Notes

(1) Possibly, “and asked the bhikshu,” &c. I prefer the other way of construing, however.

(2) It seems strange that this should have been understood as a wrapping of the immense pyre with the cloth. There is nothing in the text to necessitate such a version, but the contrary. Compare “Buddhist Suttas,” pp. 92, 93.

(3) See the description of a funeral car and its decorations in the Sacred Books of the East, vol. xxviii, the Li Ki, Book XIX. Fâ-Hien’s {.} {.}, “in this (country),” which I have expressed by “our,” shows that whatever notes of this cremation he had taken at the time, the account in the text was composed after his return to China, and when he had the usages there in his mind and perhaps before his eyes. This disposes of all difficulty occasioned by the “dragons” and “fishes.” The {.} at the end is merely the concluding particle.

(4) The pyre served the purpose of a burial-ground or grave, and hence our author writes of it as such.

(5) This king must have been Maha-nana (A.D. 410–432). In the time of his predecessor, Upatissa (A.D. 368–410), the pitakas were first translated into Singhalese. Under Maha-nana, Buddhaghosha wrote his commentaries. Both were great builders of vihâras. See the Mahavansa, pp. 247, foll.

(6) See chapter xii. Fâ-Hien had seen it at Purushapura, which Eitel says was “the ancient capital of Gandhara.”

(7) Western Tukhara ({.} {.}) is the same probably as the Tukhara ({.}) of chapter xii, a king of which is there described as trying to carry off the bowl from Purushapura.

(8) North of the Bosteng lake at the foot of the Thien-shan range (E. H., p. 56).

(9) See chap. xii, note 9. Instead of “Anna” the Chinese recensions have Vina; but Vina or Vinataka, and Ana for Sudarsana are names of one or other of the concentric circles of rocks surrounding mount Meru, the fabled home of the deva guardians of the bowl.

(10) That is, those whose Karma in the past should be rewarded by such conversion in the present.