188 L. A. Waddell— Note on the : Ma-gu-ta ' Stwpa. [Dec. 



The king assented saying, 'Cha-rung,' winch literally means' do ' + 

 ' can,' i. e., ' you can do (so)' 1 . Then she cutting a hide into thin thongs 

 (forming a long rope) enclosed that very large space which now is 

 occupied by this chatiya. And she, with herfour sons, and a servant, 

 and an elephant and an ass, as beasts of burden, brought earth and stones 

 and commenced to build this chaitya by their own personal labour. 



" Then the king's ministers appealed to the king to stop such an 

 ambitious building, as they asserted its magnificence put to shame 

 the religious buildings of the king and the nobles. But the king 

 answered t Kha-8hor* — which literally means ' mouth + (has) spoken' 8 

 — and so refused to interfere. (Thus is the name of the Stupa — ' Cha- 

 rung Kha-shor ' — accounted for). 



" After four years, when only the base had been laid, the mother 

 died, but her sons continued the building till its completion. And in 

 the receptacle was placed one Magadha measure (drona) of the relics 

 of the Tathagatha Kasyapa. This event was celebrated by the manifes- 

 tation in the sky, above the Stupa, of Kasyapa himself, and the 

 circles of celestial Buddhas and Bodhisatwas, and their hosts of retimie, 

 and amongst showers of flowers the gods contributed divine music 

 and rained perfume. Earthquakes thrice occurred, and through the 

 glory of the assembled divinities there was no darkness for five nights. 



" One of the sons then prayed ' May 1 in my next rebirth be born as 

 a great scholar (to benefit mankind) ' — and he was born as Thonmi 

 Sambhota 3 — (the introducer of the so-called 'Tibetan' character and the 

 first translator of Indian Buddhist texts into Tibetan) circa G50 A. D. 



" The second son prayed in a similar manner, and was reborn as 

 'The Bodhisatwa' 4 — (the abbot of the first monastery of Tibet). 



" Then the elephant or lang-po (hearing these prayers) said ' These 

 ' two neglecting me, who contributed so much assistance, are asking all 

 ' the good things for themselves, therefore, let me be reborn in a form 

 ' to destroy them or their work.' And he was afterwards reborn as 

 Langdarma — (the persecutor of Lamaism). 



" The third son, hearing the elephant's request, prayed that he might 

 be reborn in a form to neutralize the evil of the elephant's incarnation ; 

 and he was born as Hlo-lung phel kyi rdorje — (the lama who murdered 

 Langdarma, the Julian of Lamaism). 



1 This story, and indeed the greater part of tho legend, seems to have its origin 

 in a false etymology of the proper names. 



2 Vide previous footnote. 



3 The 750 who introduced to Tibet of a written character, and tho first Tibetan 

 translations from tho Indian Scriptures. 



4 The Indian Buddhist monk Santarakshita who was the abbot of the first 

 monastery of Tibet (Samyas). 



