01 G A few Gleanings in Buddhism* [Dec. 



A. B. 1587. (A. D. 1044.)— Parrakoum Bahvi Raja and the Ther6 

 Kassapa convocated 1000 priests and got them to translate into the 

 Magadha language the Trai Pi/wk. 



A. B. 855 (A. D. 312) Buddha's tooth was conveyed to Lanka. 

 In the Mahawanso this is reported to have happened in the 9th year 

 of the reign of the Ceylonese sovereign Tirimeghawanno, who as- 

 cended the throne in 845, A. B., so that the difference is only ten 

 years betwixt the two accounts. 



A. B. 433. (B. C. 110). — The Panchama Sangayanai was compiled 

 or written by order of Wajjagamini or Wattagamini. I do not find this 

 mentioned in the Mahawanso. 



A. B. 1000, (A. D. 457.) — In this year Anurudha arrived at Lanka 

 [q. from the Indian continent] and having had all the sacred books 

 copied he shipped them on board of two vessels and returned. 



This Milin is, I think, the same as an Indian work which I have seen 

 quoted as the Milinda Raja. This one in my possession is headed 



s z$&S'&§ Milithara, and Milintha Raja, is stated to have been the 

 grandson of Punarathewa (Deva), who was (king) of Sagala nagara. 

 He built a Degoba on the banks of the Ganges. I believe that it contains 

 chapters on subjects not usually found in Pauranas. But its general 

 purport appears to me to support the statement given in the Asiatic 

 Researches* that the writings of the heretical sects of Hindus [meaning 

 I suppose Buddhists] exhibit quotations from the Vedas, or they might 

 have been quotations from books directly received or brought from Persia. 

 However, as the book is chiefly in the form of dialogues betwixt a king, 

 Milintha Raja, and a priest (of Buddha), it is most likely that they 

 are the same as the Milinda Raja describes. If I can meet with a 

 Siamese priest sufficiently learned in the Pali to be a scholastic guide, 

 I may perhaps be able hereafter to include this in an abstract or cata- 

 logue of the Pali works in my possession, and those which I may yet 

 procure, for at present I have neither a grammar (excepting portions of 

 a Pali one untranslated) nor a dictionary to assist me. But the Veda 

 called Caushitacrf contains two dialogues betwixt Indra and Ratardama, 

 and another in which Ajatasattu, king of Kasi (and a Buddhist) com- 

 municates divine knowledge to a priest named Balasi. 



* A. R. vol. viii. p — . \ Ibid* vol — . p — . 



