CEYLON BKAXCH ROVAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



95 



the utmost difficulty that the inhabitants can obtain a scanty 

 subsistence. But the under surface of the earth is like 

 virgin honey. Is it advisable that I should turn the earth 

 over, so that the priests may be fed with the nutritious sub* 

 stance of the under surface ? But, Moggalana, if you do 

 this, what will become of the inhabitants of the world ? He 

 replied, My Lord, I will cause a miraculous extension of one 

 of my hands, so as to collect in that, all the inhabitants of 

 the world, while with the other hand, I will invert the earth. 

 Budha expresses no doubt respecting the nutritious nature of 

 the under surface of the earth, nor of the power of his dis- 

 ciple to hold all the inhabitants in one hand, while with the 

 other he turned the world upside down, but merely observed, 

 It is not necessary, Moggalana ; I am not desirous that you 

 should invert the earth ; it will occasion much uneasiness and 

 distress to its inhabitants. Very good, My Lord, shall I 

 then take the assembled priests to Uttarakura, that they 

 may there obtain food ? It is not necessary, Moggalana, I 

 do not approve of your taking the whole of the priests to 

 Uttarakura to obtain food.* 



About the same period the other chief priest, Sariputta, 

 meditated in private on the reasons why the priestly order 

 (@cdSE)^ao bramachariyan, course of purity) instituted by 

 some Budhas, continued to exist during a long period, while 

 under other Budhas it was but of short duration. In the 



* "A few words may be necessary in explanation, Bndhistical writers repre- 

 sent the system of the earth, including the sun, moon and stars, as being 1 like a 

 large bowl, the sides of which form a circle of solid rock, rising 82,000 yoduns 

 above the surface of the sea, and being 3,610,350 yoduns in circumference : the 

 yodun being, according to Singhalese measurement, 16 miles in length, or about 

 13 miles English. In the centre is placed the mountain Maha Meru, which is 

 1 60,000 yoduns high, 84,000 yoduns being submerged, and 84,000 rising above 

 the surface of the sea. This is surrounded by seven rocky circles, each being 

 half the height of the one preceding it, measuring from Maha Meru, the centre, 

 towards the circumference. Between the last of these circles and the rocky circle 

 terminating the system, four great Continents are placed, each one having 500 

 islands attached to it, and separated from each other by stormy seas, so as to be 



