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JOUENAL, K.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. X 



to either the tree or the serpent. Be this as it may, no one can, I 

 think, look at this bas-relief without perceiving that the tree and the 

 serpent are coequal, and that they are being worshipped by a people 

 distinguished by the Naga badge. 



Whenever the details of the Bharhut sculptures are given to the 

 public, every one will, I believe, admit that they form the most important 

 contribution for the illustration of early Buddhist history and art that 

 has been made since James Prinsep, some forty years ago, deciphered 

 the Lat alphabet. In the particular department which I took up some 

 time ago, nothing could be more gratifying to me than the discovery of 

 this Erapatra bas-relief. It forms so complete an epitome of all I 

 wrote in my " Tree and Serpent Worship," and with the other sculptures 

 so completely confirms all I there said, that so soon as I can get a 

 sufficiently good photograph of it, I will have it engraved on a second 

 frontispiece for my work, and so take leave of the subject. The task 

 of carrying the history two centuries further back than my materials 

 allowed me to do, and of completing the pictorial illustrations of the 

 subject, belongs to the fortunate discoverer of Bharhut. In resigning 

 the task to him it is pleasant to think that, though adding so much to 

 our previous stores, the Bharhut sculptures upset nothing that was 

 before advanced. Only what were necessarily theories when I wrote 

 have now become facts, but without invalidating any of the conclusions 

 previously arrived at, or requiring me to retract anything I then 

 advanced. 



Jas. Fergusson. 



38, Clanricarde Gardens, W., December 8, 1874. 



The significance of General Cunninghan's discovery is not limited 

 by its archaeological results. On the contrary, it will be the opinion 

 of many that its archaeological importance is quite eclipsed by its 

 bearing upon the antiquity of the Buddhist records. At a time when 

 scepticism has been carried to the utmost extreme to which it could be 

 pushed without becoming positively ludicrous, up rises this second and 

 better Moabite Stone from the earth, to place the South Buddhist 

 records on a firmer basis than they ever yet occupied. 



The Jataka Nidana, from which I quoted last week, is a summary 

 of the Legend of Buddha, written by Buddhaghosha in the fifth 

 century a.d., and forming his preface to the 550 Jataka stories. It is 

 compiled from older records (Tripi£aka and others) which he frequently 

 mentions by name, referring the reader to them for details of some 

 event of which he merely gives a brief abstract. In the first passage 

 quoted by me last week it will be seen that, in his version of the story 

 of Anathapimftka, he has but briefly mentioned the purchase of the 

 J etavana garden, while he has given details of the building and donation 

 of the monastery. It would be interesting to meet with the original 



