Nallasopara buddhist stupa , नालासोपारा बुद्ध

In February 1882 the resemblance of the Tower to a Buddhist relic-mound was noticed by Mr. Mulock, the Collector of Thana, and, with his help, the mound was opened by Pandit Bhagvanlal and the writer, in the beginning of April 1882. A passage was cut from east to west, a little to the north of the centre line, so as not to disturb Ramjan Khan's grave. The cutting was made about four feet broad., with a rise about twelve feet from the level of the ground at the outer face of the tower, to the centre, where it is about sixteen feet below the top of the dome. Inside of the dome there was loose earth, and about six feet from the top were found a pair of rusted scissors and an English two-anna piece of 1841, relics of the chemist's plunder. About twelve feet from the top of the dome, that is about a foot below the terrace from which the dome springs, in the centre of the body of the mound, was found the beginning of a carefully built brick-chamber about two feet nine inches square. About two feet nine inches from the top of this chamber, kept in its place' by eight large bricks (1' 7" X 1' X 3�"), was a dark circular coffer about two feet across and a foot and a half deep. This coffer was formed of two equal blocks of smooth yellow trap, closely fitting together in the middle, and ending in a circular convex top and bottom. It looked like two huge grind-atones with bevelled edges. Below the coffer the bricks were strewn with the mouldy remains of sweet-smelling powder. Underneath the relic coffer, the brick-filled chamber, keeping the same size (2' 9" square) and with the same carefully built walls, passed down about twelve feet, when a layer of flat bricks was reached, apparently the foundation of the mound. Unlike the bricks in the relic chamber and on the outer face, which are laid on earth, these foundation bricks seem to be set in cement.

The section of the mound laid bare by the cutting shows an envelope of earth about three feet thick. Inside of this envelope a casing of carefully built bricks rose from twelve to fourteen feet, ending in a horizontal layer or terrace, eighteen feet broad, from which rose a dome of roughly built brick and earth, whose top is so ruined that its original shape cannot be determined. The masonry of the mound seems to have been brick throughout. A good deal of it is rough baked brick laid in layers of clay. But the part of the eastern wall which has been cleared, is faced with large finely baked bricks. As far as was seen, except some moulding near the east entrance and one brick roughly shaped like an elephant, the masonry is plain.

The stone coffer stands seventeen and a half inches high. It is in two equal parts which meet in the middle and fit tightly together. The stone is a light coloured trachytic trap, apparently the same as the trap found in the Nil hill, about a mile east of Sopara, and also near Kurla in Salsette. Their perfect smoothness and the sharp accuracy of their lines seem to show that the two stones that form the relic box were turned on a lathe. The surface has been covered with a black wash of clay with a trace of iron in it, which can be picked off in small flakes about one sixty-fourth of an inch thick. From the rims of the convex top and bottom, the sides curve for about two inches inwards in a groove about an inch deep. Then for three inches they swell to the line of the upper and lower rims, and from that, for about two inches, they again curve gently inwards, with a groove about a quarter of an inch deep, to the middle of the height where the upper and the lower stones, that is the lid and the box, meet. The whole is very massive and of great weight.

On opening the coffer, the lid, which fits very tightly, was found to be kept in its place by a flange or inner rim on the lower stone, an inch thick and an inch higher than the outer rim. The inside measurements of the box or lower stone are nineteen inches across and six and a half inches deep. The inside measurements of the lid or upper stone are twenty-one and a half inches across and five inches deep. In the centre of the box stood an egg-shaped copper casket, about eighteen and a half inches round the middle and six inches high. Round the casket, at about two inches distance, was a circle of eight small copper castings of Buddha, about four inches high by two broad and about two inches apart. The central casket and the images were thick with rust and with what looked like damp brown and grey earth, but was the mouldy remains of sweet-smelling powder which had been scattered over them, about an inch deep. [The composition and the use of this sweet abir powder are given under Sopara in the Appendix.]

Images.

