tfjt £hrnlnyjra/
PRINCETON. N J
Division
Section
Wm f v
-vV v <
mm
um**
(IWbY ":V
.K
'wm.
i
*
/0%6
/
•A
t
» *.
HISTORY
01
T *t
V
ii i; i> ii i s m/
. -».
^opularls EUusnatcti :
**5«’
WITH NOTICES OK
THE KAPPOOISM, .OR DEMON WORSHIP,
ITT
AND OF
THE BALI, OR PLANETARY INCANTATIONS,
A. • 7
CEYLON.
ft
i
BY EDWARD TJPHAM, M.R.A.S.
WITH FORTY-THREE LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTS FROM ORIGINAL SINGALESE DESIGNS.
LONDON :
PRINTED FOR R. ACKERMA NJf, STRAND,
J. UPHAM, BATH; C. UPHAM, EXETER;
AND DONDEY-DUPRE, LIBRAIRIE ORIENTALE, RUE RICHELIEU, PARIS.
. • 1829.
*
k
€
TO
SIR ALEXANDER JOHNSTON,
LATE
€/
PRESIDENT OF HIS MAJESTY’S COUNCIL,
CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE ISLAND OF CEYLON,
FROM WHOSE IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF
H*anu0crtpt0 attU SOratoutgjs,
ELUCIDATORY OF
THE BUDHIST DOCTRINE AND HISTORY,
C
SUBJECTS OF THE FOLLOWING ENGRAVINGS
THEIR ILLUSTRATION WERE CHIEFLY DERIVED,
THIS WORK
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY
THE AUTHOR.
16, Berners Street, February, 1829.
V
CONTENTS
Page
Preface ............ v
Introduction .......... 1
Idols of the Budha .......... 16
o
The Transmigration of Souls, and the J utakas of the Budha . . .25
The Earth and Atmospheric Region . . . . .44
The Dewa Loka, or Six Heavens . . . .54
The Brahma Loka, or Sixteen Heavens, and Nirwana . . .73
The Sackwalle ........... 77
The Chakkraia, and the four Zodiacs . . . .84
The Hells 102
The Bali 112
The Demons ........... 126
LIST OF THE PLATES AND SUBJECTS.
The Jutakayas
The Pattinee Deities
The Dewa Loka Heavens
$
l
l
Bambadat Raja .... Useeratanam Raja, part 1, 2, .
King Wessantara, parti, 2,
The Pattinee-dewa .... The Pattinee-dewa Wiebesana The Pattinee-dewa Samana The Pattinee-dewa Wisme-karma . The Dewa Loka .... The Dewa Loka ...
The Sackwalle .... Four Zodiacs .... The nine Planets .... The Chakkraia The twenty-seven Nekates The four great Hells . • 4
The nine planets for the Mangale Bali The Hieroglyphic of the Day .
The Mangale Bali .
The ten Bali ..... The ten Bali .
The devils or demons The devils or demons
|
Plate |
Page |
||
|
) |
34 |
||
|
t 2, 3, |
35 |
||
|
* 4, 5, |
39 |
||
|
22, |
50 |
||
|
23, |
• |
50 |
|
|
24, |
52 |
||
|
25, |
52 |
||
|
6, |
67 |
||
|
7, 8, |
. |
68 |
|
|
21, |
76 |
||
|
9, 10, |
11, |
12, . . . |
88 |
|
19, |
90 |
||
|
20, |
. |
95 |
|
|
15, 16, |
17, |
18, . . . |
98 |
|
26, 27, |
110 |
||
|
14, |
118 |
||
|
13, |
119 |
||
|
28, |
. |
120 |
|
|
29, 30, |
31, |
122 |
|
|
32, 33, |
34, |
35, 36, 37, 38, . |
124 |
|
39, 40, |
131 |
||
|
41, 42, |
43, |
132 |
.
'
PREFACE.
lHE fe,th °f the is,a"d °f has fo'- *** been that of the Budha, the chief object of
reverence among a large portion of the inhabitants of the East; but the fortunes of the Budhist
systen, ot religion and morals cannot be completely traced, for its origin is obscured by its remote antiquity, and by the vast mass of traditions and fables 'which have accumulated as well from the long course of ages, as from the changes of country and climate in which it has flourished. Budhism may be traced back to a veiy early period in Hindustan, where, for a long time, ,t exercised supreme control. After ages of sanguinary wars, it was finally expelled and rooted out ot India; and its vanquished followers tied in all directions from their relentless persecutors, the Hindfi Braminists ; many taking refuge in the north and east among the impervious recesses of the Ilimmaleh mountains, while vast numbers migrated to the fine and fertile island of Ceylon. Protected by its position, the fugitives there found security. They carried thither their arts, and preserved, with* their sacred books, the faith of which these
formed the depository ; and Budhism seems to have struck deep root, and to have flourished ever since in its insular retreat.
Not only is Budhism the established religion of Ceylon, but the mountains of that island possess the most celebrated Budhist temples of the East, and its priests the highest character for knowledge of the truths of pure Budhism. So extensive indeed is the predominance of the faith as to render an acquaintance with its precepts, its deities, and its agencies, an object of no ordinary interest, especially as even at present it is the faith of not merely the island of Ceylon, but the principles of its doctrines exercise a paramount influence over probably not fewer than three hundred millions ot the human race ; for we must reckon as Budliists the bulk of the population of the vast regions eastward of the Ganges, together with a large proportion of the inhabitants ot the Indian isles; in addition to whom we may number among its votaries the great mass ot the Chinese, as well as the majority of the tribes of north-eastern Tartary and Tibet, where resides the Lama, the living representative of the Budha.
VI
PREFACE.
The subjects of the collection of designs here presented to the public embrace a multiplicity of wholly new details, relating exclusively to Budhism, and illustrative ot its tenets and doctrines concerning the heavens and their inhabitants, the properties of the divine persons, and their agency on human affairs, the system of the universe, and also the deeply-rooted worship of devils or demons, and charms or planetary influences. Many of the notions entertained on these points may be discovered in the dark sorcery of the northern tribes, and many in Africa; in short, Budhism will be found to exhibit some analogies of .practice and doctrine with almost every system of Paganism. The coincidences and the deductions to which the study of this celebrated taitl, leads are highly important. They seem to point to a period when the great family of Man formed but one community, cherished the same belief, and observed the same rites ■ while the grand convulsion which overthrew this state of things, and scattered its fragments thus widely abroad, is completely lost in the mist of time. Hitherto we have been unable to draw from the chief source of knowledge, the priesthood of Ceylon, the information which could alone afford us a satisfactory insight into the doctrine and principles of the Budlia : no source, however, can, it is presumed, be less exceptionable than original pictorial representations, combined wit'll their explanatory precepts, as employed for this purpose by the priests of that celebrated island-a class of persons whose sanctity is revered, and whose knowledge on this very point is recognised by all followers of the Bmlha. For these plates, and for much valuable information inserted in the following pages, the author is greatly indebted to the communications of Sir Alexander Johnston, who filled for many years with distinguished zeal the honourable office of Chief Justice and First in Council in Ceylon; and in his actions and intentions the members of the sacerdotal class in that island appear to have reposed implicit confidence, since, through their friendship and assistance, he obtained a collection of manuscripts on the most important points of Budhist literature, sacred and historical* The plates are lithographic copies from the drawings in Sir Alexander Johnston’s possession. Their worth must not be estimated by the seeming absurdities or singularities ot their appearance and execution : as productions of art they are in truth below mediocrity; but while they prompt research, and offer points of useful association, they furnish m their representations of habits, implements, ornaments, and minute emblems, a mass of elucidatory materials, the value of which will’ be the more highly appreciated the more they are studied and compared with the accounts of the Budhist faith already presented to the public by M. Jomville, Dr. Leyden, Dr. Buchanan, and others, in the Asiatic Researches.
• In one signal instance Sir Alexander Johnston enjoyed an opportunity of employing this feeling for ends far more important than even the interests of literature, as it was entirely owing to his powerful influence with the c ue masters o slaves in the island, that they were led to the humane declaration, by a public act, that all children born o t ur s a\es a er the 12th of August, 1816, should be free. It cannot be too ardently wished that this arrangement may be soon universally adopted.
PREFACE.
Vll
As far as concerns tlie philosophy of the books and the language of Budhism, the author disclaims all pretension to the philological knowledge and local information requisite to render discussion useful, and illustration pertinent. This ancient faith requires a master-hand to open the abstruse phraseology and figurative language under which its philosophical doctrines he concealed. The patient and anxious inquirer into these points cannot derive from any source so much improvement, as from the truly philosophical and erudite observations of Mr. Colebrooke, whose writings are so marked by learning and an intimate knowledge of then-
subjects, as to compel us to regret that ill health, or any other obstacle, should impede their
*
progress.
The author can only regret, that his best efforts and most assiduous attention to these abstruse and difficult subjects cannot furnish more palpable results : such as they are, however, he flatters himself that the candid and patient reader may yet gather some little fruit from Ins toil ; and that every point of the moral and religious code of Budhism, as exhibited m its books, and exemplified in the actions of its followers, will demonstrate the paramount duty we owe to the Supreme Being, to endeavour to become the humble •instruments of spreading h.s sacred word, and diffusing the light of his truth in substitution for the dreams and delusions ot
such a system.
Since the foregoing preliminary remarks were written there has appeared, in the first part of the second volume of the Asiatic Transactions, a paper ot the greatest merit as explanatory of the Budhism of the Nepaulese. The interesting district which they inhabit seems to have been particularly the asylum and retreat of the Budhists when flying to the shelter of the Himmaleh mountains. The publication of this valuable sketch was unto, tuna e y too late to allow the author an opportunity of deriving any benefit from its information ; but the doctrine of Nepaul seems perfectly to accord with that of the Smgalese upon all the leading points of the metempsychosis, the heavens, and the divine agencies.
16, Berners Street , January y 1829-
p«lirn lu
THE
DOCTRINE OF BUDHISM.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION.
“ Mundus nunquam est, moritur semper et nascitur."
Ceylon has been described by all writers as the most beautiful and celebrated of the Indian islands, the seat of a powerful monarchy, and the chief depository of the Budhist faith. It is in the latter relation chiefly that this favoured spot will be considered in the following pages. As, however, the interest which we feel is usually increased by an acquaintance with the subject matter of our research, so we may follow the intricate details of the religion and worship of the Budha with the more pleasure after briefly sketching the history and character of that island, which the Budha Gaudma, the distinguished teacher and divinity of the eastern world, has chosen to make the scene of his birth, and the chief theatre of his acts and miracles.
We find different names assigned to this important island at different periods, and by different writers. Malte Brun informs us that the appellative Selan, whence is derived Ceylon, is fbund in Cosmas, in the sixth century, under that of Sielen Diva, or the island of Sielen ; but, as Ammianus Marcellinus calls the inhabitants Serandives, and the Arabian name, Serendib, is only a corruption of Selan-div, the latter term may be referred to a more ancient epoch, and is probably the same with the Simunda, or Silunda, of Ptolemy. Another Indian name, Salabha, “the Rich Island,” may be recognised in the Saliki of the same geographer: but the ancients knew nothing of its Sanscrit name, Lanca, or of Singala, Chingala, or Sinhela, “ the Isle of Lions,” which was more generally used.
The length of the island is about one hundred leagues, and its extreme breadth varies from ten to thirty leagues. The interior contains many lofty and rocky mountains, and among others the celebrated Adam’s Peak, so termed by the Christians of St. Thomas and the Mahometans, but which in Singalese
B
Q
INTRODUCTION.
bears the name of Himaleh, and in Sanscrit that of Salmalla. Its summit is visible at the distance of more than thirty leagues, and it is celebrated for possessing the print of the Budha’s foot, left on the spot whence he ascended to the Dewa Loka heavens. The island is intersected by a chain of hills, which divide it into two parts, and which influence the seasons in the same manner as the Ghauts in the Dekkan. Although the island is so near the equator, its climate is temperate, and it never suffers from the violent heat and drought which affect the opposite coast of Coromandel.
The descriptions of ancient and modem writers represent Ceylon as the fairest island of the East ; it has been termed the site of Paradise, the rich and magnificent land, the stones of which are rubies and sapphires; where the almond-tree perfumes the low lands and^wamps; where the cinnamon scents the forests ; where the most common plants breathe fragrance ; and where the very gales which blow from its shores are proverbially redolent of balmy sweetness. Such is the figurative language in which this beautiful island is described. Its chief produce is cinnamon ; that of the finest quality is monopolized by the East India Company, and this spice constitutes nearly a moiety of the revenue of the country. Another article which may be mentioned as being connected with the faitli of which I am about to treat, is the chank, a shell of a spiral form, belonging to the class buccinium. These shells are used in libations, and they are among the characteristic accompaniments of the Budha.
The population of Ceylon is estimated at about one million six-hundred thousand souls ; the races are Singalese, Moormen, Malabars, Hindus, Malays, and Europeans. In the interior there is also a rem- nant of a very singular race, termed Bedas, or Vedas; they inhabit the woods, subsisting, as hunters, on game and the produce of the forest. In their intercourse with the sovereigns and the inhabitants of the cities they have ever preserved a peculiar vein of lofty and untamed independence ; and they arc probably the relics of the original inhabitants.
Ceylon exhibits many remains of former grandeur and opulence, which attest the splendour of other times, and the successful cultivation of the arts and sciences. The northern frontier of the district of Kandy is distinguished by enormous blocks of stone and colonnades of marble, as well as inscriptions on rocks, and bridges, the solidity and grandeur of which bespeak a very advanced stage of the arts at the time of their construction. To what era they are to be referred, we may, perhaps, yet learn, when we have acquired a more intimate knowledge of the sacred books of Budhist literature. We will now pro- ceed to consider the doctrines and history, as well as the personal character, of the Budha, with whose faith this island has for so many ages been associated.
