B.C. lapse of more than 2000 years, it still continues to flourish and to receive the profound veneration of all 289. Buddhist nations.1 CHAP. IV. B.C. 289. THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. ALMOST simultaneously with the establishment of the Buddhist religion was commenced the erection of those stupendous ecclesiastical structures, the number and magnitude of whose remains form a remarkable characteristic in the present aspect of the country. The architectural history of continental India dates from the third century before Christ; not a single building or sculptured stone having as yet been discovered there, of an age anterior to the reign of Asoca', who was the first of his dynasty to abandon the religion of Brahma for that of Buddha. In like manner the earliest existing monuments of Ceylon belong to the same period; they owe their construction to Devenipiatissa, and the historical annals of the island record with pious gratitude the series of dagobas, wiharas, and temples erected by him and his successors. Of these the most remarkable are the Dagobas, piles of brickwork of dimensions so extraordinary that they suggest comparison with the pyramids of Memphis 2, the barrow of Halyattys3, or the mounds in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. 1 FERGUSSON, Handbook of Architecture, b. i. c. i. p. 5. 2 So vast did the dagobas appear to the Singhalese that the author of the Mahawanso, in describing the construction of that called the Ruanwelle at Anarajapoora, states that each of the lower courses contained ten kotis (a koti being equal to 100 lacs) or 10,000,000 bricks.- Mahawanso, ch. xxx. p. 179. 3 "The ancient edifices of Chi-Chen in Central America bear a striking resemblance to the topes of India. The shape of one of the domes, its apparent size, the small tower on the summit, the trees growing on the sides, the appearance of masonry here and there, the shape of the ornaments, and the small doorway at the base, are so exactly similar to what I had seen at Anarajapoora that when my eyes first fell on the engravings of these remarkable ruins I supposed that they were presented in illustration of the dagobas of Ceylon."-HARDY'S Eastern Monachism, c. xix. p. 222. A dagoba (from datu, a relic, and gabbhan, a shrine 1) B.C. is a monument raised to preserve one of the relics of 289. Gotama, which were collected after the cremation of his body at Kusinara, and it is candidly admitted in the Mahawanso that the intention in erecting them was to provide "objects to which offerings could be made."? Ceylon contains but one class of these structures, and boasts no tall monolithic pillars like the lats of Delhi and Allahabad, and no regularly built columns similar to the minars of Cabul; but the fragments of the bones of Gotama, and locks of his hair, are enclosed in enormous masses of hemispherical masonry, modifications of which may be traced in every Buddhist country of Asia, in the topes of Affghanistan and the Punjaub, in the pagodas of Pegu, and in the Boro-Buddor of Java. Those of Ceylon consist of a bell-shaped dome of brick-work surmounted by a terminal or tee (generally in the form of a cube supporting a pointed spire), and resting on a square platform approached by flights of stone steps. Those, the ruins of which have been explored in modern times, have been found to be almost solid, en -WILSON'S Asiat. Res. vol. xvii. 1 Deha, "the body," and gopa, "what preserves; " because they enp. 605. shrine hair, teeth, nails, &c. of Buddha. 2 Mahawanso, ch. xvii. p. 104. B.C. closing a hollow vessel of metal or stone which had once. contained the relic, but of which the ornament alone and a few gems or discoloured pearls set in gold, are usually all that is now discoverable. Their outline exhibits but little of ingenuity or of art, and their construction is only remarkable for the vast amount of labour which must necessarily have been expended upon them. But, independently of this, the first dagoba erected at Anarajapoora, the Thuparamaya, which exists to the present day, "as nearly as may be in the same form in which it was originally designed, is possessed of a peculiar interest from the fact that it is in all probability the oldest architectural monument now extant in India." It was raised by King Tissa, at the close of the third century before Christ, over the collar-bone of Buddha, which Mahindo had procured for the king.2 In dimensions this monument is inferior to those built at a later period by the successors of Tissa, some of which are scarcely exceeded in diameter and altitude by the dome of St. Peter's3; but in elegance of outline it immeasurably surpassed all the other dagobas, and the beauty of its design is still percep tible in its ruins after the lapse of two thousand years. The king, in addition to this, built a number of others in various parts of Ceylon, and his name has been perpetuated as the founder of temples, for the rites of the new religion, and of Wiharas or monasteries for the residence of its priesthood. The former were of the simplest design, for an atheistical system, which substitutes meditation for worship, dispenses with splendour in its edifices and pomp in its ceremonial. 1 FERGUSSON'S Handbook of Architecture, b. i. c. iii. p. 43. 2 Mahawanso, ch. xvii. The Rajavali calls it the jaw-bone, p. 184. 3 The Abhayagiri dagoba at Anarajapoora, built B.C. 89, was originally 180 cubits high, which, taking the Ceylon cubit at 2 feet 3 inches, would be equal to 405 feet. The dome was hemispherical, and described with a radius of 180 feet, giving a circumference of 1130 feet. The summit of this stupendous work was therefore fifty feet higher than St. Paul's, and fifty feet lower than St. Peter's. 4 TURNOUR'S Epitome, p. 15. The images of Gotama, which in time became objects B.C. of veneration, were but a late innovation, and a doubt 289. has even been expressed whether the religion of Buddha in its primitive constitution, rejecting as it does the doctrine of a mediatorial priesthood, contemplated the existence of any organised ministry. Caves, or insulated apartments in imitation of their gloom and retirement, were in all probability the first resort of devotees in Ceylon, and hence amongst the deeds of King Tissa, the most conspicuous and munificent were the construction of rock temples, on Mihintala, and of apartments for the priests in all parts of his dominions.2 "3 The directions of Gotama as to the residence of his votaries are characterised by the severest simplicity, and the term "pansala," literally "a dwelling of leaves, by which the house of a priest is described to the present day, serves to illustrate the original intention that persons dedicated to his service should cultivate solitude and meditation by withdrawing into the forest, but within such a convenient distance as would not estrange them from the villagers, on whose bounty and alms they were to be dependent for subsistence. In one of the rock inscriptions deciphered by Prinsep, King Asoca, in addressing himself to his Buddhist subjects, distinguishes them as "ascetics and householders." In the sacred books a laic is called a "graha pali," meaning "the ruler of a house;" and in contradistinction Fa Hian, the Chinese Buddhist, speaks of the priests of Ceylon under the designation of "the house 1 The precise date of their introduction is unknown, but the first mention of a statue occurs in an inscription on the rock at Mihintala, bearing date A.D. 246, and referring to the house constructed over figure of Buddha. a 2 TURNOUR'S Epitome, p. 15. 3 It is questionable whether the Sarmanai, mentioned by Megasthenes, were Buddhists or Brahmans; but |