Of the Eight Images the chief, facing the west, is Maitreya or the Coming Buddha. His image is about five inches high by three and a half broad. It is larger than the rest, which, with slight variations, measure about three and a half inches by two and a half. All the figures are seated on flat raised platforms, and over each is a horse-shoe arch or canopy. The chief figure or Maitreya Bodhisattva differs greatly from the rest, whose general character is much alike. His pedestal is higher and it is square instead of oval, his right foot hangs over the edge of the pedestal, he wears ornaments and has a rich conical crown or tiara, his crown is surrounded by a horse-shoe aureole, and his canopy is plain. The other figures are all seated in the usual stiff cross-legged position, wearing a waistcloth and with an upper robe drawn over the left shoulder. The expression of all is calm and unmoved, the hair looks as if close-curled with a knob on the crown, and the ears are heavy and long. The hands are arranged in different positions, two of the positions being repeated. Each figure represents a different Buddha, the plume of leaves that crowns the canopy showing which of the Buddhas each image represents. All are copper castings well-proportioned and clearly and gracefully formed. The ears, though large and heavy-lobed, are not so unshapen or ugly as those of later images. The leaves of the different bodhi trees, which crown the canopies of the different Buddhas, are formed with extreme care and accuracy. This circle of Buddhas means that Maitreya has become Buddha and has come to claim Gautama's bowl, fragments of which are enclosed in the casket. Gautama is ready to hand over the bowl, and the six older Buddhas attend, because it was believed that Gautama's bowl had been handed down as a symbol of office by the six earlier Buddhas. [Details of this story are given in the Appendix. These Buddhas are associated here, as in the Ajanta and Elura caves, probably because they are the eight human or earth-born Buddhas. They belong to different cycles or kalpas. Vipashyi was Buddha ninety-one cycles before the present age; Shikhi and Vishvabhu belong to an age thirty-one cycles old; while Krakuchchhanda, Kanakamuni, Kashyapa, Gautama, and Maitreya are Buddhas of the present cycle, the Mahabhadrakalpa. Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, 97, 98.]

