________________ 144 Homage to Vaisali training elephants, hunting, but free from luxury and laziness. He says that these youths who slept with logs of wood as pillows, were soft in arms and legs, yet not delicate nor tender but active in archery. They were also lovers of education. THE MIRACLE OF VAISALI In short, the very atmosphere of Vaigali was so surcharged with health, bloom, peace and spiritual fervour that the artist at Sanci has epitomised the spirit of Vaisali in a sculpture on the rail of the Sanci Stupa in which he has depicted what is called the miracle of Vaisali. Indeed this miracle is nothing more than a monkey spontaneously taking the Buddha's begging bowl and after filling it with the syrup extracted from a neighbouring palm tree, bringing it back to the Buddha as its offering. The monkey is shown in the Sanci carving twice, once presenting the bowl to the invisible Buddha and again raising its arms in sheer joy for the Buddha had accepted it while the Rajas of Vaisali and a group of children marvel at this. It was here again that the Buddha announced his approaching nirvana, and after the nirvana the Licchavis are said to have erected a Stupa over their share of the remains of the Master. A little over a hundred years after the nirvana, the Second Buddhist Council was beld here. ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES The site of Raja Visala ka Gadba is believed to represent the citadel of Vaigali. It consists of a large brick-covered mound, about 8 feet above the surounding level and slightly less than a mile in circumference. Originally surrounded by a ditch, it was approached by a broad embanked causeway from the south. Early trial diggings have exposed the foundations of old buildings of irregular plan which may date back to the Gupta period. All these buildings were of purely secular character. The most interesting finds consist of a large number of clay seals, official and private, the latter bearing the names of individuals or guilds of merchants, bankers and traders. The official seals indicate that Vaisali was an important administrative headquarters in the Gupta period, and an interesting seal, engraved in characters of the Maurya period, refers to the patrol outpost at Vaisali. The K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, under Dr. A. S. Altekar, conducted excavation at two sites, the periphery of an ancient tank and
