In the middle of this chamber was deposited a golden bodhi-tree, and round it were placed golden images of Buddha. Various acts in the life of Buddha were depicted on the sides of the chamber, which was illuminated with rows of lamps fed with scented oil.

9. On the evening of the day of full moon the king Dutthagámini, in a chariot drawn by four white horses, carried the golden relic-casket on his head, surmounted by the canopy of dominion, towards the Tope. The procession was headed by the state elephant Kandulo, fully caparisoned; and the chariot was surrounded by men and women bearing vases, baskets of flowers, torches, and flags. Elephants, horses, and chariots, followed in the procession; and the crash of all kinds of vocal and instrumental music was so loud that it seemed as if the earth was being rent asunder.*

10. On reaching the Tope the pious monarch received the relics from the chief sthavira, and deposited them in a golden casket. Then placing the casket on a throne he made his offerings to the relics; and bowing reverentially down, stood with uplifted hands joined in adoration. He now dedicated his canopy of dominion (that is, the royal chatta) to the relics, and exclaimed with joy, "Thrice over do I dedicate my kingdom to the redeemer of the world, the divine teacher, the bearer of the triple canopy, the canopy of the heavenly host, the canopy of mortals, and the canopy of eternal emancipation."

11. Then placing the relic-casket on his head, the monarch presented more offerings, and, encircled by the Bhikshus, thrice perambulated the Tope; and mounting the eastern side he descended into the relicchamber. On all sides stood the arhatas with uplifted hands joined in adoration, while the king deposited the relic-casket on the golden altar. He next made an offering of all the royal ornaments on his person, and for seven days invested the relics with the sovereignty of Lanka.* The ministers and all the people in attendance likewise made offerings of all the ornaments on their persons. Hymns were

chanted throughout the night by the Bhikshus; the lid of the relic-chamber was closed by two srámaneras; and the enshrinement of the relic was completed.

12. After this "thousands of relics" were deposited by the people above the relic-chamber,† and the dome was closed, and crowned by a square capital. At this time, when only the chatta (or canopy) and the plastering remained to be done, the Raja fell sick, and enjoined his younger brother Tisso to finish the Tope. As the Raja was at the point of death Tisso quickly covered the whole Tope with white cloth sewn together, and raised a cloth umbrella with a bambu * Or Ceylon. Mahawanso, p. 190.

+ Mahawanso, p. 192-"Sahassa dhatunan," thousands of relics.

See the relic-casket in the shape of a crystal Tope found in No. 2 Tope, at Bhojpur, Plate XXVI. See also the restoration of the great Sánchi Tope, Plate VIII.

handle on the summit; and then announced to the king that the Tope was finished. The dying monarch was carried to the holy spot, and laid upon a carpet opposite the southern entrance, where, after gazing with delight on the Tope, he breathed his last. The pinnacle and the plastering of the dome, and the enclosing parapet wall, were all completed by his brother Saddhátisso who succeeded him on the throne of Ceylon.

13. About one hundred and twenty years afterwards, between 19 and 9 B. C., the Raja Bhútikábhayo festooned the great Tope with garlands of jessamine flowers from top to bottom, and fixed flowers in the intervals by their stalks. He next covered the Chaitya with a paste of red lead, one finger thick, and studded the paste with flowers. He then buried the whole chaitya, from the steps at its enclosure to the top of its pinnacle, in a heap of flowers: and lastly he white-whashed it with oyster-shell lime, and studded it over with a net-work of pánála stones, and fixed golden flowers, of the size of chariot-wheels, in the interstices. He likewise added two cornices,* or copings, to the basement of the building.

14. Between the year 21 and 30 A. D., the Raja Amandagámini erected another chattat on the pinnacle of the Great Tope, and added copings to the base and crown of the dome. Images of the four

• Mahawano, p. 211-215.

↑ Mahawanso, p. 221-Chattadhichattan, or "Chatta-abovechatta." See the Sanchi Chaitya No. 1.

Buddhas were presented to the Great Tope by Raja Wasabho who reigned from 66 to 110 A. D. And lastly, Raja Sirinago, between the years 184 and 209 A. D., gilded* the chatta of the Maháthupo, and inserted gems in the centre of each of the "four emblems of the sun."†

15. This account agrees so closely with the present state of the great Sánchi chaitya that it might be taken as an actual description of that building. The hemispherical form, the square crown, the chatta above chatta, are all the same, and there are also the same statues of the four Buddhas, and the same " emblems of the sun" over the four gateways.

16. In the Maháthupo, the relic-chamber was placed low down in the building, for the king had to "descend" into it to deposit the casket. But in the Thupárámo, which was built by Devánampriya about 240 B. C., the chamber was excavated knee deep on the summit of the dome for the reception of the relics. This agrees with the position of the chamber in the great Tope at Sonári.

17. Lastly, the ground was consecrated by the Bhikshus with the performance of uposatho and other rites, after the boundary had been marked out by the king in procession with a golden plough drawn by two state elephants. This ceremony was performed

*Mahawanso, p. 226.

+ Mahawanso, p. 229-chattunan suriyanan, "four suns." t Mahwanso, p. 104.

Mahawanso, p. 98.

with the same display which has already been described in the procession of the relic-casket.

18. But this account describes only the older kind of Tope, which was a simple hemisphere, such as the great Chaityas at Sánchi and at Satdhára, and which probably date as high as the middle of the sixth century before our era. The next in point of antiquity are the Topes around Bhilsa, which contain the relics of Asoka's missionaries, and of the venerable Mogaliputra, who conducted the proceedings of the Third Synod. In these, which were built in the end of the third century before Christ, the dome is raised a few feet above the basement by a cylindrical plinth. The third class of Topes are those represented in the Sánchi bas-reliefs, which date between 19 and 37 A. D. In these the hemisphere is placed on a plinth of equal height, so that the centre of the dome is the centre of the whole building. Six representations of this kind of Tope occur amongst the Sánchi bas-reliefs, of which one is on the southern gate of No. 2 Tope, and another on the southern gate of No. 3 Tope.*

19. The crystal Chaitya discovered in No. 2 Tope, at Bhojpur, is also of the same shape; and I am therefore inclined to attribute the erection of that Tope to the beginning of the Christian era. The Topes in Affghanistan are mostly of this shape. In the latest Topes, of which Sárnáth, near Benares, is a magnificent specimen, the plinth is equal in height to the diameter of the hemisphere. Two specimens of

For two of these Topes see Plate III., figs. 1 and 2.

N