LEAF OF MS. FROM THE GOSINGA VIHĀRA OF AN

OLD BUDDHIST ANTHOLOGY .

DR. HOEY'S BRICK TABLET, WITH BUDDHIST SUTTA

PAGE

122

125

126

THE COPPER PLATE FROM TAKKA-SILĀ

"Epigraphia Indica," vol. iv.

THE MAUNG-GON GOLD PLATE

From "Epigraphia Indica," vol. v., p. io1.

LEAF FROM THE BOWER MS. BIRCH BARK CUT TO
IMITATE PALM LEAVES, WITH HOLES FOR
STRINGS TO TIE THEM UP WITH

127

131

THE PEPPÉ VASES

Found by Mr. Peppe in the Sakiya Tope.

RUINS OF THE SAKIYA TOPE, PUT UP BY HIS RELA

TIVES OVER THEIR PORTION OF THE ASHES
FROM THE FUNERAL PYRE OF THE BUDDHA .

FRAGMENT OF THE THIRTEENTH ROCK EDICT OF

ASOKA, DISCOVERED BY PROFESSOR RHYS-DAVIDS
AT GIRNAR

.

From Burgess's "Cave Temples of India," p. 524.

HINDOO GODDESS OF LUCK

VESSAVANA KUVERA, KING OF THE YAKSHAS, AND

REGENT OF THE NORTH

From the Bharahat Tope. Pl. xxii.

133

222

CHAKAVĀKA, KING OF THE NAGAS

From Cunningham's “Stūpa of Bharhut." Pl. xxi.
Fig. 3.

NAGA MERMAIDS IN WATER.

From Burgess and Grünwedel's “Buddhist
Buddhist Art in

India."

SEATED NĀGA; BACK VIEW

From a fresco in Cave 11 at Ajanta.

PAGE

222

223

ELEPHANTS BEFORE THE WISDOM TREE

From Cunningham's “Stūpa of Bharhut." Pl. xxx.

THE WISDOM TREE OF KASSAPA, THE BUDDHA
From Cunningham's “Stupa of Bharhut." Pl. xxx.

THE BUDDHA PREACHING TO NAGAS DWELLING IN
A SACRED TREE

From a Buddhist carving at Takt-i-bahi. J. R. A. S.,
1899.

DETAILS OF THE SCULPTURES ON THE GATES OF
SANCHI TOPE

225

228

229

233

279

DETAILS ON THE SCULPTURES ON THE GATES OF
SANCHI TOPE

281

SANCHI TOPE. A GENERAL VIEW FROM THE SOUTH.

289

MAP OF THE KINGDOM OF ASOKA AS DESCRIBED
IN THE INSCRIPTIONS AND IN THE ENGRAVED
EDICTS .

320

WHE

CHAPTER I

THE KINGS

HEN Buddhism arose there was no paramount sovereign in India. The kingly power was not, of course, unknown. There had been kings in the valley of the Ganges for centuries, long before Buddhism, and the time was fast approaching when the whole of India would be under the sway of monarchical governments. In those parts of India which came very early under the influence of Buddhism, we find, besides a still surviving number of small aristocratic republics, four kingdoms of considerable extent and power. Besides, there were a dozen or more of smaller kingdoms, like the German dutchies or the seven provinces into which England was divided in the time of the Heptarchy. No one of these was of much political importance. And the tendency towards the gradual absorption of these domains, and also of the republics, into the neighbouring kingdoms, was