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Sidelights on the Life Time Sandalwood Image of Mahâvîra
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the north of this kingdom. to the town of Ho-lo-lo-kia. The men of this city were rich and prosperous and deeply attached to heretical learning... From the time the image came there...no one paid it respect.
Afterwards there was an Arhat who bowed and saluted the image; the people of the country were alarmed-the king issued a decree that the stranger should be covered with sand and earth. At this time the Arhat's body being covered with sand, he sought in vain for food and nourishment." A man who had himself honoured the image with worship, secretly gave food to the Arhat, who seems to have been buried upto the neck. "The Arhat being on the point of departure, addressed this man and said: Seven days hence there will be a rain of sand and earth which will fill this city full, and there will in a brief space be none left alive. You ought to take measure for escape.....On the seventh day.. it rained sand and earth, and filled the city. This man escaped and went to the east, and arriving in this country, he took his abode in Pima. Scarcely had the man arrived when the statue also appeared....
The town of Ho-lo-lo-kia is now a great sand mound. The Kings of the neighbouring countries and persons in power from distant spots have many times wished to excavate the mound and take away the precious things buried there..."2
The above account of the Chinese traveller may be compared with his own remarks about Kausambi,3 the capital city of the famous lyrist king Udayana: "In the city, within an old palace, there is a large vihara about 60 feet high; in it is a figure of Buddha carved out of sandalwood, above which is a stone canopy. It is the work of the king U-to-yen-na (Uddayana). By its spiritual qualities (or, between its spiritual marks) it produces a divine light which from time to time shines forth. The princes of various countries have used their power to carry off this statue, but although many men have tried, not all the number could move it. They therefore worship copies of it, and they pretend that the likeness is a true one, and this is the original of all such figures.
When Tathagata first arrived at complete enlightenment, he ascended upto heaven to preach the law for the benefit of his mother, and for three months remained absent. This king (i.e. Udayaa), thinking of him with affection, desired to have an image of his person; therefore he asked Mudgalyayanaputra, by his