The character of the doctrine of Budhism, as well as the portions of its history, which may be gathered from t^,e sacred books, so far as they are yet communicated to us, tend to involve the annals of this ancient faith in great obscurity. It is charged with excluding altogether a Creator and Governor from its system ; but, if it be capable of positive proof that this is the true meaning of the doctrine, still it admits, on the other hand, the operation of Fate (called Damata ), whereby much of the necessary process of conservation, or government, is infused into the system. It is philosophically described as a circle ; for the universe proceeds upon the precise ideas developed in Ovid : it arises in beauty and excellence, and enjoys a golden age of rectitude and peace; it deteriorates, as it passes through a determinate series of changes, from its brightness and glory ; the stature* of its inhabitants diminishes,
" Hence the Budhists are so prone to represent their deities of colossal size, as this very quality imports their great or superlative excellence and dignity.
INTRODUCTION.
3
and the perfection of its fruits and every other natural quality become proportionably lessened and impoverished, by stated degrees, until the arrival of the period of their destruction, for which three agents are periodically assigned, namely, fire, water, and wind. Each of these causes has its exact limits ; the last is the final and grand cataclysm which sweeps the whole system into general destruction. Such is the eternally revolving circle of the Budhist scheme, which, containing germs of self-existence, even after this catastrophe, exhibits them as again developed by necessity or fate, rolling spontaneously onwards, as before, in eternally revolving changes.
This doctrine, however, which appears clearly to be the scope and tenor of Budhism, is impugned in some degree by a very extraordinary v<ein of exhortation, running throughout the doctrine of Gaudma, the present Budha, which manifestly belongs to a later period, and materially interferes with the necessarian portion of the creed. According to the bana, or sermons, of the teacher Gaudma, the moral actions of his followers can completely arrest the progression of the universe towards a periodical destruction ; their meritorious deeds can occasion an increase of brightness, improve the state of the earth’s products, and even fill the heavens, Dewa Loka, with happy souls, on their course through the heavens of probation to Nirwana. Such is the scope of the exhortations of the various portions of doctrine contained in the most authentic manuscripts, as well as in those passages already published in the Asiatic Researches. What then becomes of the tenet of fate, always presenting the same worlds and the same results ? and of each system following the exact prototype exhibited in its like, which, in some portion of time, went before it ; and which, according to Pythagoras, made him a sentient being, capable, by the gift of prescience, of knowing his former existence in a former state? These two brandies of doctrine, therefore, seem clearly to belong to two systems, and greatly to strengthen the conclusion, which a familiarity with the statements of this ancient faith has tended to form — that there exists a striking mixture of primitive and modern doctrine in Budhism.
If we pass from these subjects to the Budhist conceptions of their gods, we see that these partake of the same imperfect character: they are great in dignity, and feeble in act; busied and interested in the
9
affairs of men, without any control over the inferior agencies of the heavens or of the earth ; their parts in the system, from the very highest to the lowest, the Budha, the Maha-bralnna, the Sekkraia, the Dewa, the Koombandeo, or inferior deities, and the Asuras, down to man, alike exhibit an imbecility, a want of a directive or remedial energy, in the doctrine of the Budha. When we see the lavish care with which every portion of the system is filled up with agents and a machinery of animated intelligences, and the very interesting scheme of its moral duties, it seems irresistibly forced upon our minds that Budhism, as now existing, is, in fact, two systems of different eras, wrought into each other at some period of the revival of the faith by an ambitious or zealous teacher, who has endeavoured to supply the lack of a supreme Creator and Governor by a new table of duties and motives, drawn from the conscience, and acting upon man through the hopes and fears of that divine monitor. Hence the gods (if any such beings there literally are in the system) are converted into a species of deified mortals, or demon-gods, the bodies of eminently pious men, exalted for their good deeds to the Dewa Loka, or stars; and such are the oldest ideas of Greek philosophy, as transmitted to us in the Theogony of Hesiod : — “ When the mortal remains of those who flourished during the golden age were hidden beneath the earth, their souls became beneficent demons, still hovering over the world which they had once inhabited, and still watching as guardians over the affairs of men. These, clothed in thin air, and rapidly flitting
B 2
4
INTRODUCTION.
through every region of the earth, possess the royal privilege of conferring riches and of administering justice.”*
In conformity with this quotation is the meaning of the term God , when used in Budhist doctrine; as the word, which has been usually translated gods, means therein only “ those who enjoy happiness,” who have acquired the privileged bliss of the heavens, and proceeded from man to the higher state, but yet possess many senses in common with man, however exalted in lustre and expanded in magnitude. Their increase of dignity is, indeed, invariably indicated by a # more splendid form and a more gigantic stature; and hence the colossal bulk of not only the images of Gaudma, but the more ancient colossal figures, the Budhist forms of Egypt, as embodied in the Memnonian statues of the plain of Thebes.
In treating of Budhism therefore, it is not to be wondered at, if there should be found a demonstra- tion of conflicting doctrines, because it is grounded upon the records of a faith, which exhibits, in its material scheme of the universe, periodical cycles of vast series of ages filled with events, and treats of historical epochs when its system was presided over by former Budhas, both of them referring to a totally distinct class of subjects from what we have now before us to treat of, namely, the universe, the deities, and the events belonging to the Budha Gaudma of the present system, which scheme comprises the comparatively modern period from about 550 years before Christ to the present time, or a space of about 2370 years. As the changes which have taken place in Budhism are evidently not such as have been silently brought about by time, or the introduction of more enlightened views, but the results of persecution and exile, it follows, that whatever has been grafted upon it, in the modern or later periods, is often of a very motley and heterogeneous quality, preserved more for some point of superstitious reverence, than as benefiting the general edifice of modern Budhism. In the accounts which are extant of the three Budhas who have preceded Gaudma, we may observe many coincidences, which strengthen the supposition that these doctrines were borrowed from, and grounded on, older traditions, carrying back the mind into the earliest periods of the history of the human race.
The books which contain these details declare that there are three kinds of Budhas ; the Laotouras,
«
or supreme, the Passes, and Arihats. There is nothing in the world superior to the Laotouras. A calpe, or age, is blessed, according to the Laotoura Budhas, who in the course of it visit the earth ; and as the number is limited to five, we are in a favoured period, for already four Budhas, namely, Maha-devanam, Poorana Goutama, Deepankara, and Gaudma, are arrived at Nirwana. The fifth Budha will appear at the expiration of the five thousand years which are assigned to the present Budha-verouse.f The annals of Budhism also make mention of twenty-two Laotoura Budhas, who are supreme in the system, but of whose timos no trace has been found in history. The Passi Budhas, and the Arihats or Rahatoons, are deified disciples or followers : such are the recognised and privileged individuals, who, in this doctrine, rank among the Budhas. To show how much Budhism borrows from the materials of patriarchal events, the following transcript is given verbatim from a literal translation of a portion of the Maha-vansi, one of the most revered of their sacred books, and held by them to contain the purest doctrines. It exhibits a very important portion of the history which we can trace of the faith, and is of consequence, as it states the descents to the Raja Wessantara, who is a manifestation of Gaudma.
• Op. et Dies, lib. i. 120, 125.
+ Gaudma is he by whose laws the world is governed, and will be governed for 2057 years, from the 1st of May, 1001, of the Christian era. It is 2344 years since the Budha became Nirwana: this era is called Budha- verouse.
INTRODUCTION.
5
“ In the former tirae our Sracious Budlla. who overcame the five deadly sins, having seen the Budha Deepankara, expressed a wish to attain the state of Budha, to save living beings, as twenty-four preceding Budhas had done. Having obtained their assent, and having performed charities of various kinds, he became sanctified and omniscient. He is the Budha, the most high Lord Goutama, who redeemed living beings from all their miseries. This personage, during his existence as Wessa’ntara, continued in his usual charitable and pious condition ; and at length removed to the life in the Dewa Loka, called Toisite Pura, where he enjoyed happiness.
“ Whereas our Budlla is suPerior to Agazika-muni, Annagarika-muni, Seka-muni, Asseka-muni, Aragatta-muni, and Pratyeka-muni, 1* is called Maha-muni. He descended from the royal family of Maha-sammata; the genealogy is as follows :-In the time called the first antagkcdpa of Maha-baddra there was a king called Maha-sammata, the son of the Sun, who came into the world by the operation named opapatika; he was chosen king by the general voice of the people; he had the power of going through the air; a smell of sandal wood proceeded from his person, which reached to the distance of four gows; from his mouth issued the odour of the flower mahanel, which reached to the distance of one yodoon. * * *
“ This king ruled over the large portion of the earth called Damba Dewa in prosperity, peace, and happiness, during the space of an assankaya* of years. At that time all beings lived an assanlcaya of years; no sin was there in the world: the immense duration of their life caused men to forget their birth and to be unmindful of death ; they knew not the infirmities of life , nor the miseries of the world. They derided the very deities , as these were not the fortunate partakers of such a length of days; so that at that time the life of mankind in this world outlasted the existence of the gods. Irrational animals had also their kings in those days; the narration of these facts appears in the ancient histories.
“ After the King Maha-sammata, his son Rojanam-raja reigned also during an assankaya of years ; his son Wararojanam-raja also reigned for the same number of years; his son Maha-mandatoo Chackra- warty-raja was a great and potent monarch.
“ He struck with his right hand on the ground, saying — ‘ Behold the heavens !’ and exclaimed, ‘ O ! ye gods ! I am not satisfied with the happiness of the world granted to mankind ; give me the happiness of the gods, if I deserve it.’ Upon which the gods caused gold to fall like rain within the circum- ference of thirty-six ijodoons to the height of the knee ; and this king, having enjoyed great happiness in the world of mankind, ascended in that state of life to the world of the gods, where, having enjoyed the happiness of the gods for the space of 129 kale, and 6,000,000 years, he descended to the world of mankind, and reigned altogether an assankaya of years.
“ His son W aramandatanam-raja reigned an assankaya of years. His son Charanam-raja reigned also an assankaya of years. His son Upacharanam-raja also reigned an assankaya of years. His son Chatiyanam-raja also reigned an assankaya of years. This king resolved to appoint the Bramin Corakam- bakanam-bamoona, who was bred up at the same school with him, to the situation of the king’s supreme adviser, deceiving him by a falsehood as being senior to the king’s adviser Capilanam-puro-hitayan ; which resolution being spread through the realm, the inhabitants crowded from all quarters, saying —
‘ We will see this day what falsehood is, whether it is white, black, red, or blue.* On this occasion the
• A sanka, or assanka , is a number of yea& amounting to a unit with sixty-three ciphers after it ; all immensely long periods are termed assanka.
INTRODUCTION.
6
Seer Capilanam-maha-irshan interfered to prevent the execution of the king’s resolution, but it was in vain. So falsehood came into the world ; the king and his city were swallowed up by the earth.
“ This king had five sons, and, by the power of Capilanam-Irshan, one of them reigned in the region Hastipooraya, one in Aswapooraya, one in Sinhapooraya, one in Daddarapooraya, and the others in Panchalanoowaraya. Their history appears in the book called Chatiya-ja-takaya ; and know ye that at this period, from the aforesaid wickedness, falsehood came first into the world, and since that time the kincrs have forfeited the divine assistance.
“ Moowalanam-raja, the eldest son of the King Chatiya-raja, who succeeded his father, being terrified with the misfortune of his father, reigned for the public welfare and prosperity, so that his reign was an assanhaya of years. His son Mooclialindanam-raja reigned also an assanhaya of years. His son Sagaranam-raja reigned an assanhaya of years ; he had about sixty thousand sons, who having divided Jambu-dweepa among themselves, each of them reigned in separate cities ; and, after a great number of years, their descendants became unknown to each other, by which arose various royal families from their descendants, but in the beginning all the kings were of the royal class called Maha-sammata.
“ The King Sagara, who was the eldest amongst the sixty thousand kings, reigned an assanhaya of years ; his son King B'harata reigned also an assanhaya of years ; his son Bageerata reigned the same number of years ; his son itoochy reigned the same number of years ; his son Soroochy reigned the same number of years; his son Purtapa reigned the same number of years; his son Maha-purtapa reigned the same number of years. This king ordered his own son, Prince Dampal, to be slain at the age of seven months, because the queen, having the child on her lap, did not rise from her seat when the king came in ; and immediately after the earth opened, and the king was swallowed up, and was cast into hell ; and since that period the crime of murder has prevailed in the world ; and as crimes so produced were always avoided by the kings, they did not lessen their term of life, but they lost their bodily beauty.”
We have then details of a succession of twenty-eight kings to Asmat, when the history proceeds : —
“ The following kings by degrees decrease in age and beauty.
“ The sons and grandsons of the last-mentioned King Asmat did not attain the age of an assanhaya , but did to the hale.
“ The first gray hair appeared upon him, and on seeing it he resigned his throne to his son Mak’ha-dewa, and retired to a hermitage, and thence he transmigrated into the heaven called Brahma Loka ; and since^ that time the royal title of Maha-sammata has been changed into the title of Mak’ha-dewa.
“ With this title of Mak’ha-dewa there were 84,000 kings from the descendants of each other, all of whom, on seeing the gray hair, retired to a hermitage, in pursuance of the practice of the former kings, and afterward transmigrated into the heaven Brahma Loka ; but the succeeding kings did not retire to the hermitage, though they felt the infirmity of old age in a greater degree, and the title of Mak’ha- dewa was changed into the title of Assoka ; and the son of the last King Calaranja-naka was Assoka : his son bore the title of Okkaka, since which time the royal generation was called the Okkaka tribe.
“ The first king of this tribe was our gracious Budha, in his former existence as King Cusa; after him 100,000 kings of this tribe named Dilipaya, Bagooya, Anjaya, Assarat’haya, Ramaya, &c. kc.
INTRODUCTION.
7
reigned by that title, some 50,000 years, some 40,000 years, some 30,000 years, and so on in a de- creasing ratio.
