When the funeral pyre was lit, the sun and moon withdrew their shining, the peaceful streams on every side were torrent-swollen, the earth quaked, and the sturdy forests shook like aspen leaves, whilst flowers and leaves fell untimely to the ground, like scattered rain, so that all Kusinārā became strewn knee-deep with mandāra flowers raining down from heaven.33
When the burning ceremonies were over, Devaputta said to the multitudes that were assembled round the pyre:34
"Behold, O brethren, the earthly remains of the Blessed One have been dissolved, but the truth which he has taught us lives in our minds and cleanses us from all error.35
"Let us, then, go out into the world, as compassionate and merciful as our great master, and preach to all living beings the four noble truths and the eightfold path of righteousness, so that all mankind may attain to a final salvation, taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha."36
And when the Blessed One had entered into Nirvāna, and the Mallas had burned the body with such ceremonies as would indicate that he was the great king of kings, ambassadors came from all the empires that at the time had embraced his doctrine, to claim a share of the relics; and the relics were divided into eight parts and eight dāgobas were erected for their preservation. One dāgoba was erected by the Mallas and seven others by the seven kings of those countries, whose people had taken refuge in the Buddha.37
