Archeoiogicai Survey Report. lix 
work noticed by Hwen Thsang as being upwards of one mile to the 
north-west of the palace of Vaisali is a stupa that was built by King 
Asoka, of which the purpose is not stated. Beside the stupa there 
was a stone column from 50 to 60 feet in height, surmounted by the 
statue of a lion. To the south of the pillar there was a tank which 
had been exeavated by a flock of monkeys for the use of Buddha. 
At a short distanee to the west of the tank there was a stupa erected 
on-the spot where the monkeys climbed a tree and filled Buddha’s 
begging pot with honey. On the south side of the tank there was 
another stupa erected on the spot where the monkeys offered the 
honey to Buddha, and at the north-west angle of the tank there was 
a statue of a monkey. 
147. The ruined stupa to the north of the pillar I would identify 
with Asoka’s stupa, and the small tank to the south of the pillar 
with the celebrated Markata-hrada or “ Monkeys’ Tank,” which, as 
we have already seen, was in the same position with respect to the 
lion pillar. The two low mounds to the west and south of the tank 
correspond with the sites of the two stupas built to commemorate 
the monkeys’ offering of honey to Buddha ; and the low mound to 
the north-west agrees exactly with the site of the monkeys’ statue. 
The correspondence between the several objects so minutely detailed 
by Hwen Thsang and the existing remains is complete. The only 
point on which there is any seeming discrepancy is the height of the 
pillar, which was from 50 feet to 60 feet, while the actual pillar may 
perhaps be less. The height of the lion statue is 4 feet 6 inches, 
that of the capital is 3 feet 10 inches, and that of the polished shaft 
down to the water level is 35 feet 10 inches, making altogether a 
height of only 44 feet 2 inches, bnt as neither the basement of the 
pillar nor the end of the polished portion of the shaft have been 
reached, it is quite certain that the pillar must have been higher 
than this measurement. I would therefore fix its probable original 
height at about 50 feet, which would then agree with the measure- 
ment of Hwen Thsang. 
148. Vaisali, the capital of the Lichchhavi family, was especially 
famous as the scene of the second Buddhist Synod in 443 B.C. The 
assembly was held, according to Hwen Thsaug, at a spot 24 miles to 
the south-east of the city, but I could find no remains in that direc- 
tion, Vaisali was also celebrated as the place where Buddha had 
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