History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c12.3

v1.c12.3

THERE are few subjects of like nature that would better reward the labour of some competent student than an investigation into the origin of Relic Worship and its subsequent diffusion over the greater part of the old world. So far as is at present known, it did not exist in Egypt, nor in Greece or Rome in classical times, nor in Babylon or Assyria. In some of these countries the greatest possible respect was shown to the remains of departed greatness, and the bones and ashes of persons who were respected in life were preserved with care and affection;¹ but there was no individual so respected that a hair of his head, a tooth, or a toe-nail, even a garment or a utensil he had used, was considered as a most precious treasure after his death. In none of these countries does it appear to have occurred to any one that a bone or the begging-pot of a deceased saint was a thing worth fighting for; or that honour done to such things was a meritorious act, and that prayers addressed to them were likely to be granted. Yet so ingrained do these sentiments appear to be among the followers of Buddha, that it is difficult to believe that the first occasion on which this sentiment arose, was at the distribution of his remains on his attaining Nirvâna at Kusinagara, about b.c. 480. On that occasion, eight cities or principalities are said to have contended for the honour of possessing his mortal remains, and the difficulty was met by assigning a portion to each of the contending parties, who are said to have erected stûpas to contain them in each of their respective localities.² None of these can now be identified with certainty—everything in future ages being ascribed to Asoka, who, according to popular tradition, is said to have erected the fabulous number of 84,000 relic shrines, or towers to mark sacred spots.¹ Some of these may be those we now see, or are encased within their domes; but if so, they, like everything else architectural in India, are the earliest things we find there. It is true, the great pagoda—the Shwê Dagon at Rangûn—is said to contain relics of all the four Buddhas of the present Kalpa, the staff of Kakusandho; the water-dipper of Konâgamano; the bathing garment of Kasyapa, and eight hairs from the head of Gautama Buddha;² but supposing this to be true, we only now see the last and most modern, which covers over the older erections. This is at least the case with the great dâgaba at Bintenne, near Kandy, in Ceylon, in which the thorax-bone of the great ascetic is said to lie enshrined. The 'Mahâwansa,' or Buddhist history of Ceylon, describes the mode in which this last building was raised, by successive additions, in a manner so illustrative of the principle on which these relic shrines arrived at completion, that it is well worth quoting:—"The chief of the Devas, Sumana, supplicated of the deity worthy of offerings for something worthy of worship. The Vanquisher, passing his hand over his head, bestowed on him a handful of his pure blue locks from the growing hair of the head. Receiving it in a superb golden casket, on the spot where the divine teacher had stood, he raised an emerald stûpa over it and bowed down in worship.