Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/169

Rh of a grand Buddhist procession at Pâṭaliputra, although centuries later in date, servcs as a commentary.

'Every year,' he says, 'on the eighth day of the second month they celebrate a procession of images. They make a four-wheeled car, and on it erect a structure of live storeys by means of bamboos tied together. . . . They make figures of (dêras, with gold, silver, and lapis lazuli grandly blended, and having silken streamers and canopies bung out over them. On the four sides are niches, with a Buddha seated in each, and a Bodhisattva standing in attendance on him. There may be twenty cars, all grand and imposing, but each one different from the others. On the day mentioned, the monks and laity within the borders all come together; they have singe1's and skilful musicians; they pay their devotions with ﬂowers and incense. The Brahmans come and invite the Buddhas to enter the city. These do so in order and remain two nights in it. All thro h the night they keep lamps burning, have skilful music, an present offerings. This is the practice in all the other kingdoms as Well' (Travels, ch. xxvii, tr. Legge).

Other descriptions of Buddhist edifying spectacles might be quoted. The details, of course, varied from time to time and from place to place.

'The aeon of universal destruction,' saṁvarta—kalpa in Sanskrit, as described in Mbh. 3, Yanap., sec. 188, 12869-90, quoted by Fleet in J.R.A.S., 1911, p. 485 note. 'At the end of the 1,000 Yugas (which make the daytime of a day of the Creator) there will appear seven blazing suns. which will dry up all the waters in the rivers and the oceans. They will be followed by the saṁvartaka fire, the "ﬁre of destruction," accompanied by a great wind,' &c. Sec R. E. V, where the term recurs. Ordinary morality (sila) is distinguished from Asoka's Buddhist form of the Law of Piety or Duty (dhaṁma). 'Give countenance to,' or more literally 'behold.' Bühler renders 'permit,' and Senart 'qu'ils n'en voient (or 'qu'on n'en voie') point.'

Little doubt now remains concerning the interpretation of the whole edict.