No doubt in Fa-Hsien's time, and long before and after it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of metal.
(9) "No monk can eat solid food except between sunrise and noon," and total abstinence from intoxicating drinks is obligatory (Davids' Manual, p.

163).

Food eaten at any other part of the day is called vikala, and forbidden; but a weary traveller might receive unseasonable refreshment, consisting, as Watters has shown (Ch.

Rev.
viii.

282), of honey, butter, treacle, and sesamum oil.
(10) The expression here is somewhat perplexing; but it occurs again in chapter xxxviii; and the meaning is clear.