Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/382

320 ), to Maharattha, to Yonaloka (Bactria and Greece), to Himavanta (Central Himalayas), to Subannabhumi (probably Burma), and to Lanka (Ceylon). The edicts of Asoka also inform us that his orders were carried out in Chola (Madras country), Pandya (Madura), Satyapura (Satpura range), Kerala (Travancore), Ceylon, and the land of the Greek King Antiochus of Syria, while in another edict he informs us that he sent



to the five Greek kingdoms of Syria, Egypt, Macedon, Epirus, and Cyrene.

We have already seen that Asoka sent his own son Mahendra, or Mahinda, to Ceylon, and that he soon converted King Tissa and spread Buddhism throughout the island. The scenes of Mahinda 's labours are still visible in Ceylon. Eight miles from the ruined city of Anuradhapura is the hill of Mihintale, where the Ceylonese king built a monastery for the Indian monks, and here is a great stupa, or cupola, under which rest the ashes of Asoka 's son.