dan monarch from the far-off plains of the
north. It is one of the celebrated "Asoka Pillars." Asoka was the
emperor of twenty-two centuries ago who wrought for Buddhism what
Constantine the Great, at a later day, wrought for Christianity. He
was converted to Buddhism and at once became the devout propagator of
that faith. As the great emperor of his time, he exalted Buddhism and
made it the State religion of India. He not only sent his missionaries
all over the land; he decreed that its principal teachings should be
everywhere inscribed upon rocks and upon pillars; and that these
pillars should be erected in public places for the instruction of the
people. This pillar in Delhi is one of about a dozen already
discovered and preserved in North India. And it is, perhaps, the most
fully inscribed of all that have been found. And of the fourteen
Asokan edicts inscribed, most of them inculcate a high morality, and
some of them a noble altruism. For instance, the first is a
prohibition of the slaughter of animals for food or sacrifice. The
second is the provision for medical aid for men and animals, and for
plantations and wells on the roadside. The third is a command to
observe every fifth year as a year of mutual confession of sins, of
peace-making, and of humiliation. The ninth is the inculcation of true
happiness as found in virtue. In all these inscribed edicts of that
most tolerant and cosmopolitan Buddhist emperor, we see nothing of
which Buddhism should be ashamed, and much of which it may be proud,
in the way of ethical injunction. It is more than ten centuries since
Buddhism, which had been the common faith of India for a thousand
years, was absorbed into a new militant Hinduism and ceased to exist
as a separate faith in this land. To-day, India proper has hardly half
a million Buddhists. And yet we behold these mute prophets of far-off
days scattered in many parts of the land, still pressing their
message, but vainly, indeed, upon a people of unknown tongues. Buddha
himself is now a part of the Hindu Pantheon; and his principal
teachings have become an essential part of the faith which he tried to
overthrow. But these pillars stand for Buddhism that was tolerant
toward all save, perhaps, the Brahmanism which it existed to
overthrow.

[Illustration: KUTAB-MINAR, DELHI]

From Delhi we pass on northward to the beautiful city of Amritsar,
which is comparatively a modern town of one hundred and fifty thousand
people.