CHAPTER XXI.

NO. 3 TOPE.-SÁNCHI.

1. Ar first sight this Tope presented a mere mass of ruins;* but a closer inspection showed the lower courses of the hemisphere and the terrace of the basement tolerably perfect, although hidden amongst a heap of fallen stones. The diameter of the hemisphere is 40 feet; the breadth of the terrace, which was formed of single slabs, and is still quite perfect on the western side, is 6 feet, and its height above the original level of the soil is 7 feet; but only 6 feet above the floor of the entrance door-way which is still standing to the south. The dome was crowned by a pedestal 4 feet square, which supported a chatta about 3 feet in diameter. A square slab, which once formed part of the pedestal, is now lying to the south of the Tope, and a fragment of the chatta to the north-east.

2. The Tope was surrounded by a Buddhist railing, of which the only remains are a few of the curved

See Plate XXII.

coping stones, and some fragments of two pillars. The coping stones are 9 inches high and 7 inches thick. The pillars have the same section; and we may therefore conclude that the railing was somewhat less than five feet in height. The railing of No. 1 Tope at Sonári, of which the pillars are 91 inches by 8 inches, is only 4 feet 8 inches in height. The enclosure most probably had four gateways; one to the south is still standing, and I thought that I could trace the remains of a second on the east.

3. The pillars of the southern entrance are 14 inches square, with an interval of 5 feet 4 inches. The clear breadth between the railing and the base of the Tope must have been about 12 feet; one side of each of the pillars, to which the railing was attached, is left plain; and as the arrangement is the same as that of the entrances of the Great Tope, it seems certain that the gateways of this Tope must have been of a later date than the railing. The basreliefs of the pillars and architraves are so strikingly similar in subject and in style to those of the Great Tope, that there can be little doubt that both are the work of the same period. There are the same representations of Topes and Trees, the same lion pillar surmounted by a wheel, and the same figures clad in the same dresses.

4. The Tope stood in the midst of a square enclosure, and was surrounded by a very thick wall, the foundations of which still remain on three sides. The

enclosure was 90 feet square, and the walls were built due north and south, and east and west.

5. A shaft was sunk in the centre of this Tope, and after a few hours' labour we came to a large slab upwards of 5 feet in length, lying in a direction from north to south. On raising this slab we saw two large stone boxes each bearing a short inscription on its lid. That to the south bore Sáriputasa, “ (relics) of SÁRIPUTRA"; that to the north bore Mahá Mogalánasa, " (relics) of MAHÁ MOGALÁNA." Each box was a cube of 1 foot, with a lid 6 inches thick., The position of the relics was on the same level as the terrace outside.

6. In Sáriputra's box we found a large steatite casket, upwards of 6 inches broad and 3 inches in height, covered by a very thin saucer of black earthenware 9 inches in diameter with a depth of 2 inches. The saucer was broken, and the upper surface had peeled off, but the colour of the inside was still lustrous. Close to the steatite casket were two pieces of sandal-wood, one 4 inches in length, and the other 2 inches. The only other thing in this box was a live spider.

7. The relic-casket is of white steatite. It has been turned on a lathe; and its surface is now hard and polished. In Plate XXII. I have given a half-size sketch of this antique casket, which contained only one small fragment of bone, scarcely an inch in length, and seven beads of different kinds. These are no doubt the "seven precious things" which

were usually deposited with the holiest relics; as with the skull of Buddha* at Hilo near Jalálábád. There were two distinct sets of the seven precious things, the one containing the precious metals as well as precious stones, the other precious stones only.

8. According to the Chinese the first series consisted of

Chinese.

1. Su-fa-lo....

2. A-lu-pa

...

3. Lieu-li

Sanscrit.
.Suvarna......Gold.
Rupya...... Silver.

Vaidurya....Lapis lazuli.

4. Se-pho-ti-kia ........ Sphatika ....Rock-crystal.

7. Po-ma-lo-kia ....... Padmarága..Ruby.

9. The second series consisted of

Chinese.

1. Po-lo-so....

3. Ma-ni ....

2. A-chy-ma-kie-pho... Asmagarbha(?) Amber.

Mani........ Pearl.

(A red stone-garnet). (?)
(The most excellent of pre-
cious stones).

.... Marakata....Emerald.

......

7. Pa-che-lo.......... Vajra......... Diamond.

10. The seven precious things found with Sáriputra's relics differ somewhat from both of these series; but the correspondence is still very striking.

*Fo-kwe-ki, c. xiii.

1st, a flat piece of pearl; 2nd, 3rd, two small seed pearls; 4th, a garnet bead; 5th, a star-shaped bead of lapis-lazuli; 6th, a crystal bead; 7th, an oblong bead of pale amethyst. The same custom still prevails amongst the Buddhists of Ladák, who usually place with the ashes of a chief, or the dead body of a Lama, bits of gold, silver, copper, and iron; pearls, garnets, and turquoises; grains of wheat, barley, and rice; specimens of red and white sandal-wood; and of the holy Shúkpá, or pencil cedar (Juniperus excelsa).

11. In the northern stone box we found another steatite casket, somewhat smaller than that of Sáriputra. It is apparently of a softer substance; for the surface when first seen was white and powdery like chalk; but this has now nearly disappeared, and the colour is almost the same as that of Sáriputra's casket. Inside we found only two minute fragments of bone, of which the larger was rather less than half an inch in length.

12. On the inner surface of the lid of each casket there is a single ink letter, half an inch in height. In Sáriputra's casket the letter is sá, and in that of Maha Mogalana's it is ma; these being the initial letters of their respective names.

13. The relative position of these relics has its significance for in their religious ceremonies the ancient Indians always sat facing the east, which therefore they named the front, para; while the south and north were respectively the "right,"