168 TRANSLATION OF A BURMESE 



sections. One of the 84,000 temples then constructed is supposed by some Burmese to 

 Lave been this Pdyatha-bhaf, which was re-built and on which this inscription was placed, 

 1430 years after. There are several temples in Burmah mentioned in the Burmese 

 history as having been re-built by dilferent monarchs, on the ruins of those built by 

 Theeri Dhamma. Thauka (■) on this occasion. In the 23d year of this king's reign, 

 in the Burmese sacred era 237 or B. C. 307, the third and last rehearsal of the commu- 

 nications of Gaudama took place at Pdtalipout {-) under the protection of this sovereign 

 and superintendance of Mauggali Poutta-teitha (^). The Burmese history has no 

 account of any king of MagadJia or Central India subsequent to this prince, whose dynasty 

 is supposed to have become extinct with him, as his brother, son and daughter all assumed the 

 priesthood and rejected the throne. The son, prince Maheinda, proceeded to Ceylon 

 and established the Buddhist religion there, and it is curious to observe that according to the 

 native historians of Ceylon, the name of the person who introduced Buddhism into that island 

 is MiHENDOO (*). Theeri Dhamma Thauka reigned forty-three years, between the Bur- 

 mese years 214 and 255, or B. C. 330 and 289. One Burmese history relates, that in conse- 

 quence of his having died in a fit of passion, his soul upon his death entered the body of a 

 large serpent, and that his son, prince Maheinda, having preached to and converted him, 

 he died again and proceeded to the Nat country or celestial regions. But the large Burmese 

 history contradicts this statement and asserts, that his Majesty immediately upon his death 

 proceeded to the Nat country. It is possible, that this tale was invented by the Brahmins, 

 as they tell a similar one of a king of Cashmere, who according to them, was turned into 

 a serpent for having delayed feeding some hungry Brahmins (J) ; — and at all events, the 

 learned will recollect, that some among the ancients believed, that the marrow of the 

 "back hone in a wicked man turned into a huge and fierce serpent. Sir Wm. Jones and 

 Colonel WiLFORD have shown, that Chandra-gupta, or Tsanda-goutta of the 

 Burmese, is the same as the Sandra-goptos, with whom Seleucus entered into 

 alliance, and the learned Colonel has also shewn, that this alliance took place in the year 

 302 B. C, thirteen years after Chandra-gupta had ascended the throne, and that he 

 reigned twenty-four years, and died 292 years before our (s) era. According to the Burmese 



(1) Sri Dharma Asoha. {^) P&taliputra. (^) Mauggallputra. (*) Mahendra. 



C) See M. Joinville's paper on Singhala or Ceylon in the 7th vol. of the Asiatic Researches. 

 (') See Dr. Wilson's paper on the History of Cashmere, p. 22, vol. 15th of the Asiatic Researches. 

 (*) 9th vol. of the Asiatic Researches, octavo edition, p. 96 and 100. 



