s, or sends his
daughters, or inspires wicked men like Devadatta or the Nirgranthas to
do his work. He is often represented with 100 arms, and riding on an
elephant."]

[Footnote 5: Or the Vinaya-pitaka. The meeting referred to was an
important one, and is generally spoken of as the second Great Council of
the Buddhist Church. The first Council was that held at Rajagriha,
shortly after Buddha's death, under the presidency of Kasyapa--say about
B.C. 410. The second was that spoken of here--say about B.C. 300.]

CHAPTER XXVI

~Remarkable Death of Ananda~

Four yojanas on from this place to the east brought the travellers to
the confluence of the five rivers. When Ananda was going from Magadha to
Vaisali, wishing his pari-nirvana to take place there, the devas
informed king Ajatasatru [1] of it, and the king immediately pursued
him, in his own grand carriage, with a body of soldiers, and had reached
the river. On the other hand, the Lichchhavis of Vaisali had heard that
Ananda was coming to their city, and they on their part came to meet
him. In this way, they all arrived together at the river, and Ananda
considered that, if he went forward, king Ajatasatru would be very
angry, while, if he went back, the Lichchhavis would resent his conduct.
He thereupon in the very middle of the river burnt his body in a fiery
ecstasy of Samadhi [2], and his pari-nirvana was attained. He divided
his body into two parts, leaving one part on each bank; so that each of
the two kings got one part as a sacred relic, and took it back to his
own capital, and there raised a tope over it.

[Footnote 1: He was the son of king Bimbisara, who was one of the first
royal converts to Buddhism. Ajasat murdered his father, or at least
wrought his death; and was at first opposed to Sakyamuni, and a favorer
of Devadotta. When converted, he became famous for his liberality in
almsgiving.]

[Footnote 2: "Samadhi," says Eitel, "signifies the highest pitch of
abstract, ecstatic meditation; a state of absolute indifference to all
influences from within or without; a state of torpor of both the
material and spiritual forces of vitality; a sort of terrestrial
Nirvana, consistently culminating in total destruction of life."]

CHAPTER XXVII

~King Asoka's Spirit-built Palace and Halls~

Having crossed the river, and descended south for a yojana, the
travellers came to the town of Pataliputtra [1], in the kingdom of
Magadha, the city where