CHAPTER XX. OPENING OF NO. 2 TOPE.-SÁNCHI. 1. On looking at this Tope, which Captain Fell had seen perfect in 1819, I must confess that I felt a secret satisfaction that the labours of the bungling amateurs, who had half ruined it in 1822, had ended in nothing. But at the same time I had some misgivings, from the large size of the breach, whether their workmen had not reached the centre. After several careful measurements, however, both Lieutenant Maisey and myself felt satisfied that the actual centre had not quite been attained, although the excavators must have been within a single foot of it. After a few hours' labour in clearing away the loose stones from the middle of the breach, we began carefully to sink a shaft down the centre of the Tope. In three hours more the removal of a single stone from the western side of the shaft, disclosed a small chamber containing a stone box. 2. The chamber was made of six stones, four set on edge forming the sides, and two laid flat forming the top and bottom. The chamber was not in the centre of the building, but two feet to the westward of it, the measurement from the south side being 18 feet, or exactly half the diameter, while that from the eastern side was 20 feet, or 2 feet more than the semi-diameter. The bottom of the chamber was exactly 7 feet above the terrace or upper surface of the basement, and 3 feet above the centre of the hemisphere. 3. The relic-box, formed of white sandstone, is 11 inches long, 9 inches broad, and the same in height, including the lid. It was standing with one of its long sides to the east, towards the Great Tope. On removing it from the chamber, we found the following inscriptions carved in three lines on its eastern face: Savinú Vinayakána Aran Kúsapa Gotam Upádiya Aran cha Váchhi "Teacher of all branches of Vinaya, the Arhat KásYAPA VÁCHIII SUVIJAYATA, teacher of Vinaya." 4. Upadiya, in Sanskrit Upádháya, was the Abbot or head of a Buddhist monastery, who had accomplished Upádúna, or the complete restraint of all the organs of sense, and the consequent suppression of all earthly desires. Vinaya was the lowest of the three grades of advancement taught by the Buddhist religionists; and the fact that Kásyapa-Gotra was a teacher of Vinaya will account for his mission *See Plate XX. to the Hemawanta, where, as we learn from the Chinese travellers, the active mountaineers preferred the practical teachings of the Vinaya to the esoteric doctrines of the Abhidharma. The spelling of Aran for Arhata is peculiar, as this title is always written Araha in the inscriptions of the colonnade of the Great Tope. 5. On removing the lid of the stone box, we found inside four small caskets or boxes of mottled steatite, of which one is represented of half size in Plate XX. Each of these caskets contained small portions of burnt human bone, and each was inscribed with the names of the holy men whose ashes were enshrined therein. All these inscriptions will be found in Plate XX. No. I.-STEATITE BOX. OUTSIDE LID. Sapurisa(sa) Kásapa Gotasa Sava Hemavatáchariyasa. "(Relics) of the emancipated KASYAPA GOTRA, the missionary to the whole Hemawanta." No. II.-STEATITE BOX. OUTER CIRCLE. Sapurisasa Váchhúya Suvijayatasa Gotantevásino. (Relics) of the emancipated VÁCHHA SUVIJAYATA, the pupil of GOTA." INNER CIRCLE. Kakanava-púbhúsasáhana dánam. No. III.-STEATITE BOX. OUTSIDE LID. Sapurisasa Maha Vanáyasa-Sapurisasa Ápagirasa. "(Relics) of the emancipated MAHA VANÁYA, (and) of the emancipated APAGIRA.” INSIDE LID. Sapurisasa Kodiniputasa. "(Relics) of the emancipated KOHUDINYA-PUTRA." Sapurisasa Mogaliputasa. "(Relics) of the emancipated MAUDGALAPUTRA." 6. REMARKS. No. I. Box.-The names of Kásyapa and Madhyama are recorded in the Mahawanso as two of the five missionaries who were despatched to the Hemawanta country, after the meeting of the Third Synod in 241 B. C. A second casket of Kásyapa's relics was discovered at Sonári, and from the inscription we learn that he was the son of Koti. Of Háritiputra nothing is known; but another portion of his relics was found enshrined alone in No. 3 Tope at Andher. No. II. Box. —Vacchi-suvijayata must have been a man of some consequence, for his name is placed on the outside of the stone box, along with that of Kasyapa. Relics of his son, Vacchiputra, were found at Andher, along with those of Kákanava Prabhásan and Mogaliputra. He is thus doubly connected with Kákanava, who was the donor of his U |