大唐西域記 11.25

11.25

跋祿羯呫婆國，周二千四五百里。國大都城周二十餘里。土地鹹鹵，草木稀疎。煮海為鹽，利海為業。氣序暑熱，回風颷起。土俗澆薄，人性詭詐。不知學藝，邪正兼信。伽藍十餘所，僧徒三百餘人，習學大乘上座部法。天祠十餘所，異道雜居。從此西北行二千餘里，至摩臘婆國（即南羅國。南印度境）。

Her friends having seen this considered it an unlucky sign, but the Arhat recounted the history of her birth. The girl thus attained the holy fruit (of Arhatship). The Arhat, moved with gratitude for her who had borne and cherished him, and remembering the end of such (good) works, from a desire to requite her, built this sanghârâma. The great vihâra of the convent is about 100 feet or so in height; in the middle is a stone figure of Buddha about 70 feet or so high. Above it is a stone canopy of seven stages, towering upwards apparently without support. The space between each canopy is about three feet. According to the old report, this is held in its place by the force of the vow of the Arhat. They also say it is by the force of his miraculous powers; others say by the virtue of some magical compound; but no trustworthy account has yet explained the reason of the wonder. On the four sides of the vihâra, on the stone walls, are painted different scenes in the life of Tathâgata's preparatory life as a Bodhisattva: the wondrous signs of good fortune which attended his acquirement of the holy fruit (of a Buddha), and the spiritual manifestations accompanying his Nirvana. These scenes have been cut out with the greatest accuracy and fineness. On the outside of the gate of the sanghdrdma, on the north and south side, at the right hand and the left, there is a stone elephant. The common report says that sometimes these elephants utter a great cry and the earth shakes throughout.