From the three successive city sites and the Greek temple at Jaṇḍiāl, we turn now to the many Buddhist settlements outside the city walls, which constitute a no less important part of the ancient monuments of Taxila. And, first, as to the general character of these settlements. We have seen in a previous chapter that a certain number of Buddhist monuments—namely, a large apsidal temple and several stūpas—were brought to light inside the Parthian city of Sirkap, and there can be little doubt that others will be found in that city as well as in the later city of Sirsukh, since chapels and stūpas alike would naturally be required inside the city walls for the convenience of the many lay worshippers among the cosmopolitan population. The vast majority of the Buddhist monuments, however, are to be found, not within the city walls, but in quiet and retired spots at some distance outside them. The choice of such spots for the location of its saṅghārāmas dates from the earliest years of the Church's history; for the Master himself and his disciples spent much of their time—at least during the rainy season of the year when they were not journeying from place to place—in such suburban retreats: in the Bambu garden, for instance, near Rājagṛiha, in the Jetavana near Śrāvastī, in the Mango Grove near Vaiśalī, in the Deer Park near Benares. These gardens, with their residences, halls, cloisters and store-rooms, were the only homes that the brethren possessed—if indeed these ‘homeless’ wanderers can be said to have had a home at all. Here, to quote Oldenberg, ‘masses of the population, lay as well as monastic, flocked to see the Buddha and to hear him preach; hither came pilgrim monks from far countries, who had heard the fame of Buddha's teaching’. It is only to be expected, then, that this fashion, which was started by the Master himself, should have been perpetuated by the Church. ‘A spot not too far from the town and not too near, suitable for going and coming; easily accessible to all people; by day not too crowded, at night not exposed to noise and alarm; clean of the smell of people; secluded from men; well fitted for a retired life’.