Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s26.1

c11.s26.1

In the fifteenth year (250 B. C.) he enlarged the stūpa of Koṇakamana at Nigālī Sāgar in the Nepalese Tarāī to double its original size; six years later he came himself to the spot for worship and set up a pillar bearing an inscription briefly recording both the facts. Koṇakamana, also called Koṇāgamana and Kanakamuni, is the name of one of the legendary Buddhas that preceded the historical Buddha Śākyamuni, and Hiuen Tsang records that in the course of his travels he saw the stūpa containing the relics of Kanakamuni Buddha, and in front of it an inscribed pillar about 20 feet high and surmounted by a lion ; he heard that the pillar was erected by Aśoka.