314 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.50. 



actual horns of Buddha from a former incarnation as a hull. They 

 were found at a relic shrine (stupa) claimed to have hcen erected on 

 the spot where this hull is said to have died. The shrine and the lake 

 near by still bear the name of this bull and are regarded as a sacred 

 spot. On the front of the horns is carved in archaic style Buddha in 

 the witness position; on the back, standing with the arms hanging 

 flat on the sides. Height, 7-f inches; length of the base, 8f inches. 

 Laos, Further India. (Plate 57, Cat. No. 217625, U.S.N.M.) 



134. Buddha's footprint (Buddha }>ada). — Cast from the original at 

 Buddhagaya, Magadha, India. Supposed footprints of Buddha are 

 found in various Buddhist countries, to which devout Buddhists 

 make pilgrimages and present offerings. Most celebrated are the 

 footprints on the gateways of the tope of Sanchi, in Bhopal (central 

 India), on which are marked beside the wheel 108 compartments, 

 each occupied by some sacred object (as a trident, a flower, a candle, 

 a book, angels, the planets, etc.). 10 Length, 25i inches. India. 

 (Plate 58, Cat. No. 76219, U.S.N.M.) 



2. IMAGES OF BODHISATTVAS AND OTHER DIVINE BEINGS. 



135. Amitabha (?). — -Wood, lacquered and gilt. Seated in the 

 "easy pose" (lalita sana), the left leg hanging down with inclination 

 slightly inwards, the right drawn up and loosely bent. The ushnisha 

 is gathered to a knot or tuft. The forehead was adorned with a metal 

 ornament resembling a diadem, which has fallen off. The dress is 

 elaborate and ornate. The right hand holds a wand or scepter, the 

 object which was in the left hand is missing. Behind the head is 

 a circular halo and another one behind the body, both with a beaded 

 border and set in a fig leaf-shaped aureole carved with scrolls in open 

 work. The seat represents a rock round which is coiled a dragon, the 

 emblematic mythical animal of China and Japan. Amitabha, or as 

 the Japanese name him, Amida, is one of the five celestial meditation 

 (dhyani) Buddhas, who rules over the Sukhavati heaven of the west. 

 He is the celestial reflex or counterpart of Gautama Buddha. He is 

 the "Buddha of infinite light," and is in the entire northern Buddhism 

 the most popular divinity and his image the most widely spread. 

 The identification of this figure as that of Amitabha is, however, 

 tentative. Height of the figure, 25 inches; of the base, 19 inches; 

 length of the base, 20 inches; width, 16 inches. Japan. (Plate 59, 

 Cat. No. 154964, U.S.N.M.) 



10 Most famous is the footprint on Adam's Peak in Ceylon, which Buddha is said to have left on the 

 occasion of his mythical visit to Ceylon. The cavity of about 5 feet long on the summit of the peak has been 

 claimed by the Buddhists for Buddha, by the Sivaites for Siva, by the Christians for St. Thomas, who, 

 according to tradition, had carried Christianity to India, and by the Mohammedans for Adam, who alighted 

 on it when he was expelled from Paradise. The name Adam's Peak was given to the mountain by the 

 Portuguese, who called it Ptco de Adam. — The Portuguese authorities were divided between the conflicting 

 claims for the footprint of St. Thomas and the eunuch of Queen Candace, mentioned in Acts viii, 27. 

 Tho footprint of Buddhagaya is now worshipped as that of Vishnu. 



