Kasia
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Kasia
Subdivision of Gorakhpur District, United Provinces, comprising the Padrauna Tahsil. The subdivision takes its name from the village of Kasia, at which the headquarters of the sub- divisional officer are situated. Population of the village (1901), 1,688. The village is situated at the junction of the Deoria-Padrauna and Gorakhpur-Pipraghat roads, near the bank of the Rama Bhar lake, and contains a dispensary and a town school with 114 pupils. A short distance away, in the village of Bishanpura, is situated the important group of ruins which was long supposed to mark the site of Kusa- nagara, where Gautama Buddha died. The ruins include a large stupa and many small ones, the remains of a monastery, and a temple which enshrines a colossal statue of the dying Buddha, 20 feet in length. It has now been recognized that the buildings on this site do not agree with the description of Kusanagara given by the Chinese pilgrims.
[A. Cunningham, Archaeological Survey Reports, vols, xviii and xxii ; V. A. Smith, The Remains near Kasia (1896), and in Journal, Royal Asiatic Society, 1902, p. 139 ; W. Hoey, Journal, Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1900, p. 83.]
