The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c9.49

c9.49

and hesitations. At least four cities, indeed, received from the first an undisputed recognition. A relatively ancient text, the *Mahâparinibbânasutta*, already recommends the pilgrimages to the four sacred places of the Birth, the Illumination, the First Preaching, and the Death, of Buddha (¹). On the square bases of the little *stûpas* of Gandhâra and the stelæ of Amarâvatî these four scenes are invariably associated (pll. II-IV) : only we must draw attention to the fact that in the latter case Kapilavastu is usually represented not by the nativity of the child Buddha, but by what might be called his birth into the spiritual life, we mean his « abandonment of home » (²). However, neither the cities of Gayâ and Benares, nor certainly the obscure frontier market towns of Kapilavastu and Kuçinagara could pretend to monopolize between them the Buddhist legend and the advantages accruing therefrom. Through the disconnected accounts of