42

DIVISION OF THE RELICS.

church, One of the reproaches afterwards brought against Ananda was that he had through negligence thus allowed the dead Buddha's feet to be stained by tears.

The pilgrim next tells of the Asoka tope which was beside the one last mentioned. This Asoka tope was at the place where the Buddha's relics were divided among the eight kings, and in front of it was a stone pillar recording the circumstances. Yuanchuang relates that after the Buddha's cremation eight kings came, with their armies, and using the services of the brahmin Chih-hsing (), "Honest nature," begged the Mallas of Kusinagara to give them shares of the relics. The Mallas rudely refused, and the kings were about to wage war when Chih-hsing became mediator. Acting on his advice all agreed to have the relics distributed equally among the eight kings. Then Indra claimed a share for the gods, and the Dragon-kings also claimed a share. So the brahmin divided the relics into three lots, one for the gods, one for the Dragon-kings, and the third was subdivided into eight shares for the kings. The gods, dragons, and kings were all deeply affected.

This account of the division of the relics differs in some respects from that generally followed. There were not eight kings at the division of the Buddha's relics as the pilgrim, following certain sutras, seems to teach. We read in most of the books on the subject that the relics were distributed among the deputies of eight cities or countries. These, according to the Maha-Parinibbāna-sutta,1 were the Mallas of Kusinārā, Ajātasattu raja of Magadha, the Licchavis of Vesali, the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, the Bulayas of Allakappa, the Koliyas of Rāmagāma, a brahmin of Veṭhadīpo, and the Mallas of Pava. With one or two exceptions, which are perhaps only apparent, this list agrees with the Yu-hsing-ching, the Mahāmāyā-ching, and the Pan-ni-huan-ching. The name "Allakappa" seems to be found only in the Pali text, and instead of it some of the others have Chê-lo-p'o (2 or Chê-p'o, or they translate the name by Yu-hêng (1) "having scales" or a balance. So also instead of Vethadipo, that is Vaishṭra

1 Ch. VI. (Digha, Vol. II. p. 166.)

2 Mahāmāyā-ching (last page).

3 Pan-ni-huan-ching ch. 2.

DIVISION OF THE RELICS.

43

dvipa, we have Shên-chu, the "Continent of the god", viz. Vishnu, (in the Tibetan translation Khab-hjug); or we have the name transcribed Pi-liu-ti (short for Veṭhadipo), and we read of the Licchavis or the brahmins of Pi-liuti. In his account Yuan-chuang seems to combine in one person the envoy from Ajātasatru and the wise politic brahmin. The latter appears in the books under various names such as Drona (Dona), Dhupa (Hsiang or Incense), Dhuma (Yen or Smoke), and Mao-Küe. The name which Yuan-chuang gives him, Chi-hsing, meaning fair or honest may be for Droṇasama which seems to have been the form of the name before Mr. Rockhill's Tibetan authority. 1 This may have been a sobriquet given in jest, as fairness in dealing was not a weakness of this brahmin. He tried to steal one of the Buddha's canine teeth, and he smeared the inside of the vase for the relics with honey or molasses in a clandestine manner, and thereby obtained a quantity of relics to which he was not entitled. The reader will observe that, according to the version of the story followed by Yuan-chuang, the Mallas of Kusinagara did not get any share of the cremation relics of the Buddha. This is not in agreement with other versions and we even read of a great relic tope at the place of cremation.

The pilgrim now proceeds to relate that above 200 li southwest from the tope of the Division of the Relics was a large town. At it was a brahmin grandee who was a learned and pious Buddhist. This man, who was very wealthy, had built near his residence a magnificent establishment for the entertainment of travelling bhikshus. By Sasanka's extermination of Buddhism the groups of Brethren were all broken up to the great distress of the brahmin. Some time before Yuan-chuang's visit this man had entertained a strange old Buddhist monk with bushy eyebrows and white hair. This old monk sighed as he tasted the boiled milk which the brahmin gave him, and told his host that the pure milk of the time was more insipid than the water at Rajagaha in which he, when attending Buddha had cleansed his bowl and washed. He revealed himself to his host to be Rahula, the son of the Buddha, who for the

1 Rockhill, Life, p. 146 note.

44

LEGEND OF RAHULA.

maintenance of the true religion had abstained from passing into final extinction, and after making this statement he suddenly disappeared.

