________________
98
VAISHALI RESEARCH BULLETIN NO. 3
on the north. Budhaghosa represents these Caitiyas as the places of Yaksa worship.41 The cult of Yakşa worship seem to have arisen primarily from the woods and secondarily from the legends of sea-faring merchants. The
The Nāgas are also witnessed in one scene. But, we are not sure whether they were an ethnological group or worshippers of Snakes.
In a nutshell, all this bespeaks of an exemplary religious tolerance and vast liberality of character with which the Vaišālians were endowed. In the words of the Buddha : "so long as the Vajżeans honour and esteem, and rever and respect and support the Vajjean shrines in town or country and allow not the proper offerings and rites as formerly given and performed to fall into desuetude, so long as the rightful protection, defence and support shall be fully provided for the Arhants among them...so long may the Vajjeans be expected not to decline but to prosper."
Before we close it would not be out of place, to mention here that some of the observations detailed above have been confirmed by the archaeological excavations as well. The archaeological findings have enabled us to identify several sites referred to in the above discussion. A large number of Stupas in and around Vaiśāli have also come to light. Moreover, in March 1958, Dr. A S. Altekar, the-then Director of K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute. Patna discovered a stone relic-casket containing the corporeal remains of the Buddha from a dilapidated Stupa situated to the N. E. of Kharauna tank.49
41. Dialogues of the Buddha, Pt. III, Page. 80, notes 2 and 3. 42. Roy S. R.manot ar garaca, P. 38. (antiat faucaia) ed. by J.C.
Mathur & Y. Mishra)
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