“ In succession to these kings came to reign King Biteesadakkaka ; his successors from time to time were 100,000 kings named Udayab’haddaya, Dananjaya, Corawyaya, Wedageya, Sanjaya, Wessantara, Singhawahanaye, &c. &c. Their age was 10,000 years and downward,” kc. kc.*
The length of the preceding extract will, it is presumed, be amply compensated by the important facts which it establishes, that the sacretj books enter into very material points of the early history of the human race. The lengthened period of men's lives , the non-existence of sin , the rationality of the animal tribes, the extraordinary ascension of flfaha-mandatoo Chaclcrawarty-raja in a living state to the heavens, or Dewa Loka, and the introduction of falsehood and murder into the world, as well also as the rebellion of men against the gods, proceeding, as the Budhist writings declare, from their pride and reliance on their longevity, are clearly events which stand recorded in antediluvian history.
If in the foregoing quotations we may trace such interesting allusions to the narratives, which are among the earliest and most important traditions of our race, in the incidents of the life of W essantara- raja, and other exemplars of the Budha, we have also precise and valuable information conveyed upon the opinions which their doctrine inculcated respecting such abstruse questions, as the doctrine of emanation, refusion, the eternity of matter, the quality of non-resistance, non-action, and the other subtle tenets of their refined ratiocinations, by which the origin of ascetic habits, and their value and tendency in the scale of spiritual attainments, may be deduced with a clearness which no existing proofs have hitherto established. “ The votaries of Hinduism,” as Mr. Ward admirably illustrates it, “ believe there is one God, so emphatically abstracted in his own essence, that he is ‘The Unknown,’ and is con- sequently neither the object of worship, of hope, nor of love, nor of fear ; — that he is even destitute of intelligence, and remains in a state of profound repose ; — that at times he assumes what is called his energy, and creates worlds; — that this being is individuated , and takes possession of every form in matter ; — and that the largest partakers of the sacred energy are the gods, the giants, the Brahmins, and devout ascetics.”
This short statement, as Mr. Ward justly observes, contains the lineaments of all the pagan doctrines of the East, and it will be found to coincide exactly witli the subsequent narrations.
To possess a large share of the divine energy is the prominent claim of every sect, and the great bulk of the worshippers of a god revealed under such chilling and impervious attributes most eagerh court the notion of some tangible shape, in which the benefits they hope for, and the fa\our and protection which they are aware that they need, may be showered upon them ; hence ascetics, who, through the rigour and austerities of a life of penance, pretend to have annihilated mortal corruption, and won for themselves a corresponding influx of the divine nature, become naturally objects of particular adoration. Neither the Budha nor any other founder of a sect would have impressed his followers with an adequate idea of his holiness, without this notion, and without having become a hermit, and practised
• According to the information prefixed in a manuscript note by the translator, Raja-pakse, a well-known intelligent native of Ceylon, the Maha-vansi, from which the above passage is extracted, is one of the most esteemed of all the sacred books of his countrymen, and has the character of being among the oldest of their writings, being throughout composed in Palee, the sacred Budhist language. This work has been so carefully preserved, that but slight differences are observable between the most ancient and most modern copies ; it does not appear at what period it was composed, but it has been in existence from the period that the books of Ceylon were originally written, and it contains “ the doctrine, race, and lineage of Budha,” and is, in fact, the religion and history of Budhism.
8
INTRODUCTION.
the habits of ascetic life, to which such persons owe their success while living, and their deification. Foremost among the pretensions of every aspirant to the dignity of the Budhaship is the faculty of working miracles, and conferring spiritual privileges, as the test of a divine mission ; and, consequently, the records of every Budha enter largely into this necessary claim. But there is also in Budhisin a not less curious and interesting intermixture of doctrine, respecting the passive qualities manifested in the penances and sufferings of the ascetics, who thereby appropriate to themselves a participation in, or conformity with, the divine energy, in an inert state of abstraction and repose. A supposition that such energy slumbers in a state of weakened intellect is the ground of the respect paid throughout the East to idiots and to the imbecile, while any glimmering of meaning in their incoherent sentences is caught up as the flashing forth of some communicated divine emanation.
Having briefly touched on these portions of the doctrines, which may be considered to bear a reference to the earliest traditions, it will be desirable in the next place to state what are the dates and facts concerning the origin of the system of Budhism subsisting at this time; and the doctrine of Gaudma, as a compendium of a later system, combining much of history with its fables, will reward our attention, by exhibiting established facts which demonstrate them to be partly histories, whence, by investigation, it may confidently be hoped, that assistance may be derived for the rectification of the historical epochs of southern India,* with which country Budhism has evidently been closely and politically united.
Ceylon is the theatre of Gaudma’s actions and existence. The security of its insular position, its having been the chosen scene of the Budha’s preaching and miracles, its also becoming a retreat and asylum for the persecuted Budhists when they were driven from the peninsula ; all these data point to this celebrated island as the precise region whence we may hope to derive the fullest details of its system of history and doctrine. There are several epochs in Budhist history ; the first stage is the Budhism anterior to the Budhas of the present calpe , the second is the present era.
The annals of historic record, which are preserved in Ceylon, while they dwell in detail upon the events and history appertaining to the era of the Budha Gaudma, the chief object of Singalese veneration, and the subject of the present work, clearly refer also to three anterior and distinctly separate periods of time, when the ancient Budhist faith exercised an extensive sway — 1st, under Maha-devanam Budha ; 2ndly, Poorana Goutama Budha ; 3dly, Deepankara Budha : to these succeeded Gaudma Budha, the ruler and teacher of the era now in progress, which he predicted should last for 5000 years from the period in which he left the world ; at the expiration of which time a divine being, now reposing, as the previous Budhas had done, anterior to their exaltation in the heaven Toisite, the Budha Maitri, will be born into the world, and give a new doctrine and a new era.
* This remark is indeed converted into reality by the appearance, in the fifteenth volume of the Asiatic Researches, of the first historical work of India, hitherto submitted to the notice of European research. May this most interesting record be the precursor of a series of similar notices, as certainly our actual knowledge is more advanced by one positively original document of this nature, than by any other source of Eastern study. Mr. Wilson’s elaborate and useful elucidations merit the closest investigation, as they open coincidences of history and geography which become highly valuable ; and the more so, as in the very interesting reference which the Cashmir manuscript makes to the Sangayanas, or missions for the propagation of the Budha faith, as well as its establishment in Cashmir, it is completely in accordance with other historical works, of far more extended detail, and more copious materials of illustration ; namely, the original histories of Ceylon. The Maha-vansi contains a chapter on the Sangayana, or mission to Cashmir, with the name of the Budha Rabat, who accomplished the establishment of their faith, not only in Cashmir, but in Candahar, and other adjacent parts.
INTRODUCTION.
i)
The history of Budlusm, of which we have to treat, thus resolves itself into two heads, namely— 1st ancient portion, which comprehends the eras of the three Budhas preceding Gaudma, or the time of comparatively modern history; Sndly. The latter, or comparatively modern period, from 1000 years before Christ (at which time the appearance of Sakia Sinha is supposed to have taken place), to th establishment of the present faith of Ceylon, the work of the Gaudma Budlia, who existed nearly 45 0 years later, or about 550 years before Christ. About 100 years later arose in Ceylon, Wijya Sinha, who seated himself on the throne as an incarnation of the Budha, and with whom the histories commence the line of kings. A further point of material importance to the history of this faith is, to suggest a probable solution of the great and inextinguishable hatred of the Brahminists against the Budhists, which influenced the fortunes of India, and commenced an enmity that neither time nor circumstance can heal. The object of the following remarks will therefore be to present, as briefly as the subject will permit, and as clearly as the scattered fragments of history will warrant, the most authentic facts and reasonings upon these matters. Of the times of the three most ancient Budhas nothing can be said beyond the few hints which the reader may select from the papers of Dr. Buchanan in the Asiatic Researches; all that is known of their history refers to their approval and recognition of Gaudma as their successor in the Budhaship. Many interesting references and allusions#to ancient practices, such as levelling the roads at their approach, strewing the earth with white sand and with flowers in their honour, arise to notice in the following pages. There is certainly ground to hope that the Budhist books, as we become better acquainted with them, may add to our knowledge of the history of these very remote times, seeing that the foregoing extracts exhibit such striking traces of patriarchal history.
Whether Budlusm preceded the system of Brahminism in India, or, in other words, which was the parent stock of the two systems, it would be very improper to presume to decide, considering how imperfectly we are acquainted with the Budhist writings, which claim a high antiquity, and which, if we may judge from the extracts of the Maha-vansi, possess a simplicity of reference to early events indicative of genuine history. On the subject of estimating the pretensions of these two faiths from their writings, there are some remarks of INI. Joinville’s, so judicious, that I cannot refrain from presenting them briefly to the reader “ We find the religion of the Budha in ancient times, extending from the north of Tartary to Ceylon, and from the Indies to Siam; in the same manner we see that of Brahma followed in the same countries, and for as long a space of time. It is, therefore, not in history , but in the precepts of the two religions, that are to be found the data by which to decide this question. In the opinion of the Budhists there has been no creation ; Maha-brahma, all the Sekkraia and Brahmas, have existed from all time, and so have the worlds, the gods, the human race, and all the animated beingf. The Brahmins calculate the antiquity of the world beyond what can be conceived by the most extravagant mind ; but these calculations are supported by astronomical periods, ingeniously combined together. As the world never was created, in the opinion of the Budhists, their calculations only relate to the immense number of transmigrations of Gaudma, from the time he first thought of becoming Budha, till that when he attained Nirwana ; and this period they compute at a unit followed by sixty-three ciphers, being the result of some combinations, so intricate, that it may be easily imagined that very few of their wise men understand them. There are traces, however, of the Braliminic calculations to be found in those of the Budhists. The Brahmins and Budhists are equally bigoted and extravagant, with this difference, that in the former religion are found very deep ideas of astronomy, in the latter, none. I
1
10
INTRODUCTION.
have, till now, searched in vain for an instructive work in Singalese, relative to the heavenly bodies, and have found only uninteresting speculations on the influence of the stars upon the affairs of the world. The Brahmins respect fire, the Budhists do not. The former eat of no animal, the latter are restricted only to the not partaking of the flesh of nine, of which the ox is the principal. 1 am rather of opinion, upon a comparison of the two religions, that that of Budha is the more ancient, for the following reasons : — The religion of Budha having extended itself, in very remote times, through every part of India, was in many respects monstrous and unformed. An uncreated world, and mortal souls, are ideas to be held only in an infant state of society, and as society advances, such ideas must vanish. A fortiori , they cannot be established in opposition to a religion already prevailing in a country, the fundamental articles of which are, the creation of the world, and the immortality of the soul. Ideas in opposition to all religion cannot gain ground, at least cannot make head, when there is already an established faith ; whence it is fair to infer, that if Budhism could not have established itself among the Brahmins, and if it has been established in their country, it must be the more ancient of the two. In looking into the Singalese hooks, we find several striking resemblances between their astronomical system, and that of the Brahmins; for instance, we see the number 432, followed by any number (no matter how great) of ciphers, which, among the Indians, is the result of certain combinations in the movements of the heavenly bodies — combinations which agree almost exactly with the calculations founded on Newton’s system. This same number 432, among the Budhists, is no longer the result of astronomical combina- tions, but of arithmetical ones, arranged expressly to obtain it. The Budhists have only a mechanical knowledge of it, and generally attach sixty ciphers to it ; whereas, the Brahmins put but three or four. Had the former received it from the latter, they would have either kept it entirely, or changed it entirely, in its mystico-numeric details, so that the number 432 would either have been kept in its original purity, or entirely lost ; but if, on the contrary, they transmitted the science to the Brahmins, as in the unfortunate wars which they must have suffered in the reformation by the Brahmins, they were driven from their country, and their effects, books, observatories, and astronomical tables, were lost — they could preserve only a loose remembrance of their former science ; for they were obliged to wander a long time before they could unite in a body, either in Ceylon or Siam. Hence, is it not evident that the Budhists were possessed of astronomy before the Brahmins ? and as both religion and astronomy are united, is it not probable that the religion of the Budhists is the more ancient ?”
For these, and other ingenious reasons, to demonstrate that the Budhists were possessed of astronomy before the Brahminists, and that the latter were the reformers, and consequently the later sect, the Asiatic Researched * may be usefully consulted. It is manifest that the most important portion of the history of Budhism, next to its rise, is the period of its supremacy over southern India, at the very distant period of time when the empire of Magadha, and other independent states, flourished. An authentic history of this interesting epoch would enlighten us as to the true cause of that fierce and inextinguishable hatred on the part of the Brahmins towards the Budhists, which, after ages of wars, finally drove the latter from India, and extirpated them from the Peninsula, which hatred, moreover, still remains unchanged. As the solution of this antipathy would greatly promote a better knowledge of the connexion between the periods of history of ancient and modern Budhism, the subject will
Asiatic Researches, vii. 400, et seq.
INTRODUCTION.
11
be adverted to, after a brief sketch has been exhibited of the three most celebrated characters of this sect, which are referred to in comparatively modern times. These are Sakia or Xaca Sinlia, about 1000 years before Christ; Gaudma Budha, about 550 years before Christ; and Wijya Sinlia* in the year succeeding the death of Gaudma. The doctrines of a faith which treats all souls as immortal, and teaches that they animate successively different forms upon the theatre of the world throughout its progressive stages of history ; which also declares that it is from the state of man only that a Budha can arise; open such a field of enterprise to any follower of sufficient daring, that it will excite no wonder that it should appear to have been the practice of ambitious spirits, both in former and in modern times, f to claim for themselves the attributes of a Budha, and to apply them successfully to the purposes of personal aggrandisement. Of Sakia Sinha, and of Wijya Sinlia, we know comparatively little. The Budha Gaudma may, however, be reckoned among the most distinguished founders of a faith, for he succeeded in engrafting his doctrine upon the ancient system of Budhism with the most signal success, and in establishing the predominant influence of his code and name wherever the patronymic Budha was revered throughout the East.
