CHAP. IV.] THE EAELY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. 



345 



A dagoba (from datu, a relic, and gabbhan, a shrine 1 ) B.C. 

 is a monument raised to preserve one of the relics of 289 ' 

 Gotama, which were collected after the cremation of 

 his body at Kusinara, and it is candidly admitted in the 

 Mahawanso that the intention in erecting them was to 

 provide " objects to which offerings could be made." 2 



Ceylon contains but one class of these structures, 

 and boasts no tall monolithic pillars like the lats of 

 Delhi and Aflanabad, and no regularly built columns 

 similar to the minars of Cabul ; but the fragments of the 

 bones of Gotama, and locks of his hair, are enclosed in 

 enormous masses of hemispherical masonry, modifica- 

 tions of which may be traced in every Buddhist country 

 of Asia, in the topes of Afghanistan and the Punjaub, 

 in the pagodas of Pegu, and in the Boro-Buddor of 

 Java. Those of Ceylon consist of a bell-shaped dome of 

 brick-work surmounted by a terminal or tee (generally in 

 the form of a cube supporting a pointed spire), and 

 resting on a square platform approached by flights of 



* 



A SMALL DAGOBA A 



stone steps. Those, the ruins of which have been explored 

 in modern times, have been found to be almost solid, en- 



1 Deha, "the body," and gopa, 

 " what preserves; " because they en- 

 shrine hair, teeth, nails, &c. of Buddha. 



WILSON'S Asiat. Res. vol. xvii. 

 p. 605. 



~ Mahuiranso, ch. xvii. p. 104. 



