The second general assembly of the Buddhist religious was held one hundred years later at Wethalie, in the tenth year of the reign of King Kalathoka, under the presidency of Ratha, who was assisted by seven hundred religious. The object of this assembly was to regulate several matters of discipline. It is probable that a spirit of innovation had reappeared and begun to undermine the strictness of the disciplinary institutions, threatening to weaken the ties that kept together the members of the religious body, and deprive it of that halo of sacredness that had hitherto rendered it an object of so profound and general esteem, respect and veneration. The council, moreover, revised the canon of sacred books, and purified it from all the imperfections and spurious writings that had been embodied in it. Two hundred and eighteen years after Gaudama’s death, King Damathoka or Athoka ascended the throne of Palibotra, which was the capital of a vast and powerful empire. It was in the seventeenth year of that monarch’s reign that the third and last general assembly was held at Palibotra, under the presidency of Maugalipata. The last and final revision of the sacred scriptures was made with the greatest care and labour. The pious Athoka lent to the decisions of the assembly the influence of the secular power. The Pittagat, or the collection of the religious books, such as it now exists, is supposed to be the work of that council. In the two following chapters, the subject of the councils shall receive the attention it deserves. There is a most important fact to be noticed here, which must be considered as a most remarkable result of the third assembly. It forms the grandest era in the history of Buddhism, and it is carefully noted down by our Burmese author. I mean the extraordinary zeal and fervour which seemed at that time to have simultaneously and powerfully acted for the bringing about of this mighty but peaceful religious commotion, that was to be felt, not only in the Indian Peninsula, but far beyond the valley of Cashmere, the country of Guzerat in the west and north-west, beyond the snowy ranges of the Himalaya in the north, and the territories and kingdoms in an eastern direction. King Athoka was then at the height of his power. His religious zeal induced him to make use of all the vast resources at his command to favour the development of the comparatively new religion. During the holding of the council, the religious tempered, as it were, their zeal, fervour, devotion, and ardour for their religious creed, in the middle of their conferences. They resolved to propagate with unremitting zeal the tenets of the holy religion, and extend it all over the world. The spirit of Gaudama seemed to have been infused into the soul of every individual religious. His ardent fervour glowed in the soul of all, who from that period had but one desire, that of extending the boundaries of their spiritual empire.