The Ancient Geography of India. I. The Buddhist Period, including the Campaigns of Alexander, and the Travels of Hwen-Thsang c8.s4.42

c8.s4.42

But whether this explanation be accepted or not, we know from the general consent of all the Buddhist chroniclers and pilgrims, as well as of the ‘Mahawanso’ itself, that the Ramagrama relics were still enshrined in their original receptacle, at Ramagrama, in the middle of the third century, B.C., when Asoka was building stupas over all the relics of Buddha that were divided after his death. If, therefore, the relics were removed to Ceylon in B.C. 157, as stated in the ‘Mahawanso,’ we must crowd into a period of little more than 80 years the destruction of the original stupa at Ramagrama, the enshrinement of the relics at Majerika in the most magnificent stupa in all India, and their subsequent removal to Ceylon. But according to the very competent authority of Mr. Fergusson,† the erection of the Dharanikotta stupa, “judging from its elaboration, may have taken fifty years to complete.” We have, therefore, only about thirty years left for the stay of the relics at Ramagrama, after the time of Asoka, and for their subsequent stay amongst the Nagas of Majerika. For this reason, I prefer the account of the Siamese chronicles; and I would accordingly fix the date of the removal of the *Drona* measure of relics, from Dharanikotta to Ceylon, in the year 313 A.D.