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The d^was of the four quarters now came, and kept watch on each side ; Sekra kept the fire burning ; Maha Brahma sat above the fireplace, holding an umbrella ; and the d6was of the 10,000 sakwalas brought the most agreeable substances they could find} and put them in the vessel. The wonderful sight presented by the boiling liquid was observed by Sujdtd, who said that such a thing had never been seen before. She then called lier slave Ptimna, and told her to go and sweep carefully the ground near the tree. The slave ran quickly to the place, and saw ohe prince sitting, resplendent with the six rays, so that he seemed to be all of gold ; and as she thought it was the d6wa of the tree, who had come to receive the intended offering in his own person, she went and informed her mistress. Suj&td was greatly pleased with this intelligence, and said, that as Pdmna had been the bearer of in- formation so important, she would adopt her as her eldest 172 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. daaghter, and give her ornaments soited to her rank. Then pat- ting on her most costly garments, she ponred the rice- milk into a golden vessel, worth a lac of treasure, with a golden cover ; and placing it npon a traj of the same precious material, she carried it upon her head to the tree, accompanied by a procession of 16,000 maidens. When she saw the prince, her joy was further increased ; and she approached him dancing, to present the food she had prepared. On its being ofEered, he looked behind for the alms-bowl given to him by Maha Brahma, but it had vanished ; and as he had nothing in which to receive it, Suj&t& took o£E the cover of the vessel, and presented it to him as an alms-bowl. She afterwards brought perfumed water that he might wash his hand ; and saying, '* The wish of my heart is accomplished ; may your wish be accomplished as well ;" she went away. It was in the time of Piyumatura Budha that phe became wishful to have the opportunity of making the rice-offering to a Bddhisat ; and from that period, through the whole of a kaplaksha, she was preserved, through the merit obtained by this wish, from being born in hell. After receiving the food, the prince arose, and taking his alms- bowl he went to the river Niranjara ; and after the nxanner of former Budhas, as he perceived what they had done, he bathed at a place called Supratishtita, and then sat down, with his face to- wards the east ; and having divided the food in his bowl into forty-nine portions, being one for each day he had afterwards to fast, he ate it on the bank of the river. At the conclusion of the repast, he reflected that he must now, in the order of events, cast the alms-bowl into the river,* and that if it swam against the stream, it would be an evidence that he was upon that day to be- come Budha. When the bowl was thrown, it floated like a ship into the middle of the stream: and then, like a swift horse, it proceeded against the stream to the distance of 80 (or, as some authorities say, 87) cubits, and then sank. After this it descended to the 16ka of the naga king, Maha E^aland, with a tinkling noise, where it remained, surmounting the bowls of the three former Budhas. When Kdlan^ heard the noise, he said, " Yesterday a supreme Budha appeared ; the day before that a supreme Budha appeared ; to-day a supreme Budha will appear," This was said because a day in a naga-16ka is a Budhdntara. * On the day that Xerxes passed the Hellespont, he poured a libation into the sea from a golden vessel, and then threw the Tessel into the water, together with a golden goblet. — Herod, yu. 54. VII. LEGENDS OF G(5tAMA BUDHA. 173 From the river, Sidhirtta went to a forest on its bank,* and sat down at the foot of a sal-tree, where he remained the rest of the dajr, during which period he gained the five Bupematnral en- dowments, pancha-abhignyd, and practised the eight modes of abstract meditation, ashta-samdpatti. From the sal- tree to the b6-tree, soon to become so illustrions, the dewas made an orna- mented path, 3000 cubits broad, and at night the prince proceeded along its course, attended by a vast concourse of d^was, nagas, and other beings. On his way, he was met by the brahman Santi, who gave him eight bundles of kusa grass, as he knew that they would be required, and prove a great beneGt. On approaching the b6-tree, the prince first went to the south side, and looked towards the north ; but the southern sakwalas appeared to him as if depressed, and the northern as if raised. He then went to the western side, and looked towards * This country was afterwards called Budha Ghija. It was (ompleiely deserted when yisited by Fa Hian, who caUs it Kia ye. Hiuan Thsatlg savs that the town is situated in a very strong position, but he found verj few inbabitaAts. A few hundred yards west of the Nilajan river, in a plain of great extent, about fire miles from Gaya Proper, there are remarkable remains, that now consist of confused heaps of brick and stone, exhibiting traces of having been once regularly arranged. There is a building called the temple of Budha, built of bnck, and lofty, resembling at a distance a huge glasB-hou^e (probably a dagoba), and now so honej-combed with age as to excite surprise that it continues erect. The religion of Budha may be con- sidered as completely extinct in this neighbourhood, but a few pilgrims come occasionally from distant countries to visit its monuments. On the terrace behind the temple a peepul tree is growing, which the Hindus suppose to have been planted by Brahma. It is supposed by the Budhists that it is exactly in the centre of the earth. In 1812 this tree was in full vigour, and appeared to be about 100 years of age ; but a simUar one may haV6 existed in the same place when the temple was entire ; a cireular elevation of brick has been raised round its root, in various concentric circles, and on one end of these has been placed a confused heap of images and carved fragments of stone, taken from the ruins. Indeed the number of images scattered about this place, for 15 or 20 miles in all directions, is almost incredible ; yet they all appear to have originally belonged to the great temple or its vicinity, which seems to have been the grand quarry for the whole, and carried from thence to different places. Many of these images are now worshipped by the Brahmanical Hindus. Besides inscriptions establishing the Budhist origin of many of these images, they may be distinguished by the enormous fixe and distension of their eart, and also by a mark on the palm of the hand and soles of the feet (the chakra). — Hamilton's Gazetteer. The statement is true that the Bndhists believe the b<5-tree to be in the centre of Jambtid- wfpa. The Checks had a similar superstition relative to Delphi, which they called umbilicus terrte. They said that two bi^s were sent oy Jupiter, one from the east and the other from the west, in order to ascertain the true centre of the earth, which met at Delphi. In 1883, 1 saw the Greek Chris- tians, in the Chureh of the Sepulchre at Jerusalem, offer lights to a short marble pillar, under the supposition that it stands in the centre of the world. 174 A MANUAL OF BUDHISM. the east ; but the eastern sakwaJas appeared as if lowered, and the western as if elevated. He next went to the northern side, and looked towards the south, but in these directions also similar appearances were presented. By these tokens he knew that none of these sides were adapted to his purpose, as thej wanted sta* bility ; he tKeref ore went to the eastern side of the trees and looked towards the west ; and as the side on which he stood was fixed and firm, he there remained. This was the place where the former Budhas overcame Mara, and all evil desire was de- stroyed.* Therefore, in the same place he threw down the bundles of kusa grass he had received from the brahman, and at * In 1833, Budha G-aya was yisited hy two Burmese envoys from the king of Ava, accompanied by Captain Q-. Bumej. In the 20th volume of the Asiatic Researches, there is a '* Translation of an Inscription in the Burmese language," discovered at that time, in the court of the monastery called Guru Math.