ASHES OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA.
A discovery of extraordinary interest is reported 'by the Archselogical Department of India. For some time past a systematic survey of the P«shawur Valley, an. area noted for the number of Buddhistic remains which have been unearthed, has bean carried on under Government auspices There is no doubt that the whole of the valley was the seat of a very advanced Buddhistic civilisation and power. Roads were constructed acros the passes to the north-west, and graded on the most scientific principles, notably that over th« Malakand Pass into the Swat Valley, and now again in use, and that valley itself is full of remains of Buddhistic buildings, relics, and inscriptions. In July, quite near Peshawur, there was found in an ancient Buddhist stupa, or shrine, what axe almost certainly a portion of the ashes of Gautama Buddha, i The relics are enclosed in a rock crystal receptacle, sealed with the royal seal of the great Buddhist Emperor* Kanishka., who ruled at Peshawur about ths time of Christ. This receptacle was inside a bronze casket carved with Buddhistic figures, including those of the Buddha and of the Emperor Kamshka, and- exactly in the spot where the Chinese travellers from Hieun Tsang said they had been placed. These stupas, or shrines, are found all through the Peshawur and Swat Valleys, extending northerly into Gentrajl Asia, and some are in a wonderful state of preservation, having been built of stone in a solid and finished manner. They are globulai in shape And crowned with a round spire of small height, and somewhat resemble a Dutch cheese when the spire has been broken away. By the tune Buddhism found its way to Japan, via China and Korea, these stupas bad assumed a conventional form, like a short barrel very much round at top and bottom. In this form they are seen in the Buddhist temples of Japan as revolving libraries, the pride of the temples they adorn, the revolution being effected through the building being built on a platform, with a spindle on which it revolves. They have a small spire to finish off the structure. At Buddha <3aya, in Bengal, where the ' enlightenment" came to the Buddha, there is a temple dating from very early times, and the sacred Bo tree, under which the Buddha was meditating when the "enlightenment" came upon him, is the object of pilgrimage to all the Buddhists of Asia to this day. The buildings have been put in order by the Government of India, and are now carefully preserved. At Kandy, in Ceylon; are preserved what •purport to be relics of the Buddha, in the shape of his tooth, which is suspiciously lite the tooth of an elephant, and Ins gigantic footprint, as well as nail paring.*. But it requires mucr faith to accept these as genuine.
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Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 78
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473ASHES OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA. Otago Witness, Issue 2895, 8 September 1909, Page 78
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