244 The Amorpholithic Monuments of Brittany. [April, 



placing food for the dead, &c, so through the alignments of 

 Brittany may have passed at stated periods of time to do 

 honour to the resting-place of their forefathers, the de- 

 scendants of those whose bones rested within the sepulchral 

 circles. 



That there is some connection, as regards the funeral 

 rites practised from ancient times, by the most orthodox of 

 the Chinese, with orientation and stone pillars appears plain 

 from the following, taken from " The Life and Teachings of 

 Confucius," by J. Legge. " According to the statutes of 

 Hea, the corpse was dressed and coffined at the top of the 

 eastern steps, treating the dead as if he were still the host. 

 Under the Yin the ceremony was performed between the 

 two pillars, as if the dead were both host and guest. The 

 rule of Chow is to perform it at the top of the western steps, 

 treating the dead as if he were a guest." 



That the custom of surrounding the sepulchres of mighty 



kings is of remote origin throughout the East is evident 



from what we know of the funeral ceremonies practised at 



the time of the invasion of Western Asia by the Scythians, 



625 B.C. Thus the Chakravartins, a branch of the great 



Scythian race, or Sakas, were styled the Wheel-kings — in 



fact, Kings of the Circle — i.e., monarchs who ruled all within 



the chakra of rocks supposed to surround the world. 



Hence, as the symbol of universal authority, the tombs of 



these kings, after their cremation and certain recognised 



ceremonies, were surrounded by a circular range of rocks or 



unhewn stones — in fact, amorpholiths, to signify that they 



were Lords of the Universe. So Sakya Buddha requested 



that he should be buried according to the rules of the 



Chakravartins, i.e., that his remains — after undergoing 



certain prescribed ceremonies — should be burned, and his 



tomb erected in the method known among the Sakas or 



Sakyas, viz., by raising over his ashes a vast mound of 



earth, and surrounding it with the usual emblems of 



authority — the circle of amorpholiths. How fully this rule 



was attended to in the erection of topes or stupas is too well 



known to need illustration. These topes or stupas were at 



first only mounds of earth, included within a circular 



wooden rail or ring of steles, as we find in India and Ceylon. 



But when the munificence of Asoka was brought to bear on 



the subject, these old and barbarous mounds were destroyed, 



and topes faced with stone — in many instances magnificently 



wrought and ornamented — came into date. But in these 



the original idea was never lost sight of; they are all 



designed to indicate the authority of a universal monarch — 