Maitreya Bodhisattva or the Coming Buddha, the chief and largest image, is placed facing the west, because, on becoming Buddha, he will pass through the great eastern gateway, open the relic-chamber, and, from the gold casket, take the fragments of Gautama's bowl. Maitreya is represented as a Bodhisattva or coming Buddha not as a Buddha; as a king not as an ascetic. He is seated on a high pedestal. His right leg is half-drawn across, the foot hanging down, the toe resting on a lotus. The left leg is doubled right across, the heel drawn back close to the body, and the sole half turned up. The right arm is stretched forward, the back of the open hand resting on the right knee in what is known as the Giving Position or Vara-mudra. The left hand, which is raised a little above the elbow, holds with much grace a lotus stem which ends above in three flower heads. He wears a rich conical crown or tiara, and round the crown a detached aureole in shape like a horse-shoe. He wears earrings, two necklaces, a sacred thread, armlets, bracelets, and anklets. Round the waist is a band as if of thick string, and round the hips and hanging in front is a fringed belt. Over his head rises a horse-shoe arch or canopy, with about half-way up a cross-bar or back-rest. [The prophecy about Maitreya is that Gautama's law will last for 5000 years; the law will disappear when his relics are lost. During the first 500 years Gautama's law will be strictly kept; during the next thousand years the law will continue to be nominally respected; then will come 3000 years of in difference,' and 500 years of neglect. Then Maitreya the Merciful, also called Ajita the Unbeaten, will restore faith, and the age of man which had dwindled to ten years will lengthen to 80,000 years, and virtue and peace will return. Koeppen's Buddhism, I. 327. When Gautama became incarnate, his mother saw him come with a lotus in his hand and pass into her side. (Senart, Journal Asiatique, III. 359). This is perhaps the reason why Maitreya carries a lotus in his left hand.] To the visitor's left, facing south-west, is Shakyamuni the last or seventh Buddha. He sits, as he sat when he became Buddha, his left hand laid in the lap with upturned palm, his right arm stretched in front, the palm laid on the. right knee, and the finger tips resting on the pedestal, in the Earth-Touching Position or Bhusparsh-mudra [According to St. Hilaire (Buddhisme, 59), after his nightlong struggle with the evil Mara, as dawn broke, Gautama became Buddha, gained perfect intelligence, and reached to triple knowledge. 'Yes,' he cried, ' I will bring to an end the grief of the world.' Striking the earth with his hand, he said,' May this earth be my witness. She is the dwelling-place of all creatures; she encloses all that moves and all that remains unmoved; she is fair; she will bear witness that I do not lie.' According to a Chinese version (J. R. A. S. XX. 159), in his struggle with Mara, Gautama said, 'My merit must prevail.' Mara, taunting him, asked, 'Who can bear witness to this merit of yours.' Gautama, freeing his right hand from the sleeve of his robe, pointed to the earth. Then the earth was shaken, and the Earth Spirit, leaping forth, cried ' I am his witness.' M. Senart, who has shown (Journal Asiatique, III. 309) how thick a covering of sun poems hides the simple story of Gautama's wrestle with evil, thus explains the Earth-Touching Position. In the sun-myth the touching of the earth by Gautama's hand, which marks the close of his struggle with Mara, is the touching of the earth by the first ray of the rising sun which marks the close of the struggle between night and day.] From the centre of the arched canopy above him rise three sprigs of the peak-leaved pipal, Ficus religiosa, Gautama's Tree of Knowledge or Bodhi Tree. To the left, facing south, is Kashyapa the sixth Buddha. His left hand is laid in his lap with upturned palm like Gautama's left hand, but the right hand is raised to the level of the shoulder and the palm is open with a slightly forward bend in the Blessing Position or Abhaya-mudra. The centre of his canopy is crowned with a tuft of banyan leaves, Ficus indica, Kashyapa's bodhi tree. Next to the left, facing south-east, comes Kanaka the fifth Buddha. Like the image of Shakyamuni he is seated in the Earth-Touching position, the left hand laid open in the lap, and the palm of the right hand on the knee, the finger tips resting on the ground. The two twigs of the udambara fig, Ficus glomerata, that crown his canopy, show that he is Kanaka-muni. Next to the left, facing east, comes Krakuchchhanda the fourth Buddha. He sits cross-legged with both hands in his lap, the back of the right hand laid in the palm of the left in the Thinking Position or Dhyan-mudra, also known as the Lotus-seated Position or Padmasan-mudra. The leaves that crown his canopy are apparently of the sirisha, Acacia sirisa, the bodhi tree of Krakuchchhanda. Next to the left, facing north-east, comes Vishvabhu the third Buddha. He is seated cross-legged like Maitreya in the Giving Position or Vara-mudra, the left hand with upturned palm laid in the lap, the right arm stretched in front, and the hand open and turned down, the back resting on the right knee. Unlike the other figures, he has an aureole which fills the space between his head and the canopy. The canopy is crowned with a bunch of leaves, and there are leaves on each side of the head. According to the Ceylon books, Vishvabhu's tree is the sal, Shorea robusta. But these are not sal leaves, but apparently patali, Bignonia suaveolens, leaves, which, according to the Ceylon books, is the badge of Vipashyi the first Buddha. The next image,facing north, is Shikhi the second Buddha. He sits cross-legged in the Thinking Position, or Padmasan-mudra, the hands with upturned palms laid on the lap, the right hand resting on the left hand. The tuft of leaves that crowns his canopy is apparently of the white lotus or pundarik, which, according to Ceylon books, is Shikhi's badge. The last image, facing north-west, is Vipashyi the first Buddha. He sits cross-legged in the Teaching Position or Dharmachakra-mudra, the hands raised to the chest, the tip of the left little finger caught between the points of the right thumb and forefinger. His canopy is crowned by a central bunch and two side plumes of leaves, much like the leaves of the ashok tree, Jonesia asoka. This agrees with the sculptures in the Bharhut Stupa (B.C. 200), but not with the Ceylon books which make Vipashyi's badge, the patali or Bignonia suaveolens. [A description of the corresponding eight Buddhas in Ajanta Cave XVII, is given in the Appendix.]

Inside of the copper casket was a silver casket, the space of about half an inch between them being filled with dimmed and verdigris-stained gold flowers,a handful of caked abir powder, some loose jewels, a small gold plate with a pressed-out stamp of a teaching Buddha, and a small silver coin. Inside of the silver casket, strewn with tarnished gold flowers, was a stone casket with sharp true lines as if turned on a lathe. Inside of the stone casket was a crystal casket, and, inside of the crystal casket, covered with bright sparkling gold flowers, was a gold spire-topped box, filled with small pieces of earthenware covered with fresh gold spangles. These shreds of earthenware, the relics in whose honour the mound was built, seem to be pieces of a begging or drinking bowl.

Copper Casket.

