CHAPTER XI 



MOONLIGHT GARDENS, AND THE PALACE 

 OF DEEG 



Sois content des fleurs, des fruits, mme des feuilles, 

 Si dans ton jardin & toi tu les cueilles. 



EDMOND ROSTAND. 



THE Indian Buddhists were great gardeners, and 

 evidence of their skill may yet be seen in places 

 like the " Lanoli Grove " beyond Khandalla on 

 the railway line between Bombay and Poona, 

 which is full of rare trees and flowering shrubs 

 found nowhere else in Western India. The spot 

 was at one time a Buddhist shrine, and the foreign 

 trees are without doubt survivals of an ancient 

 temple enclosure or grove. Sir George Birdwood 

 tells me of another such place at Chembur on 

 the island of Trombay opposite Salsette, where he 

 found near some ruins, said to be of a Buddhist 

 site, a solitary white pangri tree (Erythrina 

 indica) from which he took many cuttings, dis- 



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