1858.] Buddhism and Odinism. 53 



or "a tumulus." This word has been altered aud abridged, so that 

 the people of Hindustan and Afghanistan now call these monuments 

 topes : in Afghanistan they are also called lurj or " towers." In 

 Ceylon they are called tupa ; but more frequently dagola, a word 

 altered from the Sanskrit dhatugopa, that is the receptacle of preci- 

 ous relics. In Tibet they bear the name of chostin or clilwdtin. 



"The following legend contains a description of the Stupa and 

 may be taken as its beau ideal. 



'At that time, in the presence of Bhagavat, (Buddha) in the 

 middle of the assembly which was facing him, from the South, there 

 arose a stupa of seven precious substances;* it was five hundred 

 yojanas in height, and of a proportionate circumference. It was 

 raised high in the air, and seemed as if suspended from the skies ; 

 it was handsome and pleasing to the sight, ornamented with five 

 thousand balconies, and strewed over with flowers, embellished with 

 many thousands of doors, with thousands of standards and flags, and 

 surrounded with thousands of garlands made of precious stones . 

 having a belt made of cotton cloths and little bells, and the whole 

 was redolent to a great distance with the perfume of the sandal and 

 of the leaves of the tamala. The line of umbrellas with which the 

 edifice was surmounted reached the habitations of the gods.'f 



" To this legend, which describes the ideal, we will add what Mr. 

 Cunningham says of the real tope. 



"The tope" says he, "is a solid hemispherical building, varying 

 in grandeur from the great chaitya of Sanchi, which has a diametet- 

 of 106 feet, to the smallest atBhojpur, the diameter of which is only 

 six feet. The most ancient topes were simple hemispheres, as the 

 great chaitya of Sanchi, which dates probably six centuries before 

 the era of Jesus Christ. This was continued to the period of 

 the Bhilsa topes which date from the end of the third century of 

 our era. In these, the hemisphere is raised some feet (from the 

 ground) on a plinth, by the addition of a cylindrical portion The 

 topes of the third class are found in Afghanistan, and are not older 

 than the commencement of the Christian era. In them, the hemis- 



diamonds .' S ° ld ' SilVer ' ^ kZUlij meraldj ^ W red P«* Cral ?) and 

 t Lotus de la bonne loi, p. 145. 