The copper casket weighs one pound six ounces seven dwts. and is worth about 10�d. (annas 7). It is plain and nearly egg-shaped, about eighteen and a half inches round the middle, and about a sixteenth of an inch thick. It stands about six inches high, of which about one-half is body and one-half is lid. The body is plain and bowl-shaped with a flat bottom. The lid which is slightly conical is girt with two rings of hollow moulding about an inch and a half apart. Round the middle, where the lid meets the bowl, runs a third hollow moulding. The casket has a rough hinge behind, and in front was fastened by a round-headed copper staple passed through three heavy copper rings. Inside of the copper casket, between it and the sides of the silver casket, were about three hundred gold flowers of seven different sorts, weighing in all about 480 grains and worth about �4 (Rs. 40). [These gold flowers were much dimmed and spoilt by damp and verdigris. There were 165 eight-petalled lotus flowers, some with clear marked veins, 830 touch, and worth about Rs. 14-5; and a second packet with about 135 flowers, of six varieties, Weighing 318 grains, 720 touch, and worth about Rs. 24-10-0. In this second packet were 89 bakuli or Mimusops elengi flowers, ten four-petalled flowers, ten jesamine buds, seven thick eight-petalled flowers, seven many-petalled flowers, and seven flowers with eight alternate large and small petals. The flowers have been cleaned and their weight, touch, and value ascertained through the kindness of Colonel White, the Master, and Captain Martin, the Deputy Assay Master of the Bombay Mint.]

The Coin.

Among the flowers was a small silver coin, fresh and clear, which Pandit Bhagvanlal has deciphered to be a coin of Gotamiputra II. of the Shatakarni dynasty, who is believed to have reigned about A.D. 160.

The coin weighs thirty-four grains. On the obverse is a well-made male head looking to the right. The head-dress consists of a strap with a bunch of pearls on the forehead; on the temple locks of combed hair fall over the strap, and behind the head hangs a string knotted at the end, probably a braided lock of hair. From the ear hangs a three-ringed ear ornament, one ring below another, falling to the neck. The beard and moustache are shaven, and the face looks about forty years of age. Around the face is a legend in ancient Nagari characters, much like the characters used in contemporary Nasik and Kanheri cave inscriptions. The legend reads ' Siri Yana Satakanisa rano Gotamiputasa,' that is 'Of the illustrious Yajna Shatakarni, the king Gotamiputra.' Yajnashri's title, as given in the Nasik and Kanheri cave inscriptions, is Rano Gotamiputasa siri Yana Satakanisa, that is 'Of king Gotamiputra the illustrious Yajna Shatakarni.' The legend should, therefore, be read first from above the head to the mouth, and again from the back of the neck to the middle of the head. The reverse has in the middle a pyramidal symbol of a chaitya or relic-shrine composed of three tiers, the lowest of three circles the middle of two and the highest of one. On the top is a large circular tee. To the left is the usual Shatakarni and Ujain coin-symbol, of four circles joined by two cross lines. Above these two symbols are a sun with rays and a crescent moon, and below them is a zigzag serpent-like line. Round the symbols is the legend in characters exactly the same as on the obverse, and round the legend is a dotted circle. The die on this side is imperfect, as the coin- seems to have slipped while it was being stamped. Six letters of the legend are only partly shown. The letters that appear entire are ' Gotamiputa Kumaru Yana Satakani.' Of the six letters, of which only the lower parts appear, the sixth is evidently so, and the other letters from their lower parts seem to' make Chaturapana. In the absence of another specimen of this coin with the legend entire, the legend on the reverse may be read Chaturapanasa Gotamiputa Kumaru Yana Satakani, that is Yajna Shatakarni son of Gotami, prince of Chaturapana. Chaturapana is the proper name of Yajnashri's father. [Chaturapana Vasishthipntra is also mentioned in a Nanaghat inscription. See above, p. 288. The fact that he is there called son of Vashishthi leaves no doubt that he is a Shatakarni king, probably the brother of Vasishthiputra Pulumavi (A.D. 130), Ptolemy's Siri Polemios who ruled at Paithan near Ahmadnagar in the Deccan.] As the coin is struck in imitation of the Kshatrapa coins which give the name of the father, and as the Shatakarnis were always called after their mothers, care has been taken to give the names of both father and mother. The workmanship of the coin is good. The style is copied from the coins of the Kshatrapas, the points of difference being the bare head, the locks of hair on the temples, and the long braid of plaited hair that falls behind.

Besides the coin, there was a small gold plate with a pressed out image of a teaching Buddha, a piece of silver wire about two inches long and nearly a sixty-fourth of an inch thick, and a little patch of gold leaf about three-eighths of an inch square. There were also small cakes of mouldy abir powder, and forty-five loose beads, a few of them glass, but mostly amethysts, berylls, and crystals, varying in size from a pigeon's egg to a pea, but all of them poor in colour and quality, together not worth more than a few rupees.

Stones.

