On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c18.16

v2.c18.16

Another name for the ornament is "amra or amra-śilā" and it is supposed by some to have been a relic casket. But this seems unlikely; and Mr. Sinclair is perhaps right in regarding it as having been merely a stand or support for the jar (kalas).¹ It has also been supposed that the āmalaka is the "Dew-dish" of our pilgrim and other translators from Indian into Chinese. But this term is apparently transferred from native use, and not translated from the Sanskrit. With the old Chinese the "Dew-dish" was a cup, on a stand, placed in the open hand of an image or statue. Han Wu Ti in B. C. 115 caused such a figure, made of copper, to be set up on the artificial mound (or Terrace) which he had constructed.² This Dew-dish was intended to receive the dew from heaven, and such dew was supposed to confer immortality. It is to be noticed also that the Dew-dish is an ornament for a tope; while the amra is on the roof of a temple,³ and in the present passage the amra is not associated with any other article. The temple here described was evidently a very recent one, and the life-size image of the Buddha in the attitude of preaching indicates the influence of Mahāyānism.