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Art. XXIII.—Two Chinese-Buddhist Inscriptions found at Buddha Gayâ

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

These inscriptions were found among the rubbish surrounding the Great Temple at Buddha-Gayâ; this rubbish had accumulated during the progress of the alterations and improvements carried out by the Burmese deputation who visited the Temple in 1877. Quoting from p. 65 of Dr. Rajendralála Mitra's work on Buddha Gayâ. we learn “that certain Burmese gentlemen, deputed by his Majesty the King of Burmah, arrived at Buddha Gayâ, at the beginning of 1877, and with the sanction of the Mahant, who is the present owner of the Great Temple and the surrounding ground, carried on demolitions and excavations round the temple, which in a manner swept away most of the old land-marks. The remains of the vaulted gateway in front of the temple had been completely demolished and the place cleared out and levelled. The stone pavilion over the Buddhapad had been dismantled and its materials cast aside on a rubbish mound at a distance. The granite plinth beside it had been removed. The sites of the chambers brought to light by Major Mead had been cleared out. The drain-pipe and gargoyle which marked the level of the granite pavement had been destroyed. The foundations of the old buildings noticed by Hiouen Thsang around the Great Temple had been excavated for bricks and filled up with rubbish. The revetment wall round the sacred Bodhi tree had been rebuilt on a different foundation on the West.

Type
Original Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1881

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References

page 558 note 1 Compare Bretschneider, “The Knowledge possessed by the Ancient Chinese of the Arabs” etc. p. 16n.

page 558 note 2 K.T. p. 11. 1.

page 558 note 3 Yih Chau in Chili.

page 560 note 1 The Southern Sea route.

page 564 note 1 In Bretschneider (Arabs, etc.), p. 8, we read that the King of the Ta-shi, hy name Han-mi-mo-mo-ni, in the year 651 sent for the first time an envoy with presents to the Chinese court, and at the same time announced in a letter that the house Ta-shi had reigned 34 years and had had three kings.

page 567 note 1 Nepal has a poisonous medicine which kills many.

page 570 note 1 Chalukya ? Charaka according to Eitel and Stas. Julien.

page 570 note 2 Adityasena (Burgess).

page 572 note 1 But here I-tsing is in error.

page 572 note 2 A stage is equal to a Yojana.