214 A. M. Broadley — The Buddhistic Remains of Bihar. [No. 3, 
denial, active benevolence). IV. — That men of all castes and women may 
enjoy the benefits of a religious life. 
The religion, of which these are the principles, spread from the moun- 
tain solitudes of the ltajgir Hills to the remotest parts of Eastern Asia, 
and is at the present day professed by no less than three hundred millions 
of human beings. I have not the slightest intention to dwell even for a 
moment on the details of the Buddhist creed, which have been so eloquently 
and clearly explained and illustrated by Messrs. Beal, Alabaster, and Bishop 
Bigandet, and shall only allude to them again when I come to speak of the 
causes of the ultimate decay and overthrow of the Buddhist faith in Hindu- 
stan. 
All writers who have attempted to gather together the half historical, 
half mythical, facts connected with the life of the great sage of Magadha, 
have agreed in naming Rajgir and N&landa as the scene of many of the epi- 
sodes of his history. 
It appears that at the very commencement of his religious career, he 
was attracted by the wild mountain solitudes which surrounded the Maga- 
dha capital. Alabaster, in his translation of the Siamese Life of Buddha,* gives 
the following poetical account of his arrival at Iiaj agriha. ‘ He entered the 
city, and visited each house he came to, that he might receive alms. As- 
tounded at his beauty, the people crowded round him, wondering who it might 
he. Some said, “ Surely it is the moon flowing from the Eavanaso Asura Rahu, 
how else can we account for his radiant glory ?” Others made other guesses, and 
they could come to no conclusion. So they went and told the king Bimbisara, 
king of Rajagriha, that there was a being in the city whose beauty made 
them doubt whether he were not an angel. Then the king, looking from a 
window of the palace, saw him, and, filled with astonishment, gave orders to 
ascertain who he might be, saying, “ Follow him ! If he is not a human 
being, when he leaves the city, he will disappear ; if he is an angel, he will fly 
through the air ; if a snake king, he will sink into the earth ; hut if a man, 
he will remain and eat his food.” 
< r [’| 10 grand being that was approaching the Buddhaship, calmly con- 
tinued his work, regarding but the small space of earth close around him ; 
and having collected sufficient food, he left the city by the same gate he had 
entered it. 
• He passed on to the Banthawa Hills, and sitting down on the summit 
of a lofty rock, he looked at the food collected in his pan. 
‘ He — who had ever been accustomed to the most dainty meats, the most 
refined delicacies — looked at the mixed mess in his pot and loathed it ; he 
could scarcely swallow it. Yet even this caused no wish to return to his city 
and his palace. 
* P. 135. 