The most important particulars that we can trace of Sakia, or Xaca, and his successors, we owe to LI. Abel Remusat, who has presented us, in the Melanges Asiatiques (tome i. p. 113), with an interesting piece of history, connecting a successive series of thirty-two patriarchs or feachers of Budhist doctrine, and occupying the space of time from 1000 years before Christ to the year 713 of the Christian era, which may furnish some of the most useful approximations towards verifying the history of Budhism as we become more fully acquainted with its statements.
Sakia Sinha was manifestly a warrior, and probably a Tartar, or native of the northern regions, the Scythia of the ancients, where the Budha was reverenced ; and as other sources of history appear to intimate that a great change or revolution was taking place about this time, Sakia could pursue no surer way to success than by arrogating to himself the rank and honour of a Budha. In unison with this era given by the Mongolian, Chinese, and Tibetian histories, may be cited the following dates, which present a striking conformity among different nations for fixing the era of this warrior.
Years before Cbrisl
The Chinese place their Sakia, or Xaca Sinha, at 1029
According to the Sanscrit inscription at Budha Gaya, and Sir William Jones, a Budha was born 1014
According to the Mongolian historians, by de Guignes 1036
According to M. Bailly's calculations 1031
According to the Tibetian accounts 949
According to the commencement of the Kale Yoog 1000
In the Annals of the Magadhan princes, in the 9th volume of the Asiatic Researches, a change ofidynasty,
commonly associated with religious changes, took place at 1000
The era of Gaudma Budha seems clearly established by the various historical books of his doctrine at 543 years before Christ, a period of time generally concurred in — the Singalese placing it in 543, the
* Wijya Sinha lived about one hundred years after the death of Gaudma, and was evidently a successful competitor for the throne. A Singalese history, the Raja-ratnacari, which was written by a priest of the Pansila, called Abeja-raja-piriwana, of the temple Walgan- pawya-was, a work scarcely less esteemed than the Maha-vansi itself, records the erection of temples, and the history of the kings, from the first king Wijya, whose reign is computed at 2369 years ago.
t It will be shown in the course of these pages that Alaoung Praw successfully used this engine of influence to establish the present power of the Birman empire.
c 2
12
INTRODUCTION.
Birmans in 544, and the Siamese in 546. What the state of the Eastern world might he at the appearance of this distinguished character we have no means of knowing; it is mamfest that a powerful Budhist monarchy was established on the banks of the Ganges at a much earlier epoch, as the accounts of the Magadhan empire record that a powerful kingdom existed at Hastinapoor at the very remote period of 1900 years antecedent to the Christian era. The principal actions of the Budha Gaudma are icco. cc as takhm place in Ceylon, which island, we shall see ample proofs in the Budhist legends was then addicted to the worship of «««*. or serpents, and of demons, towards the suppression of which the most strenuous efforts of Gaudma were directed; and here was his chief abode. What part he ought have performed on the larger and more important theatre of the Indian empire we cannot at present trace, but that the tenets of his doctrine were then the established creed of the Magadha sovereignty, or became so shortly after the promulgation of his doctrine, may be safely inferred from the details of Strabo relative to the celebrated advance of Alexander to the Indus, and also from the account given subsequently by Mecrasthenes, who visited Palibothra. The singularly subtle replies of the Samaneans, or Brahmin philosophers, in their interview with this conqueror* will be found to contain the spirit of the Budhist doctrine- and this coincidence seems fully to establish the prevalence of the Budhist faith m southern India or Magadha, at 315 years before Christ, or about 200 years after the death of Gaudma. It may, therefore, be inferred, that aV this period, as at present, the Budhist doctrine was calculated to operate upon the minds of its followers by its moral code, enforced by the punishments of the metempsychosis, as a judicial process, or series of purifying changes, performing ultimately the lustration of the soul, and qualifying it for Nirwana, or eternal bliss ; but the more we examine the features of this doctrine anterior to the time of Gaudma, the more we shall feel ourselves interested in the endeavour to discover wherein could exist the dogma or principle which could excite such an implacable and sanguinary persecution as we know, from history, was maintained for centuries against the native Budhists, by the Brahmins and the followers of Siva. This fierce proscription did not take place from any obnoxious tenet in ancient Budhism; it is in the exposition of its modem doctrine that we must trace this point: for the earliest Budhist writings are portions of history of the highest antiquity, from the character of their expressions, symbols, and distribution of parts, and tend to weaken the charge preferred against the system of wanting a Supreme Being, or of inculcating the doctrine of annihilation ; the originators and the chief supporters of which are the mortal enemies of the Budhists, and therefore their testimony should be received with extreme caution ; moreover the character of the first charge is, in some measure, met by the mention in the doctrine of Damata, or Fate, who regulates the scheme of the world by necessitating or propelling an eternal progression^ events. An acquaintance with the import of pagan doctrine will teach us that the Damata and the Budha of Budhism, are as good and competent governors of the world, as the Fate and Jupiter of Grecian mythology, and that, in fact, the Jove of the sky (that is the Empyrean), and the Jove of Olympus, directing the Trojan war, are two portions of separate myths blended in one divine and historical personage, precisely as the Sakia Sinha, or the Lion of the Moon.f becomes the active
energy, and is identified with the Budha of the Nirwana.
The great schism which divided the Eastern world, and made the disunion irreconcileable, seems in
+ of ^the" other Greek writer,, Ratio Sinha, the Lion of Sakia, or the Moon, is another of the surnames
of Budha throughout the whole of Eastern Asia."— Creuzer, on the Religions of Antiquity.
INTRODUCTION.
13
fact to have originated in the period wherein the munis, or teachers of the Budhist doctrine, either from a reforming principle, or a love of power, or a combination of both, proceeded to have their own theories and sacred books, not explanatory of, but in direct opposition to, the Vedas ;* teaching their followers that they alone were true believers of the saving faith, throwing down the barriers of caste, and elevating the dogmas of the faith above the sacerdotal class, and admitting every one who felt an inward desire to the ministry and preaching of their religion. A system thus associating itself with the habits, feelings, and personal advantages of its disciples, could not fail to make rapid progress wherever it was contrasted with the fenced-in privileges, immutable dogmas, and haughty pretensions of the sacerdotal class of the Brahmins. What were the political motives of either sect, and how the latter class contrived to link their interest with the Rajahs of India, so as to turn their arms against the Budhists as a dangerous sect, who menaced the overthrow of their power and influence, we have not at present the means of tracing ; certain it is, that after centimes of bloodshed, the Brahminists extirpated Budhism from India; they anathematized the Budha as a heretic, and they designated the doctrine as atheistical; but some unknown, yet potent necessity, compelled them still to class the Budha of ancient times as an avatar of Vishnil, the preserver, and as the ruler of the planet Mercury ;f an unwilling and reluctant testimony of the antiquity and former power of its doctrine. That the substitution of sacred codes of their own, and the erection of a hierarchy in opposition to the Brahmins, were deemed a promulgation of doctrine subversive of the chief points of Brahminical tenets and practice, seems clearly inferred from a comparison of the Vedanta philosophical codes, part of which are cited as pure doctrine, and part are held to be heterodox. Here begins the broad line of separation, the fountain whence welled forth those waters of bitterness which have caused such wars and revolutions.
“ The Vedanta philosophers of Capila,” says Creuzer, “ make the supreme good to consist in the contemplative, or interior life, and discommend all practice ; in this they are opposed in principle to the earliest, the first Mimansa after the Vedas, which recommends ‘ a life of active works and practice:’ the Bhagavat Gita seems to aim throughout at a reconciliation of these two extremes, while it highly extols the Sankhya doctrine.”
The Jutaka of the Budha, as King Wessantara, is the most perfect exemplar of the contemplative or
• As the Vedas are necessarily so often referred to, a short analysis may be useful, as a mere sketch of Indian literature, which M. Schlegel divides into four periods. In the first he ranks the Vedas and the laws of Mend ; in the second nearly all the philosophical systems anterior to the Vedanta philosophy, such as the Sankhya philosophy and others; then the Ramayana j the third, comprises all the works attributed to Vyasa, that is to say, the eighteen Puranas, the Mahabarat, and the Vedanta philosophy: the fourth is a class where Kalidasa and a cloud of other poets avail themselves of ancient traditions (heretofore the property of the priests), for dramatic and poetical purposes. “ The primitive myths, which clothed the first interpretations of nature,” says M. Goerres, “ formed by little and little the Vedas, whence, in process of time, flowed the Puranas, a collection of romantic myths, the produce of the fertile imaginations of Vyasa and his cotemporaries; historic poetry developed itself in the Ramayana and the Mahabarat ; morals took its rank in the Dherma Sastra, or laws of Menu ; lastly, in the six theistic treatises, namely, the two Nyaya, the two Mimansa, and the two Sankhya (the last two philosophical treatises now suspected of heterodoxy), is comprised the orthodox philosophy of the Hindus.”
In the laws of Menu, the most ancient and purest system of Brahminism, no works are quoted but the six Vedas, the Nyaya and Mimansa philosophy, and only the author of the Sankhya, called Capila, the Manava Sastras, and the Puranas.
The Puranas, the Nyaya, the Mimansa, and the Dherma Sastra, are still called the four Oupangas ; and there are also four Oupa Vedas, which treat of medicine, music, the military art, and architecture, to which are allied all the mechanical arts — Creuzer.-
+ “ The Brahmins still agree in reckoning Budha among the incarnations of Vishnu; they make him the ninth; but in the same manner as they have attached the blame of a certain pernicious influence to the Budha planet, so, at the same time that they admit the Budha Vatara, they either observe an absolute silence respecting him ; or, if they break silence, it is to mingle a vague reproach with the homage which they cannot help paying him. In this there is some great historical enigma, of which it will be long before we discover the complete solution.” — Creuzer.
14
INTRODUCTION.
ascetic life, and its whole vein of incident and doctrine identifies him with the books which the Budhists most probably placed above the Vedas when they rejected their authority as scripture. In the Budhist patriarchs, or teachers, a list of whom is presented to our view, by the valuable researches of M. Remusat, we trace a line of preachers or munis, wielding the metempsychosis as a principle of power, and exhibiting themselves to us as the Samaneans (those who had vanquished their passions) of Classic writers, and as the Gymnosophists of Clement and Porphyry ; and from the date of these doctrines, we may trace the period of the dissensions of the two classes, arising out of the substitution by the Budhists of the interpret- ation and authority of their own sacred books, and their adoption of a totally different rule of practice for their hierarchy. The Brahmins spread over all India enjoyed then, and still enjoy as a body, distinguished privileges, but properly speaking they have no supreme head or common centre, and in fact they are no hierarchy; they formed no spiritual monarchy by the side, or under the shadow of the throne; but the Budhist priests form themselves into communities, in cloisters, each having for its head a spiritual superior invested with the highest attributes, inviolable and sacred. Most of their minor habits also are equally inimical to the spirit of Brahminism, such as the profession of celibacy, and many other striking points.
The sum of these remarks amounts to this — that Budhism is in itself a primitive doctrine, of parallel pretension with Brahminism*; that the later faith recognises its earlier doctrine, and incorporates its author with its philosophy ; that the fatal wars which drove Budhism from India originated in the principles which wre trace in the revival of the present system of doctrine of the Budha ; and that the most important link therein is manifestly the doctrine of the metempsychosis ; a principle, alike sub- sisting both in the anterior eras, and in the present Budha-verouse, or law of Gaudma.
Admitting then the faith of Budhism to have originally spread over India as a centre, and, to use the beautiful language of Sir William Jones — “ Turning your eyes in idea to the north, you have on your right many important kingdoms in the Eastern peninsula : the ancient and wonderful empire of China, with all her Tartarian dependencies ; and that of Japan, with the cluster of precious islands, in which so many singular curiosities have too long been* concealed. Before you lies that prodigious chain of mountains, which formerly, perhaps, were a barrier against the violence of the sea ; and beyond them the very interesting country of Tibet, and the vast regions of Tartary.” Nor is this immense space, with its unknown population, the full extent of its influence, for we may add to it the Ultra-Gangetic kingdoms of Birmah, Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin-China, comprising the space between the Ganges, the Indian Ocean, and China. Throughout all these vast regions of the East, the Budha Gaudma is the object of the highest veneration ; he presides over their universe ; he is superior to all the gods ; he is a worker of miracles, and a muni, or divine teacher ; and he conceived and accomplished his desire of becoming a Budha (or an omniscient teacher and saint) in the Manoepeloka, or earth. This sublime act, as they deem it, is the grand excellency of the Budha, as thereby he procured, according to Budhist doctrine, salvation, or Nirwana, for mankind; and hence our earth is termed, in reference to this peculiar and remarkable distinction, the Ford of Nirwana , or the road to the supreme state of felicity, which the inhabitants of the three other islands or continents are incapable of acquiring or aspiring to ; and the Budhist writings lay a particular stress on this high and remarkable privilege of man, for the entire scope and force of the doctrine of Budhism is in no point more distinctive and strongly marked, than in its ruling and vital principle, that “ the ascent to divinity is only to be acquired from the state of man.”
INTRODUCTION.
15
• We have now before us a map of that vast portion of the human race, who derive their opinions and faith from Budhist doctrine, who profess to regulate their hope and notions of future bliss wholly by its moral instructions and rules. These important and striking considerations (for so every cause operating on many millions of human beings may justly be deemed) will convert into matters of deep interest the most minute details, and secure patient attention to the astrological puerilities of their demon worship, and to their opinions on the character of infernal punishments. All these matters supply traits, without which the picture would be imperfect ; and it may be considered a very useful lesson to set before the pride of man, that, in reference to the most important of subjects, the state and quality of a future existence, the most refined Greek philosophers, and the darkest and most ignorant of the followers of the Budha, were much on a par as to external religious observances, and any advantageous views of what becomes of the soul after death. It seems, therefore, to warn us that, on these great subjects, very little advantage can be gathered from the utmost stretch of the human understanding ; the teacher must he divine. However high his intellectual attainment, philosophy could not lift her greatest follower4, at his death, above the standard of the humblest disciple of the Budha, whom, sacrificing a cock to the Bali, or planetary influences, as he lay languishing under sickness amid the woods of Ceylon, we see under the same vow, and offering the same tribute to the Deity, as marked the last hours of Socrates. “ Uncovering his head, for his head was covered, that nothing might trouble him, * Crito,’ says Socrates (these were his last words), ‘ we owe a cock to Esculapius, discharge this vow for me, and do not forget it.* ” A midnight scene, which was witnessed in the forests of Ceylon, wherein a magical practitioner was addressing the sparkling host of heaven, “ the Bali,” in behalf of an unfortunate individual languishing under sickness,* will demonstrate how precisely this last act of the greatest philosopher of the Athenian school sprung from the same root of doctrine as that of the sick Singalese.
