. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history. CuAP. IV.] THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. 345 A dagoba (from datu^ a relic, and gabbhan, a shrine^) b.c. is a monument raised to preserve one of the relics of 289. Gotama, which were collected after the cremation of his body at Kusinara, and it is candidly admitted in the Mahawanso that the intention in erecting them was to provide " objects to wliich offerings could be made." ^ Ceylon contains but one class of these structures

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. Ceylon : an account of the island, physical, historical, and topographical with notices of its natural history, antiquities and productions. Natural history. CuAP. IV.] THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS. 345 A dagoba (from datu^ a relic, and gabbhan, a shrine^) b.c. is a monument raised to preserve one of the relics of 289. Gotama, which were collected after the cremation of his body at Kusinara, and it is candidly admitted in the Mahawanso that the intention in erecting them was to provide " objects to wliich offerings could be made." ^ Ceylon contains but one class of these structures, and boasts no tall monolitliic pillars hke the lats of Dellii and Allahabad, and no regidarly built columns similar to the miliars of Cabul; but the fragments of the bones of Gotama, and locks of his hair, are enclosed in enormous masses of hemispherical masonry, modifica- tions of which may be traced in every Buddhist country of Asia, in the topes of AfTghanistan and the Punjaub, in the pagodas of Pegu, and in tlie Boro-Buddor of Java. Those of Ceylon consist of a bell-shaped dome of brick-work surmounted by a terminal or tee (generally in the form of a cube supporting a pointed spire), and resting on a square platform approached by flights of. stone steps. Those, the ruins of Avliich liave been explored in modern times, have been found to be almost sohd, en- 1 Delia, "the body, " and r/opa, '"â ' wliat preserves; " because they en- shrine hair, teeth, nails, &c. of Buddha. â Wilson's Asiat. p. (iOo. Res. vol. xvii. ^ Mahmvmiso, ch. xvii. p. 104.. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.. Tennent, James Emerson, Sir, 1804-1869. London : Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts