and when the enemy comes, place me on it; I shall be able to keep them off." The king did so; and when the enemy arrived, the concubine called out to them from the top of the platform, "You are my sons; why do you rebel against me?" The enemy replied, "Who are you that say you are our mother?" The concubine answered, "If you do not believe me, all look up and open your mouths." She then pressed her two breasts, and each breast gave forth five hundred jets of milk which fell into the mouths of her thousand sons, who thus knew that she was their mother, and at once laid down their arms. The two father kings, by meditating upon these circumstances, attained the rank of Saints, and the pagoda in their honour is still existing. Afterwards, when the World-Honoured One became a Buddha, he said to his disciples, "This is the place where before my time weapons were laid down." Thus posterity came to know the story, and built a pagoda on the spot, naming it accordingly. The thousand boys were the Buddhas of a former Aeon of Sages. It was alongside of this pagoda that Buddha said to Ânanda, "Three months hence I must pass away"; whereupon the king of the devils so confused Ananda that he did not beg Buddha to remain in the world.

From this point going eastwards three or four li there is a pagoda. A hundred years after Buddha had passed away, some religious mendi

cants of Vâisâli having broken the Disciplines in ten particulars, appealed for justification of their conduct to what they said had been laid down by Buddha himself; whereupon the Lohan and the orthodox religious mendicants, in all seven hundred ecclesiastics, examined and compared the Disciplines over and over again. Men of later ages built a pagoda at this place, and it is still in existence.

From this point travelling four yôjanas to the east, the pilgrims arrived at the confluence of five rivers. When Ânanda was on his way from Magadha to Vâisâli, hoping that there he would pass away, the dêvas informed king Ajâtasatru, who immediately followed him in a state chariot, and with a troop of soldiers, to the river. The chiefs of the Vâisâlis, hearing that Ânanda was coming, also went out to meet him, and both parties reached the river-banks. Then Ânanda, reflecting that if he advanced he would incur the hatred of king Ajâtasatru, and if he retired the chiefs of the Vâisâlis would feel aggrieved, there, in the middle of the river, he entered into the fiery state of samâdhi, his body was cremated, and thus he passed away. His remains were divided into two portions, one for each side of the river; each king got one half of the remains as a relic, and returning home, built a pagoda for its reception.

Having crossed the river and journeyed one yôjana towards the south, the pilgrims arrived

at the country of Magadha and the city of Pâtaliputra (Patna), formerly ruled by king Asôka. The king's palace in the city, with its various halls, all built by spirits who piled up stones, constructed walls and gates, carved designs, engraved and inlaid, after no human fashion, is still in existence. King Asôka's younger brother, having attained the rank of Lo-han, took up his abode on the Vulture Mountain (Gridhrakuta), his idea of enjoyment being undisturbed quiet for meditation. The king very respectfully asked him to come and practise his religious observances at the palace; but he, liking the quiet of the mountain, refused to accept the invitation. The king then said to him, "If you will only agree to come, I will build a hill for you in the middle of the city." Accordingly the king prepared a feast, and summoning the spirits said to them, "Tomorrow, when you accept my invitation, there being no seats for you to sit upon, you must each bring your own"; and on the following day the important spirits arrived, each one carrying a huge cube of stone measuring four or five paces every way. When the session was over, the king made the spirits pile them up into a great hill, and also, at the bottom of the hill, with five large square stones, build a stone room, thirty feet in length, twenty feet in breadth, and over ten feet in height.

There was living inside this city and belonging

to the Greater Vehicle, a Brahman (by caste), whose name was Raivata. He was a strikingly enlightened man of much wisdom, there being nothing which he did not understand. He led a pure and solitary life; and the king of the country revered him as his teacher, so that whenever he went to visit the Brahman, he did not venture to sit beside him. If the king, from a feeling of love and veneration, grasped his hand, when he let go, the Brahman would immediately wash it. He was perhaps over fifty years of age, and all the country looked up to and relied upon this one man to diffuse widely the Faith in Buddha, so that the heretics were unable to persecute the priesthood.

By the side of king Asôka's pagoda, a monastery under the Great Vehicle was built, very imposing in appearance; and also one under the Lesser Vehicle, the two together containing six to seven hundred priests, grave and decorous, each in his proper place, a striking sight. Virtuous Shamans and scholars from the four quarters, wishing to investigate the principles of duty to one's neighbour, all come to the latter monastery.

There is resident in the former a Brahman teacher, who is named Manjusrî (after the famous Bodhisatva), and who is very much. looked up to by the leading Shamans and religious mendicants under the Greater Vehicle throughout the kingdom.

Of all the countries of Central India, this has the largest cities and towns. Its people are rich and thriving and emulate one another in practising charity of heart and duty to one's neighbour. Regularly every year, on the eighth day of the second moon, they have a procession of images. They make a four-wheeled car of five storeys by lashing together bamboos, and these storeys are supported by posts in the form of crescent-bladed halberds. The car is over twenty feet in height, and in form like a pagoda; and it is draped with a kind of white cashmere, which is painted in various colours. They make images of dêvas, ornamented with gold, silver, and strass, and with silk banners and canopies overhead. At the four sides they make niches, each with a Buddha sitting inside and a Bôdhisatva in attendance. There may be some twenty cars, all beautifully ornamented and different from one another. On the above-mentioned day all the ecclesiastics and laymen in the district assemble; they have singing and high-class music, and make offerings of flowers and incense. The Brahmans come to invite the Buddhas; and these enter the city in regular order and there pass two nights, while all night long lamps are burning, high-class music is being played, and offerings are being made. Such is the custom in all these nations.

The elders and gentry of these countries have instituted in their capitals free hospitals, and