________________
202
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
clever sculptors have represented in full detail all the acts of the Ju-laï (the Tathagata) whilst he led the life of a Pu-sa (Bodhisattva).
A short distance south of the stone Vihara is a temple of the Sun-god.
To the south, and not far from this monument, is a temple of the God Ta-tseu-ts' aï (MahêsvaraDêya). These two temples are constructed of a blue stone, beautifully bright, and ornamented with wonderful sculptures. They are of exactly the same form and dimensions as the Vihara of Buddha. Each of these temples has a thousand attendants to water and sweep it. The sound of the drum and of chants accompanied by the guitar are continued day and night without interruption.
Six or seven li to the south-east of the capital, and on the south of the Ganges, is a Stúpa about two hundred feet high, which was built by king Wu-yew (Asoka). Formerly in this place Ju-lai (the Tathagata) preached for six months on the non-eternity of the body," and on the emptiness (uselessness) of mortifications of it, and its inherent impurity.18
Near by are various places where the four past Buddhas had sat, and where they had walked in taking exercise. There is, besides, a small Stúpa which contains the hair and nails of Ju-laï (the Tathagata). If a sick person reverently makes the circuit of it with active faith, he never fails to recover health and to secure felicity. From Stanislas Julien's Mémoires sur les Contrées Occidentales, tom. I. pp. 247-265.
CONTI POMIGLIANESI.
"Pomigliano d'Arco is a large village lying at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the road from Naples to Nola," which, moreover, has an illustrious citizen, Signor Vittorio Imbriani, not above collecting and publishing the folklore of his neighbourhood, and has further had the good fortune to attract the notice of Signor De Gubernatis and M. Marc Monnier, to the latter of whom (apud the Revue des deux Mondes of 1st November 1877, pp. 133ff.) I am indebted for the above information, and for the two stories appended. The resemblance of one to the Rámáyana is commented on by the authors quoted; that of the other to the story of Turi and Basanta (Ind. Ant. vol. IV. p. 260) is almost as striking; but for my part I am shy of drawing conclu
sions.
17 We know that, according to the Buddhists, man runs ceaselessly through the circle of transmigration (Dict. San-thsang-fa-su, bk. iv. fol. 27): see above, note 14.
18 The Dict. San-thsang-fa-su, bk. xlvi. fol. 1, enumerates thirty-six sorts of impure things inherent in the human body, e.g. tears, spittle, perspiration, urine, fæces, &c.
[AUGUST, 1878.
The story of the prince who had an ill stepdame, and who slew the giant with ten heads.1
In the days when all men were healthy, wealthy, and wise lived a great king 9000 years old. His first wife had left him a fine brave son. But having wed a second queen he had in a loving moment promised her a boon, be it what it might; and she required that the eldest son should be banished, and her own son have the crown.
Expelled by his cruel stepmother, the prince fled to the greenwood with the princess his wife. But one day that he had chased a deer till he was a long way from his hut the ten-headed monster carried off the princess.
The prince, not finding her on his return, was in a bad way, and set off in pursuit. After a long tramp he met the king of the monkeys, who complained to him of being vexed by a monster. (In those days beasts had speech.) To do him a good turn, the prince faced the monster and slew him. In those days beasts had gratitude too; the king of the monkeys, having learnt that the tenheaded monster had carried off the princess, sent his subjects to see what had become of her. The monkeys lost their way and were famished, but a good fairy gave them victuals and put them in the way.
They seek long and hard; at last they meet the vulture, who tells them that the ten-headed monster has carried off the princess beyond the sea. But how will they cross the ocean? The monkeys, in their distress, seek the king of the bears; he is too old, and advises them to apply to the son of the wind. This last flies over the sea, sees the princess and brings back news of her. Then the prince, by means of a marvellous bridge, crosses the sea himself, meets the ten-headed monster, himself slays him, and brings back his unlucky wife.
The story of two boys who ate the heart and liver of a fowl, whereby the first became a pope, and the other won a purse of fifty ducats daily.
Once upon a time there was a man who, having naught to do in the streets, set off for the country. He chanced to look up at a tree and saw the nest of a certain fowl. He climbed up and took the mother-bird and two eggs, whereon was written, "Whoso eateth the heart of this fowl will become a pope, and whoso eateth its liver will win a purse of fifty ducats daily;" but he saw naught of all that. He went home and said to his wife, "What shall we do with this fowl? Our children perish of hunger.
1 Revue des deux Mondes, tome XXIV. (1 Nov. 1877) p. 164.
Sic in "francisco." If the definite article or an equivalent is used in the original Italian or patois, it is a curious testimony to the wide-spread renown of Ravana. 3 Ibid. pp. 147ff.
