supposed to resemble the footprint or some member of a deity and
sometimes tombs receive veneration.[53] But no case appears to be
known in which either Hindus or Jains show reverence to the bones or
other fragments of a human body. It is hence remarkable that
relic-worship should be so wide-spread in Buddhism and appear so early
in its history. The earliest Buddhist monuments depict figures
worshipping at a stupa, which was probably a reliquary, and there is
no reason to distrust the traditions which carry the practice back at
least to the reign of Asoka. The principal cause for its prevalence
was no doubt that Buddhism, while creating a powerful religious
current, provided hardly any objects of worship for the faithful.[54]
It is also probable that the rudiments of relic worship existed in the
districts frequented by the Buddha. The account of his death states
that after the cremation of his body the Mallas placed his bones in
their council hall and honoured them with songs and dances. Then eight
communities or individuals demanded a portion of the relics and over
each portion a cairn was built. These proceedings are mentioned as if
they were the usual ceremonial observed on the death of a great man
and in the same Sutta[55] the Buddha himself mentions four classes
of men worthy of a cairn or dagoba.[56] We may perhaps conclude that
in the earliest ages of Buddhism it was usual in north-eastern India
to honour the bones of a distinguished man after cremation and inter
them under a monument. This is not exactly relic worship but it has in
it the root of the later tree. The Piṭakas contain little about the
practice but the Milinda Pañha discusses the question at length and in
one passage[57] endeavours to reconcile two sayings of the Buddha,
"Hinder not yourselves by honouring the remains of the Tathâgatha" and
"Honour that relic of him who is worthy of honour." It is the first
utterance rather than the second that seems to have the genuine ring
of Gotama.