JOURNAL 
OF THE 
ASIATIC SOCIETY. 
a 
Part I—HISTORY, LITERATURE, &. 
eee oe 
No. IV.—1865. 

Report of the Proceedings of the Archeological Surveyor to the Govern- 
ment of India for the Season of 1862-63.—By Major-General 
A. Cunninenam, Archeological Surveyor to the Govt. of India. 
[Received 3rd Feb., 1865. ] [Read 1st March, 1865.] 
(Continued from page 193.) 
IX.—SANKISA. 
235. The site of Sankisa was discovered by me in 1842 ; but it was 
not until the end of 1862 that I got an opportunity of exploring the 
ruins at leisure. The name of the place is written Seng-kia-she by the 
Chinese pilgrims, a spelling which is well preserved in the Sankisa of 
the present day, and which represents with considerable faithfulness 
the Sangkdsya of Sanskrit. Hwen Thsang calls it also by the name of 
Kie-pi-tha, or Kapitha, of which I was unable to discover any trace. 
_ Sankisa was one of the most famous places of Buddhist pilgrimage, as 
it was there’ that Buddha was believed to have descended from the 
Trayastrinsa heaven by a ladder of gold or gems, accompanied by the 
: gods Indra and Brahma. According to this éurious legend, Wdyd, the 
mother of Buddha, died seven days after his birth, and ascended at once 
to the Trayastrinsa heaven, the abode of the 33 gods, of whom Indra 
was the chief. But as she had no opportunity in this abode of the gods 
of hearing the law of Buddha, her pious son ascended to the Trayas- 
trinsa heaven, and preached for three months in her behalf. He then 
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