oligarchical constitution. They embraced Buddhism early,
and were noted for their peculiar attachment to Buddha. The second
synod was held at Vaisali, as related in the next chapter. The ruins
of the city still exist at Bassahar, north of Patna, the same, I
suppose, as Besarh, twenty miles north of Hajipur. See Beal's Revised
Version, p. lii.

CHAPTER XXV

VAISALI. THE TOPE CALLED "WEAPONS LAID DOWN." THE COUNCIL OF VAISALI.

East from this city ten yojanas, (the travellers) came to the kingdom
of Vaisali. North of the city so named is a large forest, having in it
the double-galleried vihara(1) where Buddha dwelt, and the tope over
half the body of Ananda.(2) Inside the city the woman Ambapali(3)
built a vihara in honour of Buddha, which is now standing as it was at
first. Three le south of the city, on the west of the road, (is the)
garden (which) the same Ambapali presented to Buddha, in which he
might reside. When Buddha was about to attain to his pari-nirvana,
as he was quitting the city by the west gate, he turned round, and,
beholding the city on his right, said to them, "Here I have taken my
last walk."(4) Men subsequently built a tope at this spot.

Three le north-west of the city there is a tope called, "Bows and
weapons laid down." The reason why it got that name was this:--The
inferior wife of a king, whose country lay along the river Ganges,
brought forth from her womb a ball of flesh. The superior wife,
jealous of the other, said, "You have brought forth a thing of evil
omen," and immediately it was put into a box of wood and thrown
into the river. Farther down the stream another king was walking and
looking about, when he saw the wooden box (floating) in the water. (He
had it brought to him), opened it, and found a thousand little boys,
upright and complete, and each one different from the others. He
took them and had them brought up. They grew tall and large, and very
daring, and strong, crushing all opposition in every expedition which
they undertook. By and by they attacked the kingdom of their real
father, who became in consequence greatly distressed and sad. His
inferior wife asked what it was that made him so, and he replied,
"That king has a thousand sons, daring and strong beyond compare, and
he wishes with them to attack my kingdom; this is what makes me sad."
The wife said, "You need not be sad and sorrowful. Only make a high
gallery on the wall of the city on the east; and