“Let such approach this consecrated land
And pass in peace along the magic waste:
But spare its relics—let no busy hand
Deface the scene, already how defaced!
Not for such purpose were those altars placed:
Revere the remnants nations once revered;
So may our country’s name be undisgraced,
So may’st thou prosper where thy youth was reared,
By every honest joy of love and life endeared.”[420]
CHAPTER XXVI.
It will be borne in mind that everything hitherto advanced on the various topics which we have been discussing, was the sheer result of internal reasoning and of personal circumspection—that, wherever extrinsic aid was brought forward in support of this unbeaten track, it was uniformly in the shape of conclusions deduced from the premises of reluctant witnesses. I rejoice, with delight unspeakable, that I have it at last in my power to range myself side by side with an author whose testimony in this matter must be considered decisive, but which, however, by some strange aberration of intellect, has never before been understood!
Cormac,[421] the celebrated bishop of Cashel, and one of the first scholars who ever flourished in any country, when defining the Round Towers in his Glossary of the Irish Language, under the name of Gaill[422] says, that they were “Cartha cloacha is aire bearor gall desucder Fo bith ro ceata suighedseat en Eire,”—that is, stone-built monuments within which noble judges used to enclose vases containing the relics of Fo (i.e. Buddh), and of which they had erected hundreds throughout Ireland!
Knowing that the Ceylonese Dagobs, a name which literally signifies houses of relics, were appurtenances of Budhism, I intreated of a very intelligent native of that island, who attended the Vihara, at Exeter Hall, some time ago, that he would favour me with a written outline of his views of those structures. After a few days, he very civilly obliged me with the following:—
“Travellers to the Eastern countries often have their notice attracted by numerous buildings of a singular form and enormous sizes, both in ruins and in preserved states, about the origin and objects of which many inquiries have been made, and various conclusions drawn. These are monuments raised in ancient times to the memory of deified persons, and called Chaityas, to which places devotees used to resort for meditation, especially those who had any particular veneration for the deceased, whose relics are supposed to be deposited within, and on whose virtues they quietly reflect, availing themselves of the solitude of such places; and if in their own imaginations the personages are deified, they make offerings of lamplight, etc.
“In exploring the ruins of these pyramids, the inside of the globes are found to contain loose earth, merely filled up after the arches had been raised; in such loose earth are found ancient coins of various metals, supposed to be thrown in, in token of respect or veneration, whilst building; but in the very centre of the globe is always found a square well, paved with bricks, and the mouths covered by hewn granite, borne on granite supporters, standing in the four corners of the square (sometimes triangular). In this well, if the monument of a king (and if not robbed by ancient invaders), will be found the urn containing the relics of the deceased, and treasure to a considerable worth. Sometimes there may be discovered a piece of beaten gold, or other metal, with engravings, mentioning the name and other circumstances of the deceased. If a Buddhist king, idols of Buddha might be found in it—but in others, sometimes earthen or metallic lamps, and heads of cobra de capellas.
“In similar monuments, erected for the relics of Buddha, are three different compartments or depositories; one in the bottom of the foundation, one in the heart of the globe, and one at the top of the globe within the column. This column always has its basis upon the granite covering of the well. In monuments of this description are supposed to be much buried treasure, especially in the foundations. The Paly book, Toopahwanse, gives account of the distribution of the Buddha’s relics to the different parts of the world, and the erection of such monuments over them.