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 9 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

3. Lieu-li

Vaidurya....Lapis lazuli.

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

5. Meu-pho-lo-kie-la-pho

6. Mo-lo-kia-li

......

....

(A pale blue stone-ame-
thyst). (?)
(Variegated agate).

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

9. The second series consisted of

Sanscrit.

....Prabála .....Coral.

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

Chinese.

1. Po-lo-so....

6. Mo-lo-kia-pho ...... 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,"

dakshina, and the "left," váma. The west was called apara, "behind." Now Sáriputra and Maha Mogalana were the principal followers of Buddha, and were usually styled his right and left hand disciples. Their ashes thus preserved after death the same positions to the right and left of Buddha which they had themselves occupied in life.

14. Sáriputra was the son of the Brahman Tishya, and of the beautiful-eyed Sári or Sáriká, who received her name from the resemblance of her eyes to those of a Sáras or Cyrus bird. Sáriputra, or son of Sári, is his most common name; but he is also known by the patronymic of Upatishya. The Tibetans call him Shá-ri-hi-bu, or Sári's son. Tishya was the most

learned of all the Brahmans at the court of Rájagriha. Sáriká herself was a proficient in the four Vedas, and had overcome her brother in disputation. But her son excelled them both; and was much celebrated for his wisdom. His talents, which were attributed to his moral and religious merit in former births,* were so great, that Sakya himself proclaimed† that the "profoundly wise Sáriputra was competent to spread abroad the wisdom of Buddha;" and his fellow-disciple Káchháyano declared that "excepting the Saviour of the world, there are no others in existtence whose wisdom is equal to one sixteenth part of the profundity of Sáriputra."

p. 52.

Csoma de Koros in Asiatic Society's Researches, vol. xx.,

+ Turnour, Introduction to Mahawanso, p. xxvii.