharani. Directly in front of Galkara village is a very large lake. I forgot to ask the name.
(g)(2) Jetavan/Pure Sita Ram: This will be a surprise and shock to Buddhists across the world. There wasn’t any person by the name of Jeta and there wasn’t any garden by this name. ‘Jeta Van’ is a blatant mis pronouncement of ‘Pure Sita Ram’. I will quote the last paragraph of page four. Huen Tsang writes, “The nobleman Sudatta was a man of “humanity” and talent. He had amassed great wealth, and was liberal in its distribution. He succored the needy and destitute, and had compassion on the orphan, and helped the aged. During his life time they called him Anathapindada (Ki-ku-to-friend of the orphan) on account of his virtue. He hearing of the religious merit of the Buddha, conceived a deep reverence for him, and vowed to build a vihara for him. He therefore asked Buddha to condescend to come to receive it. The lord of the world commanded Sariputra (She-li-tseu) to accompany him and aid by his counsel. Considering the garden of Jeta (Shi-to-yuen), the prince to be a proper site on account of its pleasant upland position, they agreed to go to the prince to make known the circumstances of the case. The prince in a jeering way said. “If you cover the ground with gold pieces, I will sell it (you can buy it).” From the above quote we realize Huen Tsang mispronounces Jetavan as ‘Shi-to-yuen’. Next to Galkara village is a village called Sita Ram. This sounds similar to Huen Tsangs ‘Shi-to-yuen’. Wikipedia also says that the vihara in Jetavan is sometimes referred to as Jeta-Rama. This is more accurate though Sita Ram is mispronounced as Jetaram. So Jetavan never existed. The garden of Jeta was Pure Sita Ram. This village is one thousand meters northwest of ‘Galkara’ which is the ‘Gandhkuti’ mispronounced as ‘Ki-ku-to’. Out of 45 vassas the Buddha spent 19 here and preached most of his sutras here. Huen Tsangs next stop proves Galkara and Pure Sita Ram was the Jetavan.
Buddha, Buddhism.