; and four times as a horse.

(17) Chaitya is a general term designating all places and objects
of religious worship which have a reference to ancient Buddhas, and
including therefore Stupas and temples as well as sacred relics,
pictures, statues, &c. It is defined as "a fane," "a place for worship
and presenting offerings." Eitel, p. 141. The hill referred to is
the sacred hill of Mihintale, about eight miles due east of the Bo
tree;--Davids' Buddhism, pp. 230, 231.

(18) Eitel says (p. 31): "A famous ascetic, the founder of a school,
which flourished in Ceylon, A.D. 400." But Fa-Hsien gives no intimation
of Dharma-gupta's founding a school.

CHAPTER XXXIX

CREMATION OF AN ARHAT. SERMON OF A DEVOTEE.

South of the city seven le there is a vihara, called the Maha-vihara,
where 3000 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.(1) 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 of five le 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 white hair-cloth, almost like silk, they wrapped (the body)
round and round.(2) They made a large carriage-frame, in form like our
funeral car, but without the dragons and fishes.(3)

At the time of the cremation, the king and the people, in multitudes
from all quarters, collected together, and presented offerings
of flowers and incense. While they were following the car to the
burial-ground,(4) the king himself presented flowers and incense. When
this was finished, the car was lifted on the pile, all over which oil
of sweet basil was poured, and then a light was applied. While the
fire was blazing, every one, with a reverent heart, pulled off his
upper garment, and threw it, with his feather-fan and umbrella, from a
distance into the midst of the flames, to