Rahula is represented in some of the Buddhist scriptures as occasionally serving his father, and a passage in the Tsa-a-han-ching shews him attending Buddha in the Kalanda monastery at Rajagaha. This disciple, according to some authorities, was to remain alive in the world until the time for the next Buddha's advent, when he dies to be reborn as that Buddha's son, or he passes away for

ever.

Cunningham and Carlleyle fancied that they found the remains of Kuśinagara at Kasia in the south-east corner of Gorakhpur. 2 But there is nothing in their statements to make us accept the identification. These archeologists make much of a "colossal" image of Buddha in nirvāṇa, but there is no mention of any colossal image in Yuanchuang's account of the district. Kuśinagara, as men have known it, was never a large city; and it owed its celebrity to the fact that in its neighbourhood the Buddha died and was cremated. It was much against Ananda's wish that the master came here to die: he wanted the Buddha to pass away at some great city, not at this "contemptible little town", this "small wattel and daub town, a town in the midst of the jungle, a branch township." In a long ago past of which only the Buddha knew, it had been, Buddha relates, a magnificent city rich and prosperous, well-governed and of great renown.3 In Buddha's time it was a town of the Pāvā country noted chiefly as the home of the Mallas or Athletes. Very recently Mr. V. A. Smith + has shown conclusively that the Kasia of Cunningham and Carlleyle cannot be the Kusinārā or Kuśinagara of Buddhist

Tsa-a-han-ching ch. 38.

2 Arch. Sur. Ind. Vol. XVIII. Pref. and p. 55.

3 'Buddhist Suttas' p. 99; Rockhill, Life, p. 136; Fo-pan-ni-huanching ch. 2; Ta-pan-nie-p'an-ching ch. 29 (No. 113).

J. R. A. S. for 1897 p. 919. The remains near Kasia in the Gorakhpur District &c. by Vincent A. Smith.

writers. It is possible, as has been conjectured, that with the help of the recent discoveries in the Nepalese Terai the site of this place also will be found in the Terai. In some Chinese translations Kapilavastu and Kusinagara seem to be one place. Thus we read of the Buddha passing away at the Twin Trees to the north of the Sakya city Kapilavastu, and we find Kuśinagara described as "the Buddha's birth-place". 1

1 P'u-sa-ch'u-t'ai-ching ch. 1 (No. 433); Chung-yin-ching ch. 1 (No. 463); Chang-a-han-ching ch. 2 (last page).

CHAPTER XIII.

CHUAN VII.

VĀRĀŅASĪ TO NEPĀL.

The narrative in the Records goes on to state that the pilgrim continued his journey from the large town which was 200 li south-west from Kuśinagara onward through the forest, and after travelling above 500 li he reached the Po-lo-na-se (Varaṇāsi or Vārāṇāsī) country (that is the city now called Benares). The Fang-chih repeats the statement here made, but in the Life, which does not mention the large town, the distance from Kusinagara to Varaṇāsi is given as only over 500 li, the direction not being given. Fa-hsien calls the country Kaśi and the capital P'o-lo-na (Baraņā or Varaṇā),1 and this distinction is observed by other writers. We also find these two names occasionally treated as convertible, but in Buddhist books Kasi is seldom found as the designation of the city, and is generally applied to the country. Thus the fine cotton stuffs for which the Benares district was famous are called "Kāśi cloth". The sacred city is generally called Varaņā or Vārāṇasi or Vāraṇāsi, and sometimes the district is included in this name. The latter form is the only one which Yuan-chuang seems to have known and, in his usual manner, he makes it include the city and the country.

The Vārāṇasī District is described by our pilgrim as being above 4000 li in circuit. The capital reached to the Ganges on

1 Fo-kuo-chi, ch. 34.