Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c31.2386

v2.c31.2386

Mahinda continued to live for the first eight years of the reign of Uttiya, who succeeded Devānampiyatissa. Then, at the age of sixty, he died on the eighth day of the bright half of Assayuja, in Cetiyagiri, where he was spending the rainy season. His body was brought in procession, with every splendour and honour, to the Mahāvihāra and placed in the Pañhambamālaka, where homage was paid to it for a whole week. It was then burnt on a pyre of fragrant wood on the east of the Therānambandhamālaka, to the left of the site of the Mahā Thūpa. A cetiya was erected on that spot over half the remains, the other half being distributed in thūpas built on Cetiyagiri and elsewhere. The place of cremation was called Isibhūmaṅgana, and there for many centuries were cremated the remains of holy men who lived within a distance of three yojanas.⁶