Sir Henry Conjectures
That The Deportation Of This Vessel, The Palladium Of The True Gandhara
(Peshawar), Was Accompanied By A Popular Emigration, And Thus Accounts For
The Transfer Of That Name Also To The Chief City Of Arachosia.
(Koeppen,
I. 526; Fah-hian, p. 36; H. Tsang, II.
106; J.R.A.S. XI. 127.)
Sir E. Tennent, through Mr. Wylie (to whom this book owes so much),
obtained the following curious Chinese extract referring to Ceylon
(written 1350): "In front of the image of Buddha there is a sacred bowl,
which is neither made of jade nor copper, nor iron; it is of a purple
colour, and glossy, and when struck it sounds like glass. At the
commencement of the Yuen Dynasty (i.e. under Kublai) three separate
envoys were sent to obtain it." Sanang Setzen also corroborates Marco's
statement: "Thus did the Khaghan (Kublai) cause the sun of religion to
rise over the dark land of the Mongols; he also procured from India images
and reliques of Buddha; among others the Patra of Buddha, which was
presented to him by the four kings (of the cardinal points), and also the
chandana chu" (a miraculous sandal-wood image). (Tennent, I. 622;
Schmidt, p. 119.)
The text also says that several teeth of Buddha were preserved in
Ceylon, and that the Kaan's embassy obtained two molars. Doubtless the
envoys were imposed on; no solitary case in the amazing history of that
relique, for the Dalada, or tooth relique, seems in all historic times
to have been unique.
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