so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper." (4) The Chinese {.} (t'ah; in Cantonese, t'ap), as used by Fa-Hsien, is, no doubt, a phonetisation of the Sanskrit stupa or Pali thupa; and it is well in translating to use for the structures described by him the name of topes,--made familiar by Cunningham and other Indian antiquarians.

In the thirteenth chapter there is an account of one built under the superintendence of Buddha himself, "as a model for all topes in future." They were usually in the form of bell-shaped domes, and were solid, surmounted by a long tapering pinnacle formed with a series of rings, varying in number.

But their form, I suppose, was often varied; just as we have in China pagodas of different shapes.
There are several topes now in the Indian Institute at Oxford, brought from Buddha Gaya, but the largest of them is much smaller than "the smallest" of those of Khoten.

They were intended chiefly to contain the relics of Buddha and famous masters of his Law; but what relics could there be in the Tiratna topes of chapter xvi?
(5) The meaning here is much disputed.

The author does not mean to say that the monk's apartments were made "square," but that the monasteries were made with many guest-chambers or spare rooms.
(6) The Sanskrit term for a monastery is used here,--Sangharama, "gardens of the assembly," originally denoting only "the surrounding park, but afterwards transferred to the whole of the premises" (E.H., p.