• The narrative of this interesting rencontre, at midnight, in the woods of Ceylon, will be found under the head of the Bali.
CHAPTER II.
IDOLS OF THE BUDHA.*
•< Mercury (Budha Gaudma), a messenger of the gods with the Greeks; a planet with the Chaldeans— Loth which call the planets gods ; and with the Magi, who understood him, one of the seven metals.”
In entering upon a description of the different statues of the chief teacher, it is due to the station which Gaudma now occupied in the Budhist system of doctrine, prevailing throughout the East, to commence with his era and person ; nevertheless, it is of great use to bear in remembrance, that the world now in existence, according to the principles of the faith of its followers, has been visited at distinct periods by three preceding Budhas, each of whom has governed and taught a series of time of immense duration, and each of whom is noticed in the writings, by properties, distinct and apart from the others, leading to the conclusion, that the further notices which may be given of them in the sacred # books may present their identities of person and character as distinctively to our view, as history and tradition now display those of the Budha Gaudma. By bearing in mind the circumstance, that there are f<5ur principal Budhas operating upon the destinies of the present mundane period, we shall find many statues of the Budha exhibiting physiognomic traits of different races of beings, plainly referable to thgir own periods of time, and to other varieties of the human species than the Tartar or Caucasian tribes ; such specimens present themselves in several of the idols of the Budha, preserved in the museum of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. The principal idol of the Budha Gaudma, in Europe, may certainly be deemed that which now stands in the vestibule of the British Museum. Captain Marryatt, who so skilfully directed the naval warfare, brought it from Rangoon, and deposited it in our national collection as a trophy of British valour in these regions of the furthest East. Colonel Symes, when narrating the rapid successes of the celebrated Alaoung Praw, after he has given the history of the overthrow of the Talien monarchy, and the entire conquest of Pegu, speaks of this conqueror as
* His names in different countries are most numerous, from which will at present be selected only those titulars connected with their doctrine. By the Japanese and Chinese he is termed Xaca-Sacya, also Abbutto and Buto. His special name Boodh, or Budhu, or Budha, is often called Boudh, Bod, Bot, and by the arbitrary substitution of the B and P to the F, Fo or Fho, arising from the changes in the cognate letters of B, P, T, and D ; the Siamese call him Saman, Samana, Somon, whence the Samaneans, a strictly Budhist sect, described by Clemens Alexandrinus, and strictly practising the ascetic austerities, so constantly commended in the doctrine. Gaudma is the derivative of Godam, or Codam. In the celebrated inscription found at Gaya Bahar, Budha is addressed as Sacya, and the Thacur. Amaracosha, the philologist, and supposed author of this inscription, has eighteen names for Budha:— Mum, Sastri, Dherma Raja, Sacya Sinha, Saudhodhana, Gaudma Arka Banda, Kinsman of the Sun, &c. Jaya Deva, in the Gita Govinda, terms him Heri, Lord of the Universe. — Moors Hindu Pantheon, 234.
IDOLS OF THE BUDHA.
17
bein'g struck with the advantageous site for commerce, which the harbour of Rangoon presented, and of Ins resolve to rebuild the temple of Dagun: from that temple the idol was taken. The edifice stands apart from the town on a commanding eminence about two miles distant, and covers a very large area with its motley domes and spires, all glittering with gold and bright colours, and containing innumerable Budhas. The chief piasath, or grand central spire, has a gilded tee, or open basket-work, around its summit, which ornament is indispensable for its consecration ; around the basket are suspended a number of bells, set in motion so as to produce a jingling noise by every current of air. The various courts are curiously and strongly paved with bricks laid transversely; they are usually surrounded with small viharis, or places for votive offerings on the part of the dead, to the gods of the Dewa Loka heavens, who are supposed to be pleased with the sound of the bells, whence it is that they are so common around the temples. In front of the building may be seen the great statue of Gaudma ; in whose colossal form, as well as in the whole scenery of the spot, there is something both striking and imposing, as well as wild and highly characteristic. Such was the shrine of this figure of the Budha Gaudma, which may be deemed an exemplar of the national idol, and the most popular representation of the Budha. The statue is nearly five feet in height, and exhibits the form of a young man, in a contemplative attitude ; the features are placid, and on a cursory view they might be deemed vacant ; but it should be observed, that the point of development, invariably aimed at by the Budhists, seems to be the idea of abstract thought or absorption : it forms their beau ideal, and is the main tenet of Budhism. This air of calmness, serenity, indifference, or whatever it may be defined, is accompanied with a cold smile ; the expression indeed rarely pleases, but it may be fairly assumed, that few persons could long regard the features without their gaining at length, in a certain degree, on the attention, and calling forth reflection. This, perhaps, is the very impression which the Indian, as well as the Egyptian sculpture, aimed at producing, for M. Denon has illustrated this point with equal felicity and strength of sentiment, in his remarks on the colossi of Gournou, and on the sphynx, and it may not perhaps be thought irrelevant to observe, that the Memnon and Horus in the British Museum, as well as the most ancient Greek statues, the Eginetan forms, are all impressed with the characteristic smile of the Budha Gaudma. The hair is crisped or curled; it has no resemblance to the flowing character; and whether indicative of an Ethiopic origin* or not, at all events it manifestly differs from the locks of the natives, which are long and lank ; and, moreover, in its close shorn character, it is altogether at variance
* There can be no question, that not only the Mongolian authorities, but also the elaborate articles of M. Abel Remusat on the subject, establish the fact, that the Budha Gaudnia’s person is described in the Budhist writings as that of an Asiatic, and in expressions borrowed entirely from the doctrine: but these writings hitherto have applied only to on? stage of the Budha’s varied existence, and, moreover, only to one of the four sovereign Budhas of the present calpe ; whereas the idols in existence refer to every state wherein he is supposed to have existed, whether in the Dewa Loka, in the Brahma Loka, or Nirwana states. Idols of other Budhas, older and anterior to Gaudma, are also extant ; such representations are in the museum of the Asiatic Society, and they have not only the hair, but the thick lips and the features, of an African negro. The doctrine of the Budha is often very figurative and florid, and in no particular more so, than in its ascriptive qualities and sketches of the person of Gaudma, which assuredly would, in few particulars, tally with the idols. So far the poetry of philosophy outstrips the sculptor’s skill in the representation ; and upon this subject, moreover, there is a remark in the Journal of the late Bishop Heber deserving our notice, and quite in point : it contains several very interesting observations on complexional varieties of the human race ; and alluding to Indian idols, made for side and hawked about the streets of Calcutta, the writer observes — “ I thought it remarkable, that though most of the male deities are re- presented of a deej^ brown colour, like the natives of the country, the females are usually no less red and while than our porcelain beauties, as exhibited in England ; but it is evident, from the expressions of the Indians themselves, from the style of their amatory poetry, and other circumstances, that they consider fairness as apart of beauty, and a proof of noble blood ; they do not like to be called black.”
D
18
IDOLS OF THE BUDHA.
with their mode of wearing their hair long and flowing, since they esteem it a mark of freedom to have it hanging over their shoulders, while short or cropped hair is held to be a badge of subjection. The African trait exhibited in the curled or crisped hair the Budhists strive to explain away by a tale of the Budha having cut off his hair at a sacrifice. That the Gaudma Budha was an Indian, and, moreover, an historical personage, there can be no doubt ; the legends are precise as to this point ; they all rest upon Indian machinery, and all converge to one centre, the Budhist sovereignty of Magadha.
It may not be improper at this place to introduce a brief .sketch of the Indian legend of doctrine, as it will exhibit several points of coincidence with the purer and more simple details of the faith in the following pages. According to an inscription in the Maga language, communicated by Lord Teign- mouth, “ Budha was born of Maha-maya, the wife of Suddhadana, Ilaja of Cailas. As soon as he saw the light, he was placed by Brahma in a golden vessel , and delivered to a female attendant, but the child alighting, walked seven steps without her assistance. A sage, who, on the news of his birth, repaired to the palace, wept and laughed alternately as soon as he beheld the wonderful child, because he divined appearances both of good and of bad import. From marks of a wheel on his arms, three pundits declared that he would become a Raja Chackrawarty, and a fourth that he would arrive at the dignity of an avatar. The boy was now named Sacya , and at sixteen espoused the daughter of the Raja Chuhidan. Certain mysteries being revealed to him , he renounced the world, and became an ascetic, and clothed himself in Zalmoxis’ garments, which he discovered in one of the five flowers that appeared at the creation of the world. A traveller passed by and presented to him eight bundles of grass ; Sacya accepted the offering and reposed upon it. Suddenly a golden temple appeared, on the summit thereof Brahma alighted to hold a canopy over Sacya. Indea Naya, and the four tutelary deities of the earth, attended to do him homage. At the same time the chief rebel Asoor, with all his forces, came to give battle to Sacya, upon which Brahma Indea and the other deities fled. Sacya, perceiving that he was left alone, invoked the assistance of the Earth, who suddenly brought on a mighty deluge, which compelled the Asoors to retire. Then^ the holy scriptures descended from above, and Sacya became the Budha Avatar.”*
Much difference of opinion has taken place as to the character of physiognomy, and the race to which the principal statues of the Budha belong. Some of them certainly exhibit the Ethiopian, or negro marks ; nor can it be wondered at, that a personage so universally reverenced throughout the East should be presented to us under the forms of his respective followers ; whether the African model may not have superseded the Indian, we cannot in our present stage of knowledge of the faith determine. In point of fact, the Budha Gaudma in the British Museum does not furnish a resemblance of the Indo-Chinese: they are a race of a short squat athletic make, while the figure of the idol is slender, and the hair totally different: the eye certainly resembles theirs, for it partakes of the elongated form, which is peculiar to the Tartar tribes ; it is almost closed, and the whole attitude is that of thought and repose.
* Asiatic Researches, vol. ii.383 — 386. — In Budhism the god Sekkraia performs the same office as the Brahma, officiating at the birth of the Budha, to receive him in a golden sieve. The marks of wheels are, most probably, the mystic rings seen on the figures of Vishnu, and designate the Chackrawarty character, as in the account of Maha-mandatoo-raja, in the extract from the Maha-vansi. The change of garments is that to the initiatory garment in the legend of Zalmoxis, while the Budha becoming an ascetic, is paralleled by the same incident in the Jutaka of King Wessantara. The other incidents are similar to those in the legend of the Budha, set off by Indian colouring, such as the bundles of grass presented by a traveller, meaning his acceptance of the Koosatana grain, his last act before he puts off his human nature, and attains the Budhaship. The transformation of the Bogaya-hu into a pillar of silver, and the assault of the Wassawarty-raja, are the same incidents as the Golden Temple and the enmity of the Asoors.
IDOLS OF THE BUDHA.
19
The Budha is usually represented on a throne or seat, exhibiting the three perfections of his character, as he is in relation to one or other of the states of the Dewa Loka, the Brahma Loka, or Nirwana ; the position of the hands, the aspect of the eyes, and the folds of the dress, are the indications of the state wherein the Budha is exhibited, when in the Brahma Loka. He is spoken of in the codes of doctrine as looking down through all the worlds, and participating in the progress and lustre of his religion ; but the state Nirwana is indicative of the entire abstraction and repose, which is the end and consummate bliss of Budhism ; the eyes closed, and hand and open palm resting perfectly Hat, betokening the apathetic calm and absorption of the final rest of the system. The throne, or seat of the Budha, is another prominent subject in this doctrine, and marks the superior wisdom and exaltation of the teacher ; its true name is minny phalange , or the seat of knowledge ; and, in a contest with the rebel Asuras, it was supplied by the earth producing from its bosom a square stone, on which Gaudma, having seated himself, became a Budha, and from the struggles and wars for its possession, as well as the sanctity invariably attached to it, his followers clearly believe this distinguished seat to be the medium of conferring great gifts upon his disciples and worshippers, the doctrine expressing that it imbibed its virtues from the thoughts and desires of Gaudma when he assumed the Budhaship. The repeated references in the Budha’s life to the importance of this seat seem to show that both this and the cubic seats of the Egyptian deities were seats of power ; they are manifestly of the same class as the Campsa chests,* which had so large a share in the processions and mysteries of the ancients, which were likewise considered as oracular, and furnishing responses.
The temples in which the figures of the Budha are kept are various, and of different character. The gorgeous temple of Dagun at Rangoon has already been described. As these edifices are of various characters, they may be classed under the following heads, according to their titles and purposes : —
The Pagoda, or temple, with a dagobah, or mausoleum, adjoining;
The Vihari, a temple, and also the residence of the Rhahaans ;
The Bodhistanee, or Siddistane, which are. temples ;
The Pansila, or houses of leaves.
The first is usually the temple dedicated to the Budha, which always has a dagobah , or small temple, of a globular shape, wherein is kept a bone, or hair, or some relic of Gaudma.
The term Vihari is sometimes applied to sacred buildings for the service of the Budha, although it more appropriately means “ the lodgings of the priests.”
The Prachida are smaller buildings of all shapes and sizes, arranged around the courts of the chief temples, and sacred to votive offerings to the dead.f The word prachida signifies “ sacred repose,” or the bliss of Nirwana.
