58 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [February, 1910. 



Translation. 



< c 



After the stupas had thus been set up, however, the 

 elder Mahakassapa, perceiving that danger threatened the 

 relics, approached the presence of king Ajatasattu and said : 

 O great king, one receptacle ought to be made for the 



relics,' * Very well, reverend Sir, let the making of the recep- 



tacle be my concern. But how am I to get the remaining 

 relics V c Great king, the getting of the relics is not your task, 

 but mine.' c Very well, reverend Sir, do you get the relics, 

 and I will make the receptacle/ The elder brought the remain- 

 ing relics, leaving with the various royal families only enough 

 for purposes of worship, but at Ramagama the Nagas took 

 possession of the relics, and no accident happened to them. 

 Knowing that in the future they would be deposited in the Great 

 Caitya of the Mahavihara in Ceylon, he did not take them, but 

 took them from the remaining seven cities. Then standing at 

 a spot to the south-east of Rajagaha he willed the following 

 resolve: ' Let the stone which is in this place vanish, let the 

 sand become spotless, let not water rise up in it. 5 The king 

 had that place dug up, and then caused bricks to be made with 

 the soil therefrom. Then he had Caityas to the eighty great 

 disciples constructed. When people asked : ' What is the king 

 having made here ? ' they were told ' Caityas for the great dis- 



ciples.' No one knew about the existence of a relic- receptacle. 

 When that place had been made eighty cubits deep, he had 

 laid down an iron l flooring. Then he had made a copper house 

 of the size of the sanctuary in the Thuparama, and likewise 

 eight boxes and stupas of yellow sandal and other woods. 

 Then he took the relics of the Blessed One and cast them into a 

 yellow sandal- wood box, and this yellow sandal-wood box he 

 put in another yellow sandal- wood box, and that too in another, 

 and so on, putting the boxes one inside the other. In exactly 

 the same way he had the eight yellow sandal-wood boxes put in 

 eight stupas of yellow sandal-wood, the eight stupas of yellow 

 sandal- wood in eight boxes of red sandal-wood, the eight boxes 

 of red sandal- wood in eight stupas of red sandal- wood, the 

 eight stupas of red sandal-wood in eight boxes of ivory, these 

 boxes in eight stupas of ivory, these stupas in eight boxes of all 

 kinds of jewels, these boxes in eight stupas of all kinds of jewels, 

 these stupas in eight golden boxes, these boxes in eight golden 

 stupas, these stupas in eight silver boxes, these boxes in eight 

 silver st upas , these stupas in eight j ewel-boxes , these boxes in eight 

 jewel-stupas, these stupas in eight ruby-boxes, these boxes in 

 eight ruby-stupas, these stupas in eight cat's-eve boxes, these 



1 * Brass/ Fleet. The Pali has lohasantharam. " Its bottom 



i^A ne( V Vlth iron bars >" Bigandet, who in his second volume follows 

 Uuddhaghosa s account of the fate of the relics. 



