Note 218 — THE NIDĀNAKATHĀ OR THE THREE EPOCHS. (continued 3)

We have here an interesting instance of the growth of legend to authenticate and add glory to local relics, of which other instances will be found in “Buddhism,” p. 195. The ancient form of this legend, as found here, must have arisen when the relics were still in Orissa. Both the Burmese and Ceylonese now claim to possess them. The former say that the two merchants were Burmese, and that the Dāgaba above referred to is the celebrated sanctuary of Shooay Dagob (Bigandet, p. 101, 2nd ed.). The latter say that the Dāgaba was in Orissa, and that the hair-relics were brought thence to Ceylon in 490 A.D., in the manner related in the Kesa Dhātu Vaŋsa, and referred to in the Mahā Vaŋsa. (See verses 43-56 of my edition of the 39th chap. of the M. V. in the J. R. A. S. 1875.) The legend in the text is found in an ancient inscription on the great bell at Rangoon (Hough’s version in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi.; comp. Hardy, M. B. p. 183; Beal, Rom. Leg.) p. 240.