Thus were there eight mounds [Thupas] for the remains, and one for the vessel, and one for the embers.  This was how it used to be.  Eight measures of relics there were of him of the far-seeing eye, of the best of the best of men.  In India seven are worshipped, and one measure in Ramagama, by the kings of the serpent race.  One tooth, too, is honored in heaven, and one in Gandhara’s city, one in the Kalinga realm, and one more by the Naga race.  Through their glory the bountiful earth is made bright with offerings painless, for with such are the Great Teacher’s relics best honored by those who are honored, by gods and by Nagas and kings, yea, thus by the noblest of monarchs—­bow down with clasped hands!  Hard, hard is a Buddha to meet with through hundreds of ages!

End of the Book of the Great Decease

PYTHIAN GAMES AT DELPHI

B.C. 585

GEORGE GROTE

Among the leading features of Greek life, especially those belonging to its religious customs and observances none are more characteristic, and none possess a more attractive interest for the modern reader and student than the peculiar festivals which it was their practice to hold.  The four great national festivals or games were:  The Olympic, held every four years, in honor of Zeus, on the banks of the Alpheus, in Elis; the Pythian, celebrated once in four years, in honor of Apollo, at Delphi; the Isthmian, held every two years, at the isthmian sanctuary in the Isthmus of Corinth, in honor of Poseidon (Neptune); and the Nemean, celebrated at Nemea, in the second and fourth years of each Olympiad, in honor of the Nemean Juno.

With regard to the influence of these games or festivals upon the political and social life of Greece, much has been written by historians and special students of the Grecian states.  While the celebrations do not appear to have accomplished much for the political union of Greece, they are to be credited with marked beneficial effects in the promotion of a pan-Hellenic spirit which, if it failed to produce such a union of the Greek race, nevertheless quickened and strengthened the common feeling of family relationship.  Thus a sense of their identical origin and racial traits was kept alive, and the tendencies of Greek development and culture preserved their essential character and distinction.  By means of these periodical gatherings, representing all parts of the Greek world, not only was friendly competition in every field of talent and performance secured, but even trade and commerce found through them new channels of activity.  So in various ways the national games proved a source of fresh energy and broader enterprise among the various branches of the Grecian people.  The particular character and significance of the Pythian games at Delphi, and their relation to the other national festivals, form an interesting