12 Rajendralalu Mitra — On the Early Life of AsoJca, [Jan. 



The miracle wrought by the beggar worked on the mind of the king ; 

 and he became attached to the religion of Buddha. By the advice of a Yati 

 named Yasas, he caused a chaitya to be erected at the Kukkuta garden, 

 and deposited in it some relics of Buddha. He then caused a chaitya and 

 other religious edifices to be erected at Ramagrama. Coming thence to 

 the river Ganges, he was requested by the Nagas to go to their country, 

 and there he caused religious edi^ces to be erected. At the request of the 

 people of Takshasila, he caused 3,510,000,000 stupas to be erected for the 

 deposit of relics. By his order the Yakshas erected, on the shores of the 

 sea, ten million stupas for the same purpose. These religious acts endeared 

 him to the people, who dropped the use of the old nick-name of Chanda, and 

 called him Dharmasoka or " Asoka the virtuous." 



After this a son was born unto him named Kunala alias Dharma- 

 vardhana, who soon distinguished liimself in all that was taught him, and 

 was carefully brought up as a follower of the Buddhist religion. 



Subsequently, on one occasion Asoka went to a Yati, at the Kukkuta 

 garden, to study the true religion, and, at the suggestion of that recluse, 

 sent for, from the Urumunda Hill, a Yati named Upa Gupta, to whom he as- 

 signed the monastery of Venuvana, or the " Bamboo Grove." This saint 

 was the son of one Gupta, a rich man of Mathura, who had been converted 

 by one S'onavasi, a mendicant who resided on the Urumunda Hill, and had 

 presented his three sons, As'va Gupta, Dhana Gupta and Upa Gupta, to his 

 tutor A prophecy of Buddha is quoted, according to which the birth of 

 Upa Gupta was to take place a hundred years after his demise (mama nir- 

 vritimarabhya s'atavarshagate upaguptanama bhikshurutpatsyati. Fol. 

 23-24) . This chronology, however, does not accord with the statement that 

 As'oka was the thirteenth from Bimbisara, a contemporary of Buddha. 

 A contemporary of Asoka could scarcely be born within a hundred 

 years of the reformer's death. Such a prophecy, however, was needed 

 to exalt the rank of the great teacher who became the spiritual guide 

 of so mighty a sovereign as Asoka. Having studied Buddhism under this 

 tutor, Asoka, under his guidance, went on a pilgrimage to all the prin- 

 cipal holy places, visiting the tree under which, in the Lumbini garden, 

 Buddha was born, the places sanctified by the saint's youthful sports, and 

 the tree under the shade of which he performed his long protracted 

 penance. This last tree is named Jambu briksha, (Eugenia jamhulana) 

 and not, as is usually believed and elsewhere described, an Asvatha. At 

 all these places Asoka caused a Matha or monastery to be established for 

 the adoration of the " Three jewels." 



When the teacher retired to his own hermitage, Asoka caused a pro- 

 clamation to be issued, declaring Buddhism to be the religion of his country ; 

 and devoted all his wealth to the propagation and glory of his new religion, 



