347, says:--"For the place of cremation, the princes (of Kusinara) offered their own coronation-hall, which was decorated with the utmost magnificence, and the body was deposited in a golden sarcophagus." See the account of a cremation which Fa-Hsien witnessed in Ceylon, chap.

xxxix.
(8) The name Vajrapani is explained as "he who holds in his hand the diamond club (or pestle=sceptre)," which is one of the many names of Indra or Sakra.

He therefore, that great protector of Buddhism, would seem to be intended here; but the difficulty with me is that neither in Hardy nor Rockhill, nor any other writer, have I met with any manifestation of himself made by Indra on this occasion.

The princes of Kusanagara were called mallas, "strong or mighty heroes;" so also were those of Pava and Vaisali; and a question arises whether the language may not refer to some story which Fa-Hsien had heard,--something which they did on this great occasion.

Vajrapani is also explained as meaning "the diamond mighty hero;" but the epithet of "diamond" is not so applicable to them as to Indra.