75 



Thirdly, Kassapo, the chief of the world, seated on the site of this very 

 seat, vouchsafed to accept this spot, of ground. I too, Gotamo Buddha, of 

 the Sakyarace, the chief of men, seated on this seat, enjoyed holy rest.' " 



Here, plainly, there is an entire absence of reference to any- 

 thing that is in any way connected with the Foot-print; an omission, 

 the significance of which is all the more remarkable, because of 

 the terms in which the rest of the holy places are spoken of. The 

 sites of all these places, it is alleged, were visited by Buddha with 

 his attendant train of five hundred priests, on the self-same day. 

 At each place, entering into a state of profound and holy abstrac- 

 tion, he foresaw, on the spot, what centuries later would there be 

 done, in the erection of Dagobas, the planting of the Bo-tree, &c, 

 and the veneration with which each would be regarded as having 

 been sanctified by his presence. The narrative is marvellous 

 enough to satisfy the cravings of the most credulous, but with all 

 its statements that partake of the miraculous and supernatural, it is 

 nevertheless an exceedingly valuable one, inasmuch as it shews 

 what were considered the holy places at the time it was written, 

 and that amongst them the Foot-print had no place, — that, in fact, 

 its existence was then unknown. 



The Buddhists of Ceylon affirm that the Founder of their religion 

 visited the Island on three several occasions; and the Dipawansa, 

 the Mahawanso, and other native works have much to say concern- 

 ing these visits ; but the conclusion that their statements are 

 wholly groundless, a conclusion arrived at by such writers as the 

 Rev. Spence Hardy,* and Professor Edward E. Salisbury f is one 

 sustained by internal evidence furnished by the Mahawanso itself, 

 as well as by that derivable from other sources. 



* Vide article "On the Language and Literature of the Sinhalese," published 

 in the C. B. R. A. Society's Journal for 1846. 



Memoir of Buddhism, Journ. Am. Or. Soc. vol. i. p. 106. 



