

174 



On the Ruins of Buddha Q-ay'd. 



[No. 2, 



of hardships ; there he repeatedly overcame the genius of sensuality 



Mdra, who assailed him with his invincible host of pleasures and 

 enjoyments to lead him astray from his great resolve ; and at that 

 place he attained to that perfection which enabled him to assume the 

 rank of a Buddha, the teacher of man and gods and dispenser of 

 salvation. The exact spot where these protracted meditations and 

 austerities were carried on, is said to have been the foot of a pipul 

 tree, and hence that spot is held in the highest veneration by the 

 followers of the Saugata reformer. It was believed to be the holiest 

 place on earth ; temples and monasteries were erected round it even 

 during the life time of S akya, and as long as Buddhism nourished in 

 India, it was the resort of innumerable hosts of pilgrims from all 

 parts of the Buddhist world. With the downfall of Buddhism the 

 place lost its grandeur, and at the end of the tenth century was, 

 according to an inscription published in the Asiatic Researches, (Vol. I. 

 p. 284) by Wilkins, " a wild and dreadful forest," " flourishing with 

 trees of sweet scented flowers," and abounding in " fruits and roots," 

 but "infested with lions and tigers, and destitute of human society." 

 A magnificent temple, however, still stands, and around it vestiges 

 abound to attest to its former greatness. General Cunningham has 

 even recognised the identical flag of stone upon which on one occasion 

 Buddha, while a roving mendicant, sat and ate soma rice presented to 

 him by two maidens. 



The tree, however, under which Buddha sat, and which was the 

 greatest object of veneration, has long since disappeared, and its place 

 is now occupied by one which, though decayed and dying, is scarce 

 Wo hundred years old. It stands on a masonry basement of two steps 

 about six feet high, and built on a large terrace of concrete and 

 stucco. Its immediate predecessor probably stood on a level with the 

 first step which seems to have been raised long before the second. The 

 third predecessor, according to this idea, was on a level with the 

 terrace, and as that terrace stands about five and twenty feet above 

 the level of the surrounding country, and as Capt. Mead, in course of his 

 excavations, has found traces of two terraces, one very distinct, at inter- 

 mediate depths, it is to be presumed that several trees must have from 

 time to time occupied the spot where stood the original RoddUdruma, 

 or "Tree of Knowledge," under which Buddha attained to perfection. 

 It is no doubt possible that as earth and rubbish accumulated round 





