History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c12.5

v1.c12.5

² These were Râjagriha, Vaisâlî, Kapilavastu, Allakappa, Râmagrâma, Vethadîpa, Pâvâ, and Kusinârâ.—‘Buddhist Art in India,’ p. 15; S. Hardy’s ‘Eastern Monachism,’ p. 221. The fame of this distribution seems to have reached Europe at least as early as the 1st century of the Christian Era, inasmuch as Plutarch ('Moralia,' p. 1002, Dübner, ed., Paris, 1841) describes a similar partition of the remains of Menander, among eight cities who are said to have desired to possess his remains; but as he does not hint that it was for purposes of worship, the significance of the fact does not seem to have been appreciated. Conf. 'Questions of King Milinda' in 'Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xxxv. introd. p. 20.