ara there is a hill, with a
vihara on it, called the Chaitya, where there may be two thousand monks.
Among them there is a Sramana of great virtue, named Dharma-gupta,
honored and looked up to by all the kingdom. He has lived for more than
forty years in an apartment of stone, constantly showing such gentleness
of heart, that he has brought snakes and rats to stop together in the
same room, without doing one another any harm.

[Footnote 1: This would be what is known as "Adam's peak," having,
according to Hardy, the three names of Selesumano, Samastakuta, and
Samanila. There is an indentation on the top of it, a superficial
hollow, 5 feet 3 3/4 inches long, and 2 1/2 feet wide. The Hindus regard
it as the footprint of Siva; the Mohammedans, as that of Adam; and the
Buddhists, as in the text--as having been, made by Buddha.]

[Footnote 2: We naturally suppose that the merchant-offerer was a
Chinese, as indeed the Chinese texts say, and the fan such as Fa-hien
had seen and used in his native land.]

[Footnote 3: A Kalpa, we have seen, denotes a great period of time; a
period during which a physical universe is formed and destroyed.
Asankhyeya denotes the highest sum for which a conventional term
exists--according to Chinese calculations equal to one followed by
seventeen ciphers; according to Thibetan and Singhalese, equal to one
followed by ninety-seven ciphers. Every Maha-kalpa consists of four
Asankhye-yakalpas.]

CHAPTER XXXIX

~Cremation of an Arhat--Sermon of a Devotee~

South of the city seven li there is a vihara, called the Maha-vihara,
where three thousand monks reside. There had been among them a Sramana,
of such lofty virtue, and so holy and pure in his observance of the
disciplinary rules, that the people all surmised that he was an Arhat.
When he drew near his end, the king came to examine into the point; and
having assembled the monks according to rule, asked whether the bhikshu
had attained to the full degree of Wisdom. They answered in the
affirmative, saying that he was an Arhat. The king accordingly, when he
died, buried him after the fashion of an Arhat, as the regular rules
prescribed. Four or five li east from the vihara there was reared a
great pile of firewood, which might be more than thirty cubits square,
and the same in height. Near the top were laid sandal, aloe, and other
kinds of fragrant wood.

On the four sides of the pile they made steps by which to ascend it.
With clean w