THE BUDDHA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 772, 22 March 1910, Page 7

THE BUDDHA.

RECENTLY-DISCOVERED REMAINS. PRESENTED TO BURMA. By Telejraph—Prees AB6oeiation-Copyrlghl London, March 20. The Viceroy of India, the Earl of Minto, presented to a Burmese delegation a golden casket containing the relics of Buddha, recently discovered at Peshawar. Lord Minto expressed a hope that pilgrims would come to : Man< dalay (the Burmese capital) from all parts of the world. THE LOST PACODA. THREE FRAGMENTS OF BONE.\ Excavations carried on under the direction o£ Dr. D. H. Spooper, Super* imtendent of the Frontier Circle of the Indian Archaeological' Survey, upon two large mounds outside Peshawar city recently yielded results of the mostprofound interest not only to archaeologists but the many millions of Asiatics ..'■_ profess the Buddhist faith. T):,- uiscovery is of a portion of the remains of the founder of that faith, and owes it origin to suggestions made by the famous French archaeologist, M. Foucher, in the course of. a scientific tour made ■through tih© India frontier a few years ago.

Contending Claimants. It is a well-attested fact that on the, death of Gauama Buddha his body was burned, the relics were distributed: among a number of contending claim-' ants, and monumental tumuli were erected to preserve them. Among the many monuments mentioned by Hieun. Tsang and other Chinese pilgrims ■ of the early centuries of oui\ era, by far the most famous and magnificent was the great pagoda or stupa at PurushapuTa of the Kushan Emperor Kanishka, wherein holy relics of . Gautama were enshrined. Tho , monastery at<. tached to tie stupa was considered to be almost, if not quite, the most important in India. ■ But, '' despite' the. sanctity of the relics and the arch> tectural grandeur of the pagoda, all' trace of, the shrine was lost after t3ie : invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni, and the very, location, was forgotten; Hap' pily, however,_ Hieun Tsang, always; very careful in \ recording names and distances,' mentioned the; distance of the temple from-other landmarks, : so that it wasonly a-matter of'calculation, once the landmarks had been cated, where to discover the sight_ of the temple. Endeavours of Orientalists in modern times to trace the line of' Hieun Tsang's journey in Northern In-, dia, with a view to. discovering the site, of the pagoda have: failed, , "owing to the great similarity in the contour of the Peshawar and Hazara Hills. M. Foucher, in the course of his investigations, noticed a couple of mounds lying in the fields east of Peshawar' city, andcameto the conclusion.by a brilliant chain of reasoning that these must mark tie; site of the famous monument at Prirashapura. .Two.years ago the Archaeological Department determined to explore the-site. The result of the first year's.work.was.alto-. gather inconclusive; but the excavation , later resulted in the confirmation of the. hypothesis of the French 6avant. Buried under the: lesser; of tie two mounds, Dr. Spooner has found remains of an enormous, monument which proves to be-the lost pagoda, so minutely described by the Chinese trav.ellers. : . .". '-,- .-.1,.-',,-... . ■•■ .-•■

Relic Chamber Discovered. r. , V r : . After much hard work a relic chamber was discovered. Its contents included a metal .casket, and within it a reliquary of rock crystal. The outside of the casket is decorated with delicately-carved Kharoshthi inscriptions and Buddhistic figures. The most important inscription runs: "Homage of the .teachers of the Sarvasivadin Sect"—the sect which is known to have conveyed one portion of the remains of Gautama to the north. In a corner is the signature of the' Greek maker of thp casket,- one :Agesilaus,/who describes himself/as the "superintending engineer".of the monastery. ' Incidentally the. casket throws much light on the disputed question of the condition of art in the reign of Kanishka,_ and supports the view that Gandhari art was already in its decline at this period. The contents of the reliquary consist of three small fragments of bone packed tightly together, and originally covered by a clay seaJing bearing an impress of what is doubtless ;the Royal signet. '. As the "Pioneer", observes, the fact that. the loftiest &ni most magnificent monument of ancient India should have been .deemed' necessary for the- worthy preservation of those tiny fragments of bone ■js striking evidence, of .the sanctity in which they wereheld,' and strongly .confirmsthe assertionof Hieun Tsang- that thej , are relics of Gautama. .. : ■'-'.-. .

The questipn of the disposal of thesj relics is of no small importance,- seeing, that the adoration of the statues of the Buddha and of his relics is the chief external ceremony of the religion ho founded. We have only .to consider the intense veneration in which the alleged tooth of Gautama in the temple at Kandy is held-to recognise that an ordinary museum cannot be regarded aa the, appropriate destination of these authenticated remains. And in this connection it should not be forgotten that the number of Buddhists in In= dia proper is very small. Of the; 9i million Buddhists in the Indian Empire at the last census less than 300,000 were enumerated outside Burma.