The following, although named in Budhist tracts, appertain to the deeply-rooted demon worship, which, with that of the serpent, was the primitive idolatry of Ceylon :
• Apuleius mentions these chests, saying that they contained sacred symbols used in the mysteries. Plutarch also speaks often of them in his Treatise on Isis and Osiris, as also Herodotus, in Euterpe and Diodorus, lib. 1.
t The dedicators of these relics attach the greatest interest to their repositories of the dead. The fortune of war has stripped many a dark and silent prachida of its relics. These frequently form a group of eight or sixteen figures, representing Ruhats, disciples and favourites of the Budha, the Pattinee deities, the Dewa Loka or Nat gods, and Gaudma, in different stages. Another species of idol is formed of such remnants of the bones of the corpse, as may be gleaned from the ashes of the funereal fire. These half-consumed bones are wetted and moulded into a paste, whereof a figure is made, which is consecrated, and, after the rite, regarded as having passed into Nirwana, and become a Budha invested with a ray of divine sanctity.
20
IDOLS or THE BUDHA.
The Dewales, always four in number, which are buildings dedicated expressly to the honour of the four Pattinees, gods of healing.
The Ko wiles, or smaller chapels, situate near hamlets and villages, wherein the gods Pattinee Dewa are worshipped.
The Pansilas , or literally “ houses of leaves,” in allusion to their site on the skirts or in the recesses of forests, covered with their leafy shelter. They are used by the Budhist teachers for their exhortations and teachings in the morning, for which purposa they have a bell to call their followers together.
The Kiaungs , or colleges for the residence of the Rhahaans, which, being situated in agreeable shady groves near the main rivers, built of stone, and splendidly painted and gilt, are in fact the most respectable buildings of the country.
A beautiful delineation of a globular temple is furnished in the fourth part of Captain Grindlay’s Views ; but the grand display of Budhist temples is unquestionably to be sought for amid the ruins of the ancient city of Pali-gahn, which extended six or seven miles along the banks of the Irrawady. The form of the chief temple strongly resembles the obtuse pyramid of Meidun, near Memphis, and most of these edifices have much of a pyramidal character in their elevation and general construction, displaying many architectural coincidences between their style and that of the buildings of Egypt.
In the records of Gaudma, next to the figure of him in Nirwana, the impress of his foot is an object of the highest estimation. Colonel Symes says : — “ In the course of our walks, not the least curious object that presented itself was a flat stone, of a coarse gray granite, laid horizontally on a pedestal of masonry, six feet in length and three wide. This stone, like that at Ponoodang, was said to bear the genuine print of the foot of Gaudma. On the plane of the foot upwards of one hundred emblematical figures are engraven in separate compartments; two convoluted serpents are pressed beneath the heel, and five conch shells, with the involutions to the right, form the toes.* It was explained to me as a type of the creation, and was held in profound reverence.” Colonel Symes then adds, in a note — “ Annexed is the plate of the impression, to enable the learned antiquary to compare this curious symbolic representation with the sacred hieroglyphics of the ancient Egyptians.”
The stone bearing the impress of Budha’s footstep f in the British Museum, although nearly resembling the print given by Colonel Symes, has not certainly any symbols on it accordant with the
* M. Joinville observes, ‘'whether the print of Budha was his right or his left foot I have not been able to ascertain; they are all so awkwardly made that there is no distinguishing the little from the great toe. Of the print in Siam it is equally uncertain whether it is his right or his left; it suffices to know, that it is the mark of Budha." — Asiatic Researches, vii. 414. Although not a very material point, it may be elucidated by their desire of possessing chank shells with the right whirl or twist, that being in fact the symbol of the toes, and therefore it may be presumed the right foot is also indicated by the hieroglyphic symbols.
In the neighbourhood of Manaar a chank fishery is carried on, and proves a valuable source of revenue to the government. The shells are obtained by divers at the depth of about two fathoms, but not after the same manner as the pearl fishery. When the weather is calm the chunks may be seen from the boat, moving in the bottom of the sea ; and the diver often follows a single one with his eye for a considerable space, when he is always sure of being conducted to a richly-covered bank, where he can fish with advantage. These shells, which are of a spiral form, are chiefiy exported to Bengal, where they are sawed into rings of various sizes, and worn on the arms, legs, fingers, and toes of the Hindus, both male and female. They are likewise used whole to sound as a horn at funerals, and arc employed for other purposes in religious ceremonies. A chank, opening towards the right hand, is highly valued by the natives in India, and being rarely found, always sells for its weight in gold. — Harvard’s Narrative, Preface, xi.
+ Herodotus, lib. iv. chap. 02, tells us of the ancient Scythians showing an impression of the foot of Hercules near Tyras, on the river Dniester, and again also, in his account of Egypt, he names a temple of Perseus at Chemmis, where the priests pretended to have his slipper, or the mark of his foot, two cubits in length.
IDOLS OF THE BUDHA.
21
Egyptian characters, but rather exhibits a conformity with the figures of the Birniah constellations, for the elephant is entirely unknown in any Egyptian sculpture ; a plain proof that the ancient Egyptians were themselves ignorant of the existence of this noble animal, for it is impossible to suppose that the deep sagacity and other remarkable qualities which he possesses would have been overlooked in their eager adaptation of animal traits to their hieroglyphic alphabet. The shells or conchs finish the foot in the manner described by Colonel Symes, and, being a sacred mark, most probably they are every where graven in a precisely similar mode. This jnythologic stone stood at Ponoodang, a station midway on the Paulang Meet, an auxiliary branch, communicating between the river at Rangoon and the main stream of the Irrawady. „
The books inculcate the belief of each Budha having an aggra , or second self, or, as it is expressed in the Mithratic doctrine, a ferwer. In this particular, the exact coincidence of character with the doctrines of Zoroaster is too striking to be overlooked. The Budha has an aggra priest who will know his thoughts, and this curious point of doctrine is thus illustrated in an ancient manuscript. In reply to the question : — “ Who was Annanda-maha-teroonnasay ?” this answer is given : — “That each of the Budhas has a high priest, who will infallibly know his thoughts , which priests are called aggra-oopastayeka and thus the aggra-oopastayeka of our Budha was he who also is called Annanda-maha-teroonnasay, who, with the same hopes to become a Budha, wrought good works for one lac of calpes , and who is the son of the Budha’s uncle, the younger brother of his father, and is a king, called Dowtuw-dewa-saka-maha- raja, who was so capable as to learn by heart all the doctrines of eighty-four thousand heaps of books (the eighty-four thousand banas ascribed to the Budha), after the same had been only once preached by the Budlui in very high Palee ; and the said king is mightier than the five following skilful people, namely, those who have perfect memory ; those who bear knowledge so as to understand things ; those who are experienced by questioning upon many things; those who are skilled in the tenets of the Budha ; and those who are called oopastayeka.” *
Every European, on visiting the temples, is astonished to see the confused crowd of idols of all
* On comparing this curious and interesting passage with the Desatir, a Persian doctrine, we trace a manifest accordance in its philosophy and principles with these Budhist tenets.
“ When the sphere began to revolve by the light of Mezdam (Ormuzd), four elements and three children were produced, and these three children are dependent on the four mothers ; they on the sphere, that on the soul, that on intelligence, that on Mezdam.
“ Whatever is on earth is the resemblance and shadow of something that is in the sphere, while that resplendent thing (the prototype that is in the sphere) remaineth in good condition, it is T^ell also with its shadow. When that resplendent object removeth far from its shadow, life removeth to a distance.
Again: — “That light is the shadow of something more resplendent than itself, and so on up to me (the divinity, or the Budha). who am the light of lights. Look, therefore, to Mezdam, who causeth the shadow to fall in the name of Mezdam. — Desatir, the boo of Shet, verse 33 to 41.
“ Thus also in the doctrine of the Budha the elements, or the gods Dewa Loka, are inferior to Malm-brahma, and they answer to the light here named as having its shadow on earth, or in fact the metempsychosis, which endured in the shadow or form given it on earth, and has its principle or substance in the heavens, Dewa Loka. The Brahma Loka contain that substance after the changes are over but the Budha (as is declared of Mezdam) can be present in the ninth heaven, Brahma-kayi-kamam, where Brahma keeps h.s court, and is also in brightness and lustre much more magnificent than Maha-brahma.”
The aggra of the Budha ranks in this system as the same personage with the ferwer of the Zendavesta, which is said to hover near its object, and is represented by the winged figure in the air, in the celebrated Mithratic sculptures of Persia, and especially in i ie rock-tombs of Nakshi-Roustam, and other Persian sculptures in the vicinity of Persepolis. — Sec Kerr Porters Persia, vol. i. plate.' 17 and 41. If in the legends of a gigantic footstep we trace a coincidence between the features and character exhibited of the Budh . and similar traditions of Egypt and the Grecian Hercules, so likewise is one portion of his doctrine precisely identified with the Mithratic sculptures of Persia.
22
IDOLS OF TIIE BUDHA.
shapes and dimensions, which often produce in the courts a most ludicrous effect ; but the motive for this practice grows out of a portion of doctrine of all others the most efficacious for exciting the zeal of the Budha’s disciples ; namely, a promise that, on dedicating an image, they shall be exempted from the pains of the metempsychosis. We are told that “ While the Budha remained in a certain city called Sewas, in the pagoda Jate-wanni Maha-vihari, he surveyed the whole world to make men happy, and went to them from that pagoda; and exactly on that day the king of the place, called Kosel, came with great treasure to make an offering, but not meeting the Budha, he thought that the pagod was abandoned, and that he who was so favourable to men was notv lost , at which he grieved much. The next day the King Kosel, taking with him much people and treasure into the pagoda, and seeing there the Budha, falling at his feet, lie described his former visit, and his grief for fear of his loss, and asked leave to cause an image to be made like him for the comfort of mankind ; whereat, the Budha being very glad, gave him permission; whereon the king worshipped him, asking him how the image was to be made. He answered, according to his pleasure, of wood, stone, earth, iron, copper, silver, gold, or precious stones ; saying that, “ although any person had the ability to fill this world, which is ten thousand juzana large, with small grains, and afterwards to count them one by one, yet the hap- piness of those who make such images cannot be counted.” The king, on returning to his palace, caused a piece of red sandal-wood to be taken from his treasury, of which he made an image in the likeness of the Budha, and dressed the same with a yellow garment, and built a splendid hall, adorned with gold and precious stones, and erected an altar on the south side, and placed the image there. Then he caused the roads to be cleaned to the pagoda, the highways levelled, white sand to be strewed, and fine cloth spread thereupon. The Budha came to the temple, resplendent as the sun, with five hundred rahatoons, treading upon flowers, which, through the force of his providence and happiness, sprung up under his feet ; enjoying the honour shown him by all the gods. When the Budha went into the said hall, the image of red sandal-wood made some motions upon the altar, as if it thought it not fitting, when the Budha was there, to sit in such a high place, and wished to come down ;* but the Budha perceiving it, with his right hand towards it, said — “ That as in a short time he intended to go to Nirwana for five thousand years, his name would be thought of on account of that image, and that for this space of time, all gods and men should make sacrifice out of love ;” he then took eight handfuls of flowers and offered. The king, having seated the Budha in the golden hall, upon a throne expressly made for him, and feasted there for seven days, prayed to know of the Budha “ the benefits to be derived by those who made his images ?” and the priest, Anne-dema-hateroe-wahanse asked, “ What good a person who writes his bana (sermons) can expect?” To which the Budha said — “ That he was glad of the questions, and would answer them : —
“ 1st. — That they shall never be born (transmigrate) in the hell.
“ 2nd. — That they shall not be born out of the circumference of the world, but in the same.
“3rd. — That they shall not be born of a slave, but of a respectable family, and shall faithfully maintain the laws of the Budha.
* Father Boori, a Portuguese missionary, who visited Cochin China in the sixteenth century, protests in despair, in his narrative, that “ there is not a dress, office, or ceremony in the church of Rome, to which the devil has not here provided some counterpart. Even when he began inveighing against the idols, he was answered, that these were the images of departed great men. whom they worshipped exactly on the same principle, and in the same manner, as the Catholics did the images of the Apostles and Martyrs." — Murray's History of Discoveries in Asia, iii. 249. What would Father Boori have said to this notable miracle of the Budha’s image, so perfectly in character with Romish legends of similar import?
IDOLS OF THE BUDHA.
23
4t^- — That they shall not be born a female, or be subject to the falling-sickness, frenzy, want of speech, deafness, deformity, or to eruptions or other complaints* but be made like a golden image with tiger’s teeth.
“ 5th. — That they shall not be frightened by tigers, bears, &cc., or undergo any injustice at any time, but be born of a respectable (high) family, and obtain wealth ; and be born in the heaven, and, with a thousand heavenly wives, live in an unspeakably splendid habitation, and in every thing obtain their wish, and enter the glory of Nirwana.” “ And since that time the making of images and the writing of bana have been introduced into the world, first by the King Darma-soka, by whom temples were erected, and sacrifices of joy made ; and by the King Devine-petisse, who, in the 809th yearf after the Budha’s death, caused the pagoda of Moellegirri-galle to be erected, which is situated within the Gierewadoloosdaliaspattoo.”
