Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/177

MONUMENTS OF ASOKA 143 and the southern provinces, beyond the Narmada, were ruled by the fourth viceroy. Asoka was a great builder, and so deep was the impression made on the popular imagination by the extent and magnificence of his architectural works that legend credited him with the erection of eighty-four thousand stupas, or sacred cupolas, within the space of BHARAHAT SCULPTURE OF A BUDDHIST 8TUPA. (After Cunningham.) three years. When Fa-hien, the first Chinese pilgrim, visited Pataliputra, the capital, at the beginning of the fifth century A. D., in the reign of Chandragupta Vikramaditya, the palace of Asoka was still standing, and was deemed to have been wrought by supernatural agency. " The royal palace and halls in the midst of the city, which exist now as of old, were all made by the spirits