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Viñjha

1. Viñjha.– See Vijjha.

2. Viñjha, Viñjhātavi.– The Vindhyā mountains and the forests surrounding them, through which lay the road from Tāmalitti to Pāṭaliputta. Along this road Asoka travelled bearing the Bodhi tree (Mhv.xix.6; Dpv.xvi.2). This was also the road leading from Sri Lanka to Pāṭaliputta (Dpv.xv.87). Near the forest was a great monastery from which sixty thousand monks, led by Uttara, went to attend the Foundation Ceremony of the Mahā Thūpa (Mhv.xx.ix.40). At the foot of the mountain was a market town named Mundagāma. DhA.iv.128 ; elsewhere, however e.g. Sp.iii.655, Viñjhātavi is described as agāmakaṃ araññaṃ.

The forest was the abode of hungry ghosts (petas). See, e.g., PvA. 43, 192, 244.