THE STATURE OF GOTAMA BUDDHA. 



93 



4. The same with a fringe of twenty-seven inches, 

 equal to six and three-quarter feet by five feet seven and-a- 

 half inches, would render its size unreasonably large :— 



5. An under shift nine by four and-a-half feet ; 



6. A bath-cloth, ten feet one and-a-half inches by five 

 feet seven and-a-half inches ; 



7. The same for a priestess, six and three-quarter feet 

 by three feet four and-a-half inches ; and 



8. Buddha's robe, twenty and one-third ' by thirteen 

 and-a-half feet. 



In confining our remarks to the last case, it may be stated 

 that the length of the robe is to go round the body, and that 

 its width represents the length to which it is to hang down 

 from the neck. If, therefore, Buddha was eighteen feet high 

 according to the standard measure of Buddhagosa, it is quite 

 evident that the prescribed robe of thirteen and-a-half feet 

 would, with the folds round the neck, scarcely reach his ankle 

 when hung from his shoulder, as it should according to 

 rule ; see Vinaya. 



Hence, we are again forced to abandon all the measures 

 founded upon the supposed length of the Mohammedan gas, 

 or the Indian arigula, the Siamese standard, and Buddha- 

 gosa's lineal measure of twenty-seven inches for a span ; 

 and to resort to conjecture founded upon circumstantial 

 evidence, which we shall here notice. 



(i.) Both Buddhist and Brahaman writers are agreed 

 as to vidatthi or vitasthi. being, not "the span," but "the 

 long span." By "long span" is doubtless meant a measure 

 different from the ordinary span, measured by extending 

 " the thumb and the little finger." That difference con- 

 sists, moreover, in the vidatthi being lunger than a span, 

 which may be put down as nine English inches. This is 

 further confirmed by Buddha, who lays down in his Ca- 

 nonical Rules, that the vidatthi meant by him was the 



