kingdom, and committed to each a seal, with which he
should seal its shrine and guard the relic. At
early dawn these eight men come, and after each has
inspected his seal, they open the door. This done,
they wash their hands with scented water and bring
out the bone, which they place outside the vihara,
on a lofty platform, where it is supported on a round
pedestal of the seven precious substances, and covered
with a bell of lapis lazuli, both adorned with rows
of pearls. Its color is of a yellowish white,
and it forms an imperfect circle twelve inches round,
curving upwards to the centre. Every day, after
it has been brought forth, the keepers of the vihara
ascend a high gallery, where they beat great drums,
blow conches, and clash their copper cymbals.
When the king hears them, he goes to the vihara, and
makes his offerings of flowers and incense. When
he has done this, he and his attendants in order, one
after another, raise the bone, place it for a moment
on the top of their heads, and then depart, going
out by the door on the west as they had entered by
that on the east. The king every morning makes
his offerings and performs his worship, and afterwards
gives audience on the business of his government.
The chiefs of the Vaisyas [4] also make their offerings
before they attend to their family affairs. Every
day it is so, and there is no remissness in the observance
of the custom. When all of the offerings are
over, they replace the bone in the vihara, where there
is a vimoksha tope, of the seven precious substances,
and rather more than five cubits high, sometimes open,
sometimes shut, to contain it. In front of the
door of the vihara, there are parties who every morning
sell flowers and incense, and those who wish to make
offerings buy some of all kinds. The kings of
various countries are also constantly sending messengers
with offerings. The vihara stands in a square
of thirty paces, and though heaven should shake and
earth be rent, this place would not move.
Going on, north from this, for a yojana, Fa-hien arrived
at the capital of Nagara, the place where the Bodhisattva
once purchased with money five stalks of flowers,
as an offering to the Dipankara Buddha. In the
midst of the city there is also the tope of Buddha’s
tooth, where offerings are made in the same way as
to the flat-bone of his skull.
A yojana to the northeast of the city brought him
to the mouth of a valley, where there is Buddha’s
pewter staff; and a vihara also has been built at
which offerings are made. The staff is made of
Gosirsha Chandana, and is quite sixteen or seventeen
cubits long. It is contained in a wooden tube,
and though a hundred or a thousand men were to try
to lift it, they could not move it.
Entering the mouth of the valley, and going west,
he found Buddha’s Sanghali, [5] where also there
is reared a vihara, and offerings are made. It
is a custom of the country when there is a great drought,
for the people to collect in crowds, bring out the
robe, pay worship to it, and make offerings, on which
there is immediately a great rain from the sky.