Afterwards, the ground all about became overgrown with vegetation, and there was nobody to sprinkle and sweep about the tope; but a herd of elephants came regularly, which brought water with their trunks to water the ground, and various kinds of flowers and incense, which they presented at the tope.  Once there came from one of the kingdoms a devotee to worship at the tope.  When he encountered the elephants he was greatly alarmed, and screened himself among the trees; but when he saw them go through with the offerings in the most proper manner, the thought filled him with great sadness—­that there should be no monastery here, the inmates of which might serve the tope, but the elephants have to do the watering and sweeping.  Forthwith he gave up the great prohibitions by which he was bound, and resumed the status of a Sramanera.  With his own hands he cleared away the grass and trees, put the place in good order, and made it pure and clean.  By the power of his exhortations, he prevailed on the king of the country to form a residence for monks; and when that was done, he became head of the monastery.  At the present day there are monks residing in it.  This event is of recent occurrence; but in all the succession from that time till now, there has always been a Sramanera head of the establishment.

[Footnote 1:  The bones of the human body are supposed to consist of 84,000 atoms, and hence the legend of Asoka’s wish to build 84,000 topes, one over each atom of Sakyamuni’s skeleton.]

CHAPTER XXIV

Where Buddha Renounced the World

East from here four yojanas, there is the place where the heir-apparent sent back Chandaka, with his white horse; and there also a tope was erected.

Four yojanas to the east from this, the travellers came to the Charcoal tope, where there is also a monastery.

Going on twelve yojanas, still to the east, they came to the city of Kusanagara, on the north of which, between two trees, on the bank of the Nairanjana river, is the place where the World-honored one, with his head to the north, attained to pan-nirvana and died.  There also are the places where Subhadra, [1] the last of his converts, attained to Wisdom and became an Arhat; where in his coffin of gold they made offerings to the World-honored one for seven days, where the Vajrapani laid aside his golden club, and where the eight kings divided the relics of the burnt body:  at all these places were built topes and monasteries, all of which are now existing.

In the city the inhabitants are few and far between, comprising only the families belonging to the different societies of monks.

Going from this to the southeast for twelve yojanas, they came to the place where the Lichchhavis wished to follow Buddha to the place of his pari-nirvana, and where, when he would not listen to them and they kept cleaving to him, unwilling to go away, he made to appear a large and deep ditch which they could not cross over, and gave them his alms-bowl, as a pledge of his regard, thus sending them back to their families.  There a stone pillar was erected with an account of this event engraved upon it.