The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c8.s4.35

c8.s4.35

Amongst the Buddhist traditions of Ceylon and Siam, we have an account of a country lying between the mouth of the Ganges and the Island of Ceylon, which was inhabited by *Nâgas*. These *Nâgas* possessed either one or two *Drona* measures of the relics of Buddha, which were enshrined in a beautiful and costly stupa, near the "Diamond Sands." Originally, this portion of relics had belonged to Râmagrâma, near Kapilavastu; but when the Râmagrâma stupa was washed away by the river, the relic casket containing one of the original eight divisions of Buddha's remains was carried down the Ganges to the sea, where it was picked up by the *Nâgas*, and conveyed to their own country, called *Majerika*. Now this country was to the south of Dantapura, because Prince Danta Kumâra and the Princess *Hemamâla*, when flying from Dantapura to Ceylon with the tooth of Buddha, were wrecked on the coast near the "Diamond Sands." The name itself also helps to fix the position of the Diamond Sands, at or near *Dhâranikotta*, on the Kistna, as the diamond mines of this part of the country are restricted to the small district of *Partiâl*, lying immediately to the north of Dhâranikotta. The flight from Dantapura took place in A.D. 310, at which time, according to the Siamese version, the two *Drona* measures of relics were still preserved in the Nâga country.* But three years later, or in A.D. 313, the Raja of Ceylon sent a holy priest to bring away these relics from *Majerika*, which was miraculously effected, in spite of the opposition of the Nâgas. The Nâga king then solicited a few relics from the Raja of Ceylon, “which were bestowed upon him accordingly.”