Fourteen of the stones were undrilled and thirty-one were drilled. Among the undrilled stones were three berylls, one (about �" x 7/16 ") very clear and of an irregular egg shape. A second (about 5/16" x 3/16") was six-sided and flat, and a third was a six-sided tube (about 7/16"X 3/16"). Three were crystals, one a small broken half bead, a second a long rounded bead (�" x 3/8"), the third very clear and roughly heart-shaped (9/16" x 7/16^"). One was a flat six-sided amethyst (3/8" x �"), another was a small clearly polished carbuncle about five-sixteenths of an inch long. Besides these there were three fragments of rough green glass, and a fourth larger stone (about 5/16" x �"), spoilt by verdigris, of a green bottle-glass colour. [Pandit Bhagvanlal's explanation of the object of placing these stones and other articles in the casket is given in the Appendix.]

The remaining thirty-one stones were drilled. They were loose and in no order, but have been arranged by Pandit Bhagvanlal and found to form the left half of a three-stringed necklace. That they form a half not a whole necklace is shown by there being one instead of a pair of the larger crystals, one pair instead of two pairs of fishes, and one instead of two elephant goads. The first piece, which probably formed the middle of the necklace, is a six-sided block of deep-blue glass, about an inch and a quarter long and five-sixteenths of an inch broad. It is undrilled and was probably held by a gold catch at each end. Next comes a white and purple veined amethyst cut in the form of a Buddhist trident, about eleven-sixteenths of an inch broad and a little more in length. Next is a clear roughly egg-shaped beryll (11/16" x 9/16"), next come three small beryll tubes (the largest about ⅜"x�"). Next is a double six-sided clear crystal (8/16"X 11/16"), like two six-sided pyramids set base to base. Then comes a pair of conventional beryll fishes, a Buddhist symbol of good luck, about seven-sixteenths of an inch long. Then come three flat circular beads, two of them crystal and one beryll, the biggest 5/16" x �" the others a little smaller. Next comes a beryll bead six-sided and flat, seven twenty-fourths of an inch long and about the same broad. Next come three dark six-sided beads, a carbuncle and two amethysts, about a quarter of an inch broad. Next comes a tiny broken glass shaft about five-sixteenths of an inch long, perhaps part of an elephant goad. Next comes a six-sided and flat carbuncle (7/16" X 3/8"). Next are three beryll beads, flat oblong and six-sided (� " x 1/8"), one of them bluer than the others. Next comes an oblong six-sided block of crystal, with three broad sides and three narrow sides, three-quarters of an inch long. Then come three six-sided beryll beads about three-eighths of an inch long. Then comes an irregular six-sided amethyst (about �" x1/8"). Next are three irregular six-sided beryll beads about a quarter of an inch long. One of them is pierced across and not down the length and hangs from the string. Then comes a small bead of brownish red glass, in shape like two pyramids set base to base, and measuring about three-eighths of an inch into a quarter of an inch. Next come three small beads, two of them irregular six-sided berylls, and the third a small six-sided block of malachite (about �"x 3/16"). The next is a small round gold button-like ornament, about a quarter of an inch across, a central bead surrounded by six other beads. Then a gold ball about an eighth of an inch in diameter. Then three small gold tubes (7/16" x 1/8"). Then a pellet of gold about an eighth of an inch in diameter and then a circle of gold balls about a quarter of an inch across. There was another gold drop that has been broken. The thin plate of gold, with the pressed-out image of a teaching Buddha, measures about one inch and an eighth by seven-eighths, weighs about fourteen grains, is 620 touch, and is worth about 1s. 9d. (14 annas). The Buddha is seated on a lotus throne and has an aureole round his head.

Silver Casket.

The silver casket, which was slight and of plain unburnished metal, weighs 7 oz. 29 grains, and is worth about �1 15s. 3d. (Rs. 17-10). It is about thirteen inches round the middle and stands 5⁵/₈" inches high, of which 2⁵/₈" inches are cup and three inches are lid. The body stands on a round rim about half an inch high and rises in a bowl shape, till, near the lip of the bowl, it is cut into a round groove about a quarter of an inch deep. From here the lid, beginning with a narrow double-grooved belt, rises about two inches in the form of an inverted bowl. From this bowl the top rises nearly an inch in three tiers, each narrower than the tier below it; the top of the third tier being flat and about an inch and a half across. From the middle of the top rises a pointed boss about a quarter of an inch high. Between the silver casket and the enclosed stone-casket were about eighty-six gold flowers less tarnished and rusted than those in the outer copper casket. Of the whole number, thirty-seven were plain round discs covered with dots, twenty-six were the many leaved bakuli or Mimusops elengi flowers, nine were different kinds of discs, nine were spoilt, five were small stars, two were sunflowers, one was a twelve-leaved flower, and one a flower with four large and four small petals placed alternately. [The weight of the flowers is 188 grs., the touch 900, and the value Rs. 18-4. A note on the Indian practice of throwing and of offering gold flowers is given in the Appendix.]

