[53] These dimensions are taken from Capt. Burt’s drawings published in the ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. iii. plate 3.
[54] ‘Tree and Serpent Worship,’ plates 9, 10, 10a, et passim.
[55] ‘Archæological Reports,’ vol. i. p. 274, plate 46.
[56] ‘Tree and Serpent Worship,’ plates 1 and 5, and plates 89 and 90.
[57] Ibid., plate 42.
[58] In the description accompanying Daniell’s view of this cave he says: “On the pillars to the right, above the capital, is a group of lions, from the centre of which a few years since arose the chacra, or war disk of Vichnou, though not the least appearance of it at present remains.” On the left he remarked a figure of Buddha, which he mistook for Mahadeva, and in another part a row of bulls, and he adds: “The Chacra of Vichnou, the Mahadeva, and the bulls, seem not to favour the opinion of its being a temple of the Bhoods.” He was not aware how inextricably these religions were mixed up at the time when this cave was excavated, about A.D. 400.
[59] Turnour in ‘Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,’ vol. vii., p. 1013.
The fame of this distribution seems to have reached Europe at least as early as the 1st century of the Christian Era, inasmuch as Plutarch (‘Moralia,’ p. 1002, Dübner edition, Paris, 1841) describes a similar partition of the remains of Menander, among eight cities who are said to have desired to possess his remains; but as he does not hint that it was for purposes of worship, the significance of the fact does not seem to have been appreciated.
[60] ‘Mahawanso,’ p. 26, ‘Hiouen Thsang,’ vol. ii. p. 417.
[61] Account of the great bell at Rangoon, Hough, ‘Asiatic Researches,’ vol. xiv. p. 270.