130 ESSAY ON 



This monument is about fifty feet high, of a cylin- 

 drical form, with its top shaped like a dome. Similar 

 monuments, but never more than three or four feet 

 high, are often erected by Hindus^ upon the spot 

 where a married woman burned herself with her 

 husband. These monuments are in general called 

 Sail ; and the enormous one at Sarnath is a sort of 

 Sati over the bones of Budd'ha. According to tradi- 

 tion, it was erected over the ashes of those who fell 

 there in battle, in the invasion of the Muslemans. 

 But this is impossible ; as this monument is the chief 

 and principal piece of that sacred fabric, which was 

 begun many years before the said invasion. The 

 only part that was finished is the tomb of Budd'ha ; 

 all the others, which were intended for the splendor 

 of the place, and the convenience of the royal inha- 

 bitants and priests, remaining in an unfinished state. 

 The secret vault, in which these relics are depo- 

 sited in general, is called the Thacurs Citti, the 

 room or cell of the Lord ; and in the inscription 

 found amongst the ruins above this cell, it is de- 

 clared that St'hirpa'la and Vasanta, sons of a^ 

 King of Gmir, in Bengal, built this Cuti It fol- 

 lows from hence, that these were the persons who 

 deposited there the Thacw's bones. In the above 

 inscription it is declared, that this happened in the 

 year of Vicrama'ditya 1089, or of our Lord either 

 1017 or 1027.*. In the inscription found at Islcima- 

 bad,-\ these relics, consisting of a few bones, are 

 said to have been deposited in two brass vessels in a 

 Cwtij or room under ground. In the account of the 



* As. Res. V. 5. p. 133. 

 + As. Res. V. 2. 



