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Now, supposing that about 236 a. b. there had been any founda- 

 tion, either legendary or traditional, for the assertion, in the first 

 chapter of the Mahawanso, that Buddha had, on the occasion of his 

 third visit to Ceylon, left his Foot-print on the summit of the 

 Samantakuta, some allusion to that circumstance would assuredly 

 have been made by Mahinda, in the various discourses he had with 

 the king, which are reported in the 14th and following chapters. 

 But such is not the case. The alleged visits are fictions ; the 

 inventions, most probably, of the zealous Mahinda, aided by the 

 astute Sumana, who knew so well how the relics of Buddha had 

 been distributed, that when the king was led by Mahinda to ask 

 for them, he was ready at once to make miraculous journeys to 

 Magadha, the Himalayas, and the court of Sakko, the devo of devos 

 or king of gods, to procure them : — all which, says the historian, 

 he did; and had the relics ready for the king on the afternoon of 

 the same day on which he inquired after them. Further, had there 

 been a belief amongst Buddhists, at the time of Mahinda's visit, of 

 the existence of such a Foot-print, there would have been no reason 

 for that thero's lament to the king, that there was no object in the 

 land to which offerings could be made. 



But we have still stronger and more conclusive evidence upon 

 this subject in the sacred Pitakas — the very fountain head and source 

 of all the authentic information we possess concerning Buddha and 

 the origin of Buddhism. These, consisting of the Vinaya, the Sutra, 

 and the Abhidhamma, contain the discipline, and the discourses of 

 Gautama, and the pre-eminent truths of his doctrines. That these 

 works were partly collected and reduced to writing during the 

 lifetime of Buddha, there are strong grounds — perhaps the strongest 

 possible — for believing, notwithstanding the assertions of Sinhalese 

 Buddhist historians to the contrary.* The art of writing, hiero- 



* With reference to this subject, the importance of which in its bearings upon 



