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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
Fah Hian's short description" contains several indirect indications that this great kingdom was in an advanced state of civilization:
1. Architecture and sculpture were represented by the Buddhist monastery, carved out of an isolated rock, and containing 1500 cells, of which he gives a somewhat particular description. The rock was cut down to represent a building of five storeys rising above each other in pyramidal form; each storey was carved into the shape of an animal, or series of animals, culminating in a pigeon of sufficient size to contain a hundred monks' cells. This pigeon also held a reservoir of water, and the water was conducted from it in channels which ran round each of the five storeys in succession, and ultimately flowed out through the outer gate of the monastery. This colossal curiosity of architectural and sculptural art may very justly be regarded not as an isolated and entirely singular monument, but as a very remarkable instance or copy of a class of structural buildings of various degrees of resemblance to it, which were to be found in the surrounding country: since it can scarcely be thought probable that the architect and sculptor would rise at one bound to the conception of an edifice of this high character, to be carved, in the first instance, out of the solid rock. It may therefore fairly be regarded as an example of the style of architecture, whether indigenous or imported, which prevailed at the time of its construction, and which had existed for some time previously, in this part of South India.
For the sake of reference we add Beal's version of Fah-hian's 35th section in full:--
"Going two hundred yojanas south from this, there is a country called Ta-thsin (Dakshina). Here is a Sangharama of the former Buddha Kasyapa. It is constructed out of a great mountain of rock hewn to the proper shape. This building has altogether five storeys. The lowest is shaped into the form of an elephant, and has five hundred stone cells in it. The second is in the form of a lion, and has four hundred chambers. The third is shaped like a horse, and has three hundred chambers. The fifth storey is in the shape of a dove, and has one hundred chambers in it. At the very top of all is a spring of water, which, flowing in a stream before the rooms, encircles each tier, and so, running in a circuitous course, at last arrives at the very lowest storey of all, where, flowing past the chambers as before, it finally issues through the door of the building. Throughout the consecutive tiers, in various parts of the building, windows have been pierced through the solid rock for the admission of light, so that every chamber is quite illuminated, and there is no darkness (throughout the whole). At the four corners of this edifice they have hewn out the rock into steps, as a means for ascending. Men of the present time point out a small ladder which reaches up to the highest point (of the rock) by which men of old ascended it, one foot at a time (?). They derive the name which they give to this building, viz. Po-lo-ya, from an Indian word [? pârâvata]. signifying
[JANUARY, 1878.
2. The existence of this vi håra would of itself be sufficient to justify the conclusion that the Buddhist religion had taken considerable root in the 'kingdom of the south,' and that those who professed it were a respectable class of its subjects. But Fah Hian does not leave this circumstance to be merely conjectured: for he distinctly refers to the Buddhist monks, as well as to the Brahmans and heretics, who dwelt in this kingdom. Religion, therefore, regarding it here as a mark of the civilization of the 'kingdom of the south,'-was represented by each of the highest forms of religious philosophy to which the intellect of India had then risen.
3. This last circumstance involves another mark of the civilization of this kingdom: for in the fact that Buddhist monks, Brahmans, and dissenters from both, lived side by side within it, there is an indication that religious toleration was both understood and practised, in some measure or other, by both the rulers and the subjects of the kingdom of the south.' And this is the more remarkable since Fah Hian distinctly states that the masses of the people were perversely opposed to the Buddhist religion, notwithstanding their voluntary or compulsory toleration of it.
4. The presence of these 'Samanæans, Brâhmans, and Heretics' implies the corresponding existence of the voluminous literature of each of these religious denominations in 'the kingdom of the south.'
5. Fah Hian was informed by the people
'pigeon. There are always Rahats abiding here. This land is hilly and barren, without inhabitants. At a considerable distance from the hill there are villages, but all of them are inhabited by heretics. They know nothing of the law of Buddha, or Shamans, or Brahmans, or of any of the different schools of learning. The men of that country continually see persons come flying to the temple. On a certain occasion there were some Buddhist pilgrim from different countries who came here with a desire to pay religious worship at this temple. Then the men of the villages above alluded to asked them saying, "Why do you not fly to it? We behold the religious men who occupy those chambers constantly on the wing. These men then answered by way of excuse, 'Because our wings are not yet perfectly formed. The country of Ta-thsin is precipitous, and the roads dangerous and difficult to find. Those who wish to go there ought to give a present to the king of the country, either money or goods. The king then deputes certain men to accompany them as guides, and so they pass the travellers from one place to another, each party pointing out their own roads and intricate bye paths. Fah Hian, finding himself in the end unable to proceed to that country, reports in the above passages merely what he heard."-Beal's Travels of Fah-hian and Sung-yun, pp. 139-141.
This is in accordance with Mr. Laidley's version, from which Mr. Beal's differs in this particular.
