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CHAPTER VII.
108
thousands of tens of millions of islands an asvattha staff was produced." A staff pure and simple is, however, no part of any Budhist paraphernalia ; it is held in no estimation, and in the vast volume of Buddhist literature crtant, in which the mantle, the alingbowl and other articles are so frequently mentioned, a staff is never adverted to. This rendering, therefore, cannot be accepted as correct. Tho Tibetan version of the text, as renderul into French, has s'eleva de In lurre la inve d'un trattha, (Foucaux, p. 97) and this is obviously the right meaniny. The object of the text is to show that along with the age were born Yasolivar, his wifa; Chhanduka, his charioteer ; &ntukn, his favourite lourse, and most of those who bulsequently be his foremost disiples. And as the asvattha irte also furtad an integral part of his faith, it is but natural to BiLppose that his biographers should include it aruon the productions of the time of his birth. The merit of delicating the asvattha true is highly extol, and even linlux try to avail themselves of it loy such dedication, and in the Bhagavadgitá Krishna depcribes himself as the asvattha among trees. In the Sui Behar inscription reference is made to a deliciition of it,by a Buddhist. Dr. Hoerule, however, thinks differently. Alisled Ly the word yathi, he says :
“ What the wathe is, I do not know ; perhaps others who are better acquainted with the practices of Buddhism nay be able to explain it. The word, in the molern form láth, is applied to monumental pillars, like the well-known stone pillars of Allaláhád, Dohli, Banaras and other placea; but that can hardly be the meaning of the word here. The word is also applied to a monk's <taff. This, at first sight, would seein to be a much more likrly nicaning. Tbo áropun:, 'setting up' or 'assuining of a stafi' might bo & ceremony indicating the assumption of a high clericamoffire (25 in the case of a Bishop's staff or crouk). Or putting up (putting aside) the staff' might be a euphemism for death;' the monk baving died, his yathi nay have been ens!ırinel by the two pious ladies. It is impossible to avoid connecting in one's thoughts the curious shaft which pierces the tower, and the mouth of which was cloned witle the copperplate that bears the inscription, with the yathi mesitioned in that ingription as baving been enshrined. Can it be possible that the shaft was the receptacle of the yathi ? The dimensions of the
