Near this spot the Buddha worked various wonders to convert those who were capable of conversion. For example, it was here that the Buddha overcame the fiery snake-demon (see p. 46 of this volume). In the middle of the night the Nāga vomited forth fire and smoke, and the chamber seemed to be filled with fiery flames; but the Buddha having forced the fiery dragon into his alms-bowl, came forth next day holding it in his hand, and showed it to the unbelievers. To the south of Mućalinda’s tank is a Stūpa, which indicates the spot where Kāṡyapa, having embarked in a boat to save Buddha during an inundation, saw the Lord of the World walking on the water as on land. _Sārnāth near Benares._ The city of Benares (Banāras, properly Vārāṇasī) is the most sacred place of Brāhmanism[198], and is certainly the second most holy place of Buddhism. For it was from this centre that the stream of Buddhist teaching first flowed, and in the days of Aṡoka and of his immediate successors, Buddhism must have vied with Brāhmanism in the number of its shrines and sacred objects collected there. We have already seen that memorial Stūpas and temples, not intended to contain relics, were reared at various holy spots of ground, consecrated by the presence of Gautama on special occasions. The immense ruined Stūpa—once a tower-like monument—at a spot now called Sārnāth (Sāraṅga-nāth[199]), three or four miles from the modern city of Benares, is a memorial of this kind. It is all that remains of the celebrated structure erected at the spot in the Mṛiga-dāva or deer-park, once called Isi-patana (for Sanskṛit Ṛishi-patana), where Gautama first turned the wheel of the Law (Dharma-ćakra)—that is, where he preached his first sermon (p. 42). It was to this place that Buddhist pilgrims once flocked, and here vast numbers of votive relic-shrines and Stūpas were deposited, as at Buddha-Gayā. I visited this ancient ruin, in company with the late Mr. Sherring, in 1876, and enjoyed the advantage of his guidance in inspecting it, as well as all that remains of the monastic buildings and other adjacent ruins, including the octagonal tower called Chaukandi, about half a mile distant. In his book on Benares, Mr. Sherring has followed General Sir A. Cunningham, who describes the principal monument—now of a bee-hive shape, and called Dhamek[200]—as 93 feet in diameter at the base, 292 feet in circumference, and 128 feet above the general level of the soil. The lower part—to a height of 43 feet—is built of stone, and all the upper part of bricks. There are eight projecting faces with empty niches, which once held statues.