dragon showed itself, and took the king into its palace;
when he had seen all the things provided for offerings, it said to him,
"If you are able with your offerings to exceed these, you can destroy
the tope, and take it all away. I will not contend with you." The king,
however, knew that such appliances for offerings were not to be had
anywhere in the world, and thereupon returned without carrying out his
purpose.

Afterwards, the ground all about became overgrown with vegetation, and
there was nobody to sprinkle and sweep about the tope; but a herd of
elephants came regularly, which brought water with their trunks to water
the ground, and various kinds of flowers and incense, which they
presented at the tope. Once there came from one of the kingdoms a
devotee to worship at the tope. When he encountered the elephants he was
greatly alarmed, and screened himself among the trees; but when he saw
them go through with the offerings in the most proper manner, the
thought filled him with great sadness--that there should be no monastery
here, the inmates of which might serve the tope, but the elephants have
to do the watering and sweeping. Forthwith he gave up the great
prohibitions by which he was bound, and resumed the status of a
Sramanera. With his own hands he cleared away the grass and trees, put
the place in good order, and made it pure and clean. By the power of his
exhortations, he prevailed on the king of the country to form a
residence for monks; and when that was done, he became head of the
monastery. At the present day there are monks residing in it. This event
is of recent occurrence; but in all the succession from that time till
now, there has always been a Sramanera head of the establishment.

[Footnote 1: The bones of the human body are supposed to consist of
84,000 atoms, and hence the legend of Asoka's wish to build 84,000
topes, one over each atom of Sakyamuni's skeleton.]

CHAPTER XXIV

~Where Buddha Renounced the World~

East from here four yojanas, there is the place where the heir-apparent
sent back Chandaka, with his white horse; and there also a tope was
erected.

Four yojanas to the east from this, the travellers came to the Charcoal
tope, where there is also a monastery.

Going on twelve yojanas, still to the east, they came to the city of
Kusanagara, on the north of which, between two trees, on the bank of the
Nairanjana river, is the place where the World-honored one, with his
head