There are few parts of the Budhist writings more interesting than this extract, which is taken from a Singalese manuscript, and the account of the proceedings of the King Kosel, upon inaugurating the image of Gaudma, is a valuable record of these ancient observances. The first and most meritorious work, and which invariably precedes the solemn inauguration of a new Budha at the great festival of the sacred pallol tree, in the Tavateinza heaven, is to level the road to the sacred spot, to fill up the valleys and lower the hills, and to spread the path with fine white sand ; in fact, it i*s still the universal practice of the East, to pay this sort of homage to sovereignty.:): In perfect conformity with these ideas, the
Budhas commence that festival which establishes their divinity, and introduces their doctrine: thus Gaudma is represented as rendering this meritorious service and homage to his predecessor, the Budha Deepankara, who thereupon blesses him, and prophesies his future advancement to the Budhaship. In the above-mentioned festival of the gods, another mark of the divine power is, that his path and highways are spontaneously covered knee-deep with fragrant never-fading flowers from the trees which border the road : in short, the whole ceremony accords with the feasts of the inebriating tree of the Dewa Loka, a portion of the Budhist doctrine, involving coincidences with the most sacred of the Grecian mysteries. The movement of the idol curiously reminds us of the Romish legends and miracles ; and the replies to the important questions put to the Budha, respecting the blessings attaching to the offerers of images, contain the whole philosophy of the metempsychosis, as from the negations we may gather precisely wherein its punishments consisted, the meed thereby granted being article by article an exemption from some law of the metempsychosis operating upon the uninitiated : first — As such, they would transmigrate
• The following judicious remarks furnish a precise parallel to the series of maladies ascribed in the Bali, as well as in Budhist doctrine, to demons. “ It is deserving our particular notice, to examine the tenor of Scripture in the Pentateuch and historic books before the Babylonian captivity, and that portion which was written after. In the former, the punishments indicted upon mankind for their sins, are invariably represented as proceeding immediately from the hand of God ; whereas, in the latter, the sufferings entailed upon humanity are described in general as visitations of the evil one — almost every disease was the work of a demon. St. Luke speaks of a person who had a spirit of infirmity, and whom Satan had bound for eighteen years; and a great variety of cases are given by the Evangelists, wherein the same malignant spirit had exerted his power to deprive unhappy patients of health, reason, and even the use of their bodily organs." — Russell's Connexion of Sacred and Profane Hislori/, i. 27 1. t The 809th year of the Budha is the 266th year of the Christian era.
+ What reader can here avoid calling to mind the sublime apostrophe of the Prophet Isaiah — “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God ; every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low ; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth.” It will be obvious from more than one reference, that the idolatry of the East, in the earliest ages, and especially the Budhist writings, partake largely of patriarchal history, whence they derive their incidents, and on which they have grafted their subsequent doctrines.
24
IDOLS OF THE BUDHA.
into hell : secondly — As being born out of the circumference of the world, they would lose the privilege of the Nirwana, or final rest : thirdly — Being born of a slave they would forfeit the knowledge of the doctrine that confers happiness: fourthly — Females are not considered in Budhist doctrine endowed with the same privileges for future happiness as males, a tenet engrafted into Islamism : fifthly — The forms of tigers, bears, &c., are the brute vehicles wherein human beings are born, as punishments for atrocious crimes. It is not therefore surprising that such privileges, so earnestly desired by his followers, should produce and encourage the disposition to dedicate the hosts of idols which crowd all the great temples of the Budha.
CHAPTER III.
THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS, AND THE JUTAKAS OF THE RUDHA.
“ Materia appetit formam.”— “ The same spirit which animated one body, may, on its dissolution, animate another ; which I take to be the meaning of Pythagoras by his transmigration of souls or spirits.”
The doctrine of the metempsychosis seems alike important to both portions of the Budhist system; it is united to the refined and mystic tenet of the spirit, or influx of divine life, individuated through all forms, which pronounces all matter to be illusion, and which wearies the power of thought by the subtlety of its ratiocinations ; while the penances and the severity of the sufferings of the Budha Gaudma, and the searching rigour of his morals, as laid down in the first principles of his religion, mark the importance attached by this reformer to his doctrine of a God incarnating in man, to teach and lead mankind by those steps to the supreme bliss, through the purifying process of transmigrations:* “ and the Pythagoreans, grounding their principles upon this primitive doctrine, ask — ‘ Can that spirit, which gives life and motion, and partakes of the nature of light, be reduced to nonentity? Can that sensitive spirit in brutes which exercises memory, one of the rational faculties, die, and become nothing ?’ If you say, they breathe their spirits into the air, and there vanish, that is all 1 contend for. The air indeed is the proper place to receive them, being, according to Laertius, full of souls ; and, according to Epicurus, full of atoms, the principles of all things; for even this place, wherein we walk and birds fly, has so much of a spiritual nature, that it is invisible, and, therefore, may well be the receiver of forms, since the forms of all bodies are so ; we can only see and hear its effects ; the air itself is too fine, and above the capacity of the eye. What then is the ether that is in the region above ? and what are the influences or forms that descend from thence ? The souls of creatures, the Pythagoreans hold, are a portion of ether ; and all philosophers agree that ether is incorruptible ; and what is so, is so far from being annihilated when it gets rid of the body, that it lays a good claim to immortality .” Such are the observations of the entertaining and amiable writer, Whitelock Bulstrode, in his Essay in defence of
* “ Whoever is unacquainted with my law, says Fo, and dies in that state, must return to the earth till he becomes a perfect Samanean. In order to this he must destroy within himself the Trinity of Maya ; he must make himself like a man whose four limbs have been cut off; he must think without seeming to think; he must forsake every thing, extinguish his passions, unite and identify himself with the law, and comprehend the religion of annihilation.” Again — “ Fo meant to say nothing more than that the primitive substance is eternal and unchangeable ; according to him its first and its highest revelation is the pure, luminous, transparent ether, the boundless, infinite space, not a void resulting from the absence of forms, but on the contrary the foundation of all forms, and anterior to them. All creations, the work of Maya, are as nothing before the uncreated being, and all motion must cease in his profound and sacred repose. The universe exists of necessity ; it has existed from all eternity, but only in its principle, which is the eternal pow er of Nature, producing and reproducing incessantly from its own substance."— Crcuzer, vol. i.
E
26
THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS.
Pythagoras, observations which deserve our attention, as marking the close affinity with Budhist tenets in the system of the Samian philosopher.
It would occupy too great a portion of time and space to draw up an historical sketch of the doctrine of the metempsychosis, although such a sketch would form the most valuable illustration of the Budhist faith. We must be content for the present to mark the evident traces of the primitive doctrine, as well as the modem, in this one principle — that souls must atone by penances, in inferior forms, and through the lustration of transmigration, for their sins in any present stage of their existence, so that affer having been condemned to occupy the bodies of men or animals more or less degraded, they may finally be fitted for Nirwana, or a state of bliss with the Eternal Spirit. #
How skilfully this system of Budhist morals is adapted to establish the influence of the priests, and to sustain the character of its doctrine, cannot be more clearly demonstrated than by the appeal to its powerful influence, after a period of twenty-three centuries, over so large a portion of the Eastern world.
The history of Budliism exhibits several periods, in which the decaying strength and rigour of its laws have been renewed and brought into active influence by the collection and the preaching of the bana, or doctrines ascribed to Gaudma, the author of the present scheme ; this is shown in the primitive historic details of its successive teachers, as well as in various parts of the Asiatic Researches. The skilful combination of original patriarchal history with the individual acts of subsequent Budhas appears to have shed a permanent interest on the lawrs and moral enactments of the Budhist code, as being thus gathered out of the oldest, and therefore purest, sources of knowledge. The more the system is considered in its scheme and applicability to society, the more clearly however it will appear that the doctrine whereby the modern reformer and teacher, Gaudma, chiefly established his influence, and upon which hinges his appearance in the system of the present period, is the doctrine of the metempsy- chosis, as a purifying scheme of rewards and punishments, a doctrine called for imperatively by the vacuum in the system of a directive energy, which void it is designed to supply.*
It is chiefly from the character of Pythagoras, and various parts of Herodotus, that we can derive illustrations of this difficult and interesting subject, and the doctrines of the Pythagorean school are clearly the transcripts of the lessons which that celebrated philosopher had acquired in Egypt, where he is supposed to have been initiated into the esoteric dogmas, while the wisdom of Mizraim was highly flourishing and distinguished, anterior to the sweeping devastation caused by the Persian spoiler. The view given by Herodotus of the portion of Egyptian doctrine which he denominates a knowledge of the immortality of the soul, is howrever widely different from the active scheme of the metempsychosis of Budhism ; it certainly imports transmigration, but in a way that leaves out of it the genuine character of the tenet, namely, its being a purifying process ; and from its inapplicability as a source of corrective and repressive operation upon the mind, it seems probable that Herodotus alluded chiefly to some opinions which had been held by Pythagoras, which were very imperfectly understood, for they amount
• Dr. Russell says — “ There is the best reason to believe that the Egyptian hierophants, as well as the Brahmins of the East, maintained, originally, the doctrine of a direct refusion of the human soul into the essence of the great parent spirit." This is the doctrine of the Nirwana, which, with the first records of the Budhist history, is drawn from patriarchism. The metempsychosis is only to be regarded as a supplementary tenet, devised by the theologue and the lawgiver, to strengthen the bonds of the social union in their communities.
THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS.
solely to this “ That the Egyptians had the conception of a hades and t *1 after the death of the body, passed into some other animal, which was bor , S°U' °f
that it transmigrated through all the creatures which inhabit the sea the lanTTn ^ ‘° **
havmg performed this circuit in three thousand years, it again entered'a human ’Zy " ? ^ ^ Ihe Budhist doctrine exhibits the Budha Gandmn oc 1 • y'
circle of the creation, through all the existences of the ^ ^
station oftmman life, that the details of. these passages oH.is cTil ** fa "«*
doctrine; and his five hundred and fifty incarnations are emb V ,1 • ^ m“de exemPlars of perfectibility of his moral character, . and to communicate to each" *° h°'d l'P the
knowledge that it had been visited by a divine teacher and a Uudha HhTfoll ^ ^ ‘CSS°n being required to perform a round of three thousand years, wherein ■ ° ^ !° fr°m
forth to them, that they are exhorted and instructed to practise the comm 'Tf ? suffermS is hcl<1
may ^ 0^ ^e transmigration, and appear in the Za Lok * ^ ^
Nirwana, or final bliss. ' L k ’ tllus Proceeding to
The Pythagoreans held doctrines far more accordant with that of the n »,■ . ^ZLTCltteThWfVariI0rdW8 °f being8SUPeri0r t0 BleI!’ wbose souls had emanated
- nazzrs x:rtion; -
theh“ °f ** — - - ^
Herodotus has given us a most interesting and curious narrative relative to Scythia, which contains
IZ °f hlfSt0neal detaih Very US6ful fOT traci"g ‘Ho wide range of this tenet; for his history of Zalmoxis goes for to prove the adoption of Budhist principles among the Celtic tribes of the Ister, both as
'T3™ reC? " the S6Venth b0°k °f Strab°’ and in ‘He observations of Larcher. His retreat to a cave and wilderness, and the precept to abstain from the blood of animals, are of this description •
the tenet of the eternal existence of the soul, held by the Celtic tribes, appears also to have been derived from Zalmoxis, whom they deemed a god, or Budha, he being manifestly a teacher and a hermit, or ascetic, of the peculiar character with which such a lawgiver and teacher is invested. Zalmoxis is called also the Genius, which means the same as “ deified Budha,” and his name in the Thracian language means “ skin of the bear;” the import of which signifies “the initiated;" and intimates that he had renounced the world, and assumed the garb of ascetic life, which was the act of the Budha Gaudma as King Wessantara. It is recorded that Pythagoras too was called Zalmoxis, because he had been’ wrapped at his birth in a bear’s skin. The name of Gebeleizis, which is mixed up with this legend, is
also peculiarly suitable to the inferences already drawn, as M. Larcher says, that it means “ Him who gives repose.”
La Loubere’s interesting account of Siam, attests the painful feeling with which the people of that country regard existence, as being subject to the penalties of this doctrine, a feeling fully shared by the Birmans; for the present stage of human life they deem to be a penalty and degradation, and the
• Sec the account of the cavern of Zalmoxis as fixed by M. DAnville to be Mount Kasron, on the small river of the same name
on the confines of Transylvania and of Moldavia, in Strabo, vol. iii.
‘28
THE TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS.
award of the future is anticipated with anxious dread; which is the same doctrine as we have already
shown to have been taught in the Ionic school. ...
The Maha-vansi contains a passage referring to the birth of the Budha, particularly illustrative ot
this doctrine, and of the view which it takes of the nature of the omniscience ascribed to him. It represents Gaudma as having performed the entire round of the metempsychosis, and having successively animated all the destined vehicles of animal forms, and passed into a final state rf existence in the heaven Toisite, preparatory to his birth as Budha, apd thus proceeds “ Our grades Budha, being in the heavens, resolved, at the prayer of gods and of men, to become man •, and, considering what tribe” was proper for his birth, he perceived that the sun-descended tribe, Maha-samata, was superior, and that this tribe would be suitable for his birth ; moreover, because he himself was of that tribe m his former existence, and reigned as king ; to wit, once by the name of Maha-samata, once by the name of Maha-mandatoo Chackrawarty, once as Maha-soodesarna, once as Mak'ha-dewa, once as Tuny, once as Cusa, once as Rawma, once as king Udayab’haddaya, once as king Mahinsaka, once as king Cantahary , and at last as king Wessantara ; in which state of life, having been charitable and pious to a high degree, he transmigrated into the divine world Toisite, &c.” The important list of names herein recapitulated no doubt relates to individual personages, and we hence see that Gaudma is considered as possessing the perfect consciousness of these various periods of existence, and of the continuous thread of events throughout their figurative stages. It is this knowledge which is designated in the doctrine omniscience, or, as it is termed in the doctrinal books, “ the knowledge' of the past, the present, and the future,” known to the Budha.
It is curious to observe how closely Pythagoras copied this doctrine, and pretended that his own soul had similarly transmigrated, and successively animated different bodies.
“ Ev'n I, who these mysterious truths declare,
Was once Euphorbas at the Trojan war ;
My name and lineage I remember well.
And how in f gilt by Sparta's king I fell.
In Argive Juno’s fane I late beheld.
My buckler hung on high, and own’d my shield,” &c.
Pythagoras here claims and exercises the very same faculty of omniscience, as is ascribed exclusively to the Budha by the Palee name Astawedsawe, which means the foreknowledge of the creation and destruction of a world, as well as the knowledge of the hearts of others, and of the forms occupied in the past transmigrations. To exhibit a further conformity with the Budhist doctrine, Pythagoras retires to a cave, where, after the example of Zalmoxis, he secludes himself for a long period, and, upon Ins reappearance, speaks of a return from hades. In these points we see, from the example of the illustrious Samian, how minutely the actions of the Budha were copied, as well as his precepts ; and it seems therefore evident, that the general character of his doctrine, as it is at present condensed in the writings, was, in fact, the great guide of the Celtic, Scythian, Egyptian, and Grecian disciples of this school.