Stone casket.

The stone casket is of brown clay-stone or sandstone with a smooth lathe-turned surface. It measures eleven and a half inches round the middle and stands about four and a half inches high, of which two inches are cup and two and a half inches are lid. The cup stands on a heavy rim about three-eighths of an inch deep, and rises, with a smooth outward curve, till it meets the lid. The lid rises about an inch and three-quarters, like an inverted cup, in a smooth unbroken inward curve, to a triple-tiered top, the lowest tier a quarter of an inch thick and a quarter of an inch broad, the second tier a convex band about three-quarters of an inch broad, and the third tier a flat rim about an eighth of an inch thick and an inch and a half across. From the middle of the top rises a small pointed boss about three-eighths of an inch high.

Crystal casket.

Fitting tightly in the stone casket, was a clear crystal casket, about nine inches round the middle and three and a quarter inches high, of which one and a quarter are cup and two are lid. From a flat bottom, about two inches and an eighth across, the crystal cup rises with a gentle outward bend, till, at the rim, it is two and seven-eighth inches across. From the rim the lid curves gently inwards for about an inch and a quarter. From this it rises in three tiers, the first a heavy rim standing out about a quarter of an inch, the second a rounded dome about half an inch high, and, on the top of the dome, a flat plate an eighth of an inch thick and half an inch across. From the middle of the plate rises a small pointed boss, about a quarter of an inch high. The inside of the lid is bored in a hole about five-eighths of an inch deep and three-eighths of an inch across. In the crystal cup were nineteen fresh gold flowers, seven with four petals, three with eight even petals and three with eight alternately large and small petals, and one a round disc covered with little knobs.

Gold casket.

Inside of the crystal casket, a little too high for its place, was a casket of thin gold of 830 touch, weighing 159 grains, and worth about �1 8s. 4-d. (Rs. 14-3). It is covered with waving lines of raised tracery in the Greek scroll pattern, and in the hollows are rows of minute pushed out beads. It is about three and a half inches round the middle and about 1� inches high, of which 1� inches are lid. The cup of the casket, which has somewhat lost its shape, stands on a thin base and bends outwards in the form of a broad bowl. The lid rises in a semicircular dome about nine-sixteenths of an inch high. On the dome, separated by a thin round rim, stands a smooth water-pot, or kalash, about three-eighths of an inch high, from the mouth of which rises a pointed lid or stopper about a quarter of an inch high. In the gold cup were ten gold flowers as bright as the day they were put in. Three of them are twelve-petalled, three have eight even, and three have eight alternately large and small petals, and one is four-petalled. There was also a bit of green glass (3/16"x2/16"), and a little spark of diamond which has been lost.

The Relics.

Covered with the gold flowers were thirteen tiny fragments of earthenware varying in size from about an inch to a quarter of an inch long. The fragments seem to be of three kinds, two thick, one middling, and ten thin. The thick fragments are about three-eighths of an inch long, and about five-sixteenths of an inch thick. They are dark brown outside and light brown inside. The fragment of middle thickness, which is a little less than one-eighth of an inch thick and a quarter of an inch long, is whitish outside and dark inside. The ten thin pieces vary from seven-eighths of an inch to a quarter of an inch long. They are brown and about one-eighth of an inch thick. The curve of one of them belongs to a circle five inches in diameter. [ A note in the Appendix gives a summary of the wanderings of Buddha's Begging Bowl and of the different bowls which are or have been worshipped as originals.]

There is a generally believed local story that within the last ten years a large stone slab, covered with writing, stood a little to the south of the mound. It was supposed to have been laid close to the well to the north of the mound, as a clothes-washing stone, and to have slipped into the well. But the well was cleared out in April 1882, several feet below its ordinary level, and no trace of the stone was found.

In cutting through the mound, inside of the central relic chamber, about eight feet below the stone coffer, that is under about twenty-two feet of solid masonry and with about thirty-five feet of solid masonry on either side of it, was found a live frog. The frog is said to be the tree frog Hylorana malabarica which is rare but not unknown in the neighbourhood of Bombay. It remained for four days, fresh and active, in a glass bottle with about two inches of water.