History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.184

v5.c72.184

⁵⁴² Vide Fleets' papers in J. R. A. S. for 1906 pp 655-671 and 881-913 on the disposal of the bones and ashes of Buddha based on the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta, the Divyāvadāna, Fa Hian's work, the Sumangala-vilāsinī and other writings. He therein states his view that the Piprahava relic vase, on which there is an inscription that is the oldest Indian inscription found up to date (it is about 375 B C.) and in which 700 articles were *(Continued from the last page)* found, enshrines the relics, not of the Bhagavān Buddha, but of his kinsmen. Fleet further refers to the tradition that the great emperor Aśoka dug up seven out of the eight mounds of the relics of Buddha and transferred almost all their contents to 84000 boxes of gold and silver and distributed them throughout India and built monuments (stūpas) over them Rhys Davids in 'Buddhist India' (pp. 78-80), after stating that deceased persons of distinction either by birth or wealth or official status or as public teachers were cremated and the ashes were buried under a tope (Pāli 'thūpa'). remarks 'The dead bodies of ordinary people were disposed of in a unique way. They were put away in a public place. There as a rule the bodies or the remains of the pyre were not buried but left to be destroyed by birds or beasts or dissipated by the process of natural decay'.