JUTAKAS OF THE BUDHA.
2i)
JUTAKAS OF THE BUDHA— PLATES I. TO V.
The following narratives will furnish a most interesting illustration of the doctrine on which we have already dwelt so long, and they are also the oldest specimens remaining of the striking mode of speaking To the eye by pictorial delineations ; there is scarcely a more interesting subject td be found in the study of man than «the examination of the paintings of antiquity, which Robertson, the historian, so aptly terms “ picture-writing.” We should lose ourselves in a wide field of conjecture, if we ascribed to a common origin all those habits of life, and all those usages, civil and religious, in which we can trace a mutual resemblance ; we must endeavour to separate the parts which are evidently of arbitrary adoption, from those feelings which may be produced alike in every clime by some common impulse or sentiment in our nature. It is certainly of high importance to point out and illustrate, wherever they occur, the analogies of language, of fictions in cosmogonies, and of rites and customs, even where we cannot trace the links, or follow up the fact to any historical epoch ; for what is human knowledge, if we define its abstract character, but “ reminiscence, or the recovery of ideas ?” The long struggle between the Budhists and the Brahmins dispersed the former over all the regions of central Asia, and through the islands of the Eastern Archipelago ; in the various migrations which followed, we may account for striking coincidences existing between India and Egypt and the Phenician colonies ; but how can we account for a conformity of astronomical and astrological data, and of religious rites and ceremonies, and connect together those of the Budhists and the inhabitants of the new continent of America? Many interesting approximations between the traditions of the new continent, and those of followers of the religion of Budha, have been illustrated with peculiar force by M. Humboldt; but in nothing are they more strongly evidenced than in the practice of picture-writing, “exhibiting the representation of an event with pictures, in which the objects represented are in a state of action with each other.” We find many valuable particulars in the recital of the first conquerors of the new world, such as those concerning the paintings which were sketched by the Mexican artists to convey to the unfortunate Montezuma a representation of the wonderful strangers who had arrived within his dominions ;* and of the same class with the Mexican paintings, according to the remarks of M. Humboldt, may be ranked the sketches contained in the Siamese manuscripts! in the library at Paris. In these
• " Pilpatoe and Teutile endeavoured to dissuade Cortes from visiting the capital ; and during this interview some painters, in the train of the Mexican chiefs, had been diligently employed in delineating, upon white cotton cloths, figures of the ships, the horses, the artillery, the soldiers, and whatever else attracted their eyes as singular. When Cortes observed this, and was informed that these pictures were to be sent to Montezuma, in order to convey to him a more lively idea of the strange and wonderful objects now presented to their view than any words could communicate, he resolved to render the representation still more animated and interesting, by exhibiting such a spectacle as might give both them and their monarch an awful impression of the extraordinary prowess of his followers, and the irresistible force of their arms. The trumpets, by his order, sounded an alarm ; the troops, in a moment, formed in order of battle; the infantry performed such martial exercises as were best suited to display the effect of their different weapons; the horse, in various evolutions, gave a specimen of their agility and strength ; the artillery, pointed toward the thick woods which surrounded the camp, were fired, and made dreadful havoc among the trees. The Mexicans looked on with that silent amazement which is natural when the mind is struck with objects which are both awful and above its comprehension.” — Robertson' s America.
+ The coincidences with Mexican subjects go much deeper than the use of picture-writings only. The Budha Gaudma, in his reprobation of human sacrifices and enforcement of bloodless rites, by substituting flowers and incense for his service, exhibits a striking resemblance to the Mexican deity, the mild Quatzalcoatl, who is described as exercising the same pleasing influence over the Mexican
JUTAKAS OF THE BUDHA.
30
subjects, as well as in the observations of ancient writers, and in many portions of the Chinese annals we may trace the purpose of instruction by the eye ; and the development of the legends winch we shal see recorded in these plates, will have a higher interest from their belonging to the class of representatior which apparently gave rise to pictorial history.
The accounts of Bambadat-rajah, of Useeratenam-rajah, and the very important history o essan ara- rajah, are translations from the celebrated Palee book, the Jutakas, or the 550 incarnat.ons of £ Budha which is a Work regarded by all the followers of the Bndha with particular reverence, and held as the ,rreat compendium of doctrine. It is, in fact, the most precious exemplar of the metempsychosis, winch may be designated the keystone of Budhist faith, wherein is embodied the instruction requisite or moral guidanee in the different stages of existence. The Budha, who has appeared in every form of animal life, and sustained every character of mortal existence, in which might be exhibited an example of morals, is thence declared to have animated the form of every sentient being, whether insect, bird, beast, or man ; in the latter state he is supposed to have completed every state of existence by e 550 incarnations: these are the transcripts of his respective lives in these various characters all recording the events and trials wherein the Budha is the chief actor, and in which he manifests a life of purity, and dies* in the acquisition of all virtue compatible with the state of being which he had taken upon him. Were the Jutakas * completely known (as it may be hoped from the present prospect of encouragement to this branch of oriental literature they soon will be), we should learn how materially many interesting works of fiction accord with the doctrine of a divine personage animating the brute as well as the human frame; and thus considering the divine teacher under the form of a lion, we could, without violence, give to the same animal the organs of speech and reason. In the Budhist states, these series of events or narratives of the acts of Budha, are the subjects of picture-writings, purely such, and exhibiting every variety of feeling and event of his life; the good actions winch are exhibited by the virtues of Budha becoming the catastrophe or moral of the delineation. The temples, therefore, exhibit always some portions of the Jutakas, or incarnations, as recorded by those paintings; and at any time that the Budhist priests ju^ge it expedient to reprove a growing tendency to a particular sin, and to check its progress, they simultaneously hang the walls of the pansilas and dagobas of Budha with the particular Jutaka, which describes the Budha as overcoming that sin, and by his example condemning its practice. The three subjects which follow will clearly exemplify this point. In Bambadat-rajah we see, in a most animated and lively manner, the punishment of tyranny and cruelty; while in Useeratanam-rajah a less terrible catastrophe is made the correction of less flagitious
tribes, but her harmless rites were despised and set at nought by the fierce Aztech race. Tl.ere is indeed much of magic and violence strangely commixed with the milder tenets of Budhism, and we shall find, lurking in its historical dogmas, many traces of violence and bloodshed. These are, in fact, indications of two different sources of doctrine; the primary one, the mild and benign ; the fiercer and more palpable, the seed of a much later era. Thus the Budha Gaudrna, in a portion of h,s doctrine, promises by his own lips, to those who dedicate images to him, an exemption from the metempsychosis, and that they shall neither be hears nor wild I, easts, hut that they shaU he born as a golden image with tigers' teeth ; an idea marked by every trait hut that of mildness or of
beneficence. . . „ . , . .
* The term for death is, “ visits the Dewa Loka." The Budhist doctrine treats death m conformity with the transmigration ;
this follows death in the heavens, or Dewa Loka. The Birman and Chinese phrase of - visiting the celestial mansions," their courtly formula of announcing the emperor’s death, is merely declaring, that he has led a life of such virtue as to insure Ins transmigrating into the heavens without experiencing any penal process in the change of his existence : it is an exemplification of a dogma in the Budhist doctrine of the metempsychosis, which is necessary for the right understanding of the phrase.
JUTAKAS OF THE BUDHA.
31
impiety, and a less degree of crime. The narrative of King Wessantara is a portion of history of very particular interest, exhibiting the Budha, who has now passed through every part of his separate incarnations, in his last stage of existence, preparatory to his being born into the heaven Toisite, and becoming the Budha. “ At last,” the Maha-vansi narrates, “ he was King Wessantara, in which state of life, having been charitable and pious in a high degree, he transmigrated into the divine world called Toisite.” This Jutaka we consider most valuable for the view of the doctrine, as it is likely to show the steps by which the Budha arrived at the highest state of perfectibility which the pro- gressive scale of growing excellence can exhibit ; and on an attentive perusal of this singular tale, that state will be found to consist “ in the extirpation of the passions of the soul, and even the feelings of nature, and in acquiring such an abstract isolation of mind, as conveyed to the rapt visionary of this most ancient of doctrines a conception of having already, in this active stage of trial, re-entered (as far as the will is concerned) into the divine essence.” It is curious to trace in this fundamental dogma of Budhism, the essence and principle of the school of Zeno, and to perceive how much the far-famed stoics are out- done in their doctrine of superiority of mind over external impressions of pain by the Budha and his disciples * The motives which appear interwoven with this singular stretch of ratiocination by the votaries of the Budha form the pivot of Budhism. Self-abstraction, to an extent equal to the anni- hilation of the passions, seems to be the chief medium of purification and of acquiring the supreme bliss; and this faculty appears to be gained by the Budhist worshipper through the purgatorial and refining process of transmigrations during his existence on earth. Thus is identified a spark of divine life, which (to use the words of their own doctrine) never dies, but as a leech fastens to its recipient by one end, ere it relinquishes its hold at the other ; a body, therefore, is ready to be the recipient of the ethereal spark.
The Jutakas of Gaudma being one of the most esteemed of the Budhist writings, and preserved in every temple, at least in part, if not the whole manuscript, it is matter of great gratification that the period wherein they were translated from the Palee into the Singalese character, can be determined on no less authority than that of the Maha-vansi, which, containing the historical details of a con- siderable portion of the Budha- verouse, with dates most carefully affixed to every transaction of the missions or promulgation of the Budha’s doctrine, furnishes us on this very subject with the particulars that are so desirable. It states, that “ Ceylon had long been subject to the Indian princes, when, about the year 1290 of the Christian era, the King Wijya-bahu recovered his independence, and shook off the Indian yoke.” The conquerors having formerly conveyed to the banks of the Ganges the holy relics of the Budha, and especially his sacred tooth, his successor, the King Parakkerm-bahu, determined to regain the holy tooth of Gaudma, which had been conveyed to India as the spolia opima of conquest ; and repairing to Damba-dewa, which was now threatened by an invasion from the
• There is a passage in Strabo, lib. xv., stating, that King Porus was induced, by the reputation of the Roman name, to send an embassy to Augustus Caesar. He says, that the ambassadors stopped at Athens on their route homewards ; and here a well trained disciple of those patriarchs who succeeded the Budha, and who usually terminated their career by fire, prepared to give to the Athenians a striking proof of Eastern doctrine. Having erected a lofty pile of wood, he approached it, wearing only a pair of drawers, and anointing himself with oil, he sprung with a laugh upon the pile, and perished amid the flames: the Athenians built for him a tomb, on which they inscribed, according to Strabo — “ Here lies Zarmanus Chagan, an Indian, of the city of Bargoza, who made himself immortal, according to the custom of his country.” Dion Cassius calls him Zarmarus; most probably Zarmanus and Zarmarus are the corruption of “ Samanars," the Indian appellation of the Budhists.
3*2
JUTAKAS OF THE BUDHA.
Tartars, he negotiated with such skill as to obtain its restoration,* and returned in great triumph to Ceylon. The king of Ceylon instantly built a splendid temple for its reception, wherein he also replaced the minny phalange , or supreme seat of the Budha, also the patrya datoo carandu , or the sacred drinking-cup of the temple. From the manner in which these articles are mentioned in the pages of the Maha-vansi, it would seem probable that the minny phalange , and the bona patrya are insignia expressly sacred to the Budha. The narration then proceeds : — “ This king, having had a pious priest, who was versed in different languages, as his tutoc, he became acquainted with all the 550 Jutakas related by the Budha, which the king afterwards caused to be carefully translated from the Palee language into the Singalese, and they were afterwards revised by several skilful priests, and published throughout the island of Ceylon. The book containing the Singalese translation of the 550 Jutakas, which was in the possession of the king, he afterwards gave to the chief priest, called Madan Carre,” and the date thereof, in the Budha-verouse, answering to about the year 1290, is carefully appended.
It seems most reasonable therefore to conclude, that the manuscript now in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society, being in the Singalese character, is a copy of the translation made by order of the Singalese monarch in 1290; it is thus described by Mr. Clough, who was for many years a missionary in Ceylon ; and who has inspected its condition, and gone through its leaves. The Singalese book is called Pansiya panas Jutaka, from Pan, five — siya, hundred — panas , fifty — Jutaha, incarnation — that is, the 550 incarnations of Budha, which he underwent during his probation for that highest and most sacred character.
During these transmigrations, he entered into every possible state of existence, from the gods down to the meanest reptile, and had to associate with beings of every kind. Sometimes lie was among the gods — sometimes among the demons — more frequently among men, and often with beasts, birds,
* This celebrated tooth, the regaining of which established the throne of king Parakkerm-bahu, seems to have maintained its interest even to the present era, and we may as well conclude its history in this note.
J. Ribeyro, in his Histoirc de Ceylan, published 1701, informs us “that in 1560, Constantin de Bragnnza forcibly carried off the tooth, and refusing the enormous sum which was offered for its return, publicly reduced it to ashes, as a demonstration of his zeal. The priests of the Budha, however, were more than a match for the exemplary Braganza, as they pretended to have found the identical tooth lying on a rose, rescued no doubt by the Budha himself, who left a worthless counterfeit to suffer the intended indignity. It would however seem that subsequent revolutions have transported this relic to the bunks of the Ganges, to judge from the missions sent by Minderagee Praw, the late emperor of Birmah, to Calcutta, to bargain for its possession.”
“ To unravel the motives which led the king of Damba-dewa to relinquish thus tranquilly so rich a dependence as the island of Ceylon, and also to restore the tooth, a very important light is supplied to us by the narrative of Marco Polo, who makes mention of a formidable inroad of Tartars, troops of Kublai Khan, about this period, into the Eastern parts of Bengal and the adjacent provinces. At this time, 1272, Ava, or the empire of Birmah, appears, under the title of Mien, to have been united to the sovereignty of Bangala. The king of Bangