________________ The Alms-Bowl of Buddha 407 the people of Gandhara, who emigrated westwards to the bank of the Arghandab in the ancient Arachosia, where they founded a city named after their original country Gandhara, which still exists as old Kandahar at a short distance from the modern town of that name. Sung-Yan entered Gandbara in A. D. 520, and as he states that two generations had passed away since Laelih, the persecutor of Buddhism, had been set up as king of Gandhara, the emigration of the Gandharas cannot be placed later than A. D. 450. "They had a great respect for the Law of Buddha and loved to read the sacred books." They took with them the famous Alms-bowl of Buddha and set it up in their new city of Gandhar or Kandhar, where it now stands "in an obscure little Mabammadan shrine." Dr. Bellew describes it as "a huge bowl, carved out of a solid block of dark green serpentine." The straight part above is carved with six lines of Arabic inscriptions, of which a copy was kindly sent to me several years ago by Sir Frederick Pollock. I forwarded the copy to my lamented friend Blochmann, but unfortunately it was lost or stolen on the way, and neither he nor I could ever learn anything about it. The inscriptions were of early date, as I remember reading the name of Subuktugin, and I think also that of Mahmud. Unfortunately for the satisfactory identification of this bowl the translations of Fa-Hian's description, which is the only one that we possess, differ very considerably, as will be seen in the following quotation from Chapter XIL According to Remusat's translation : "The pot may contain about two bushels. It is of mixed colour, in which black predominates. It is well formed on all four sides, about two lines thick bright and polished." According to Beal: "The bowl contains about two Tan (a dry measure equal to 14 gallons). It is of a mixed colour, but mostly black. The seams, where the four parts join together, are bright. It is about 2 inches thick, and is kept well polished and bright." The third translation is by Giles : "might hold over two gallops, and is of several colours, chiefly black. The four joinings are clearly distinguishable. It is about one-fifth of an inch thick, and is transparent and bright." As one would expect to find the actual Alms-bowl from which Buddha ate his daily food-such a bowl would not have satisfied the belief of any Buddhist -- just as the tooth of Buddha, now shown in Ceylon, is more like that of an elephant than the tooth of a man, so the Alms-bowl of Buddha preserved at Vaisali and afterwards carried off to Gandhara, would have been at least five or six times the actual diameter of any real bowl. So also all the foot-marks of Buddha were always represented as of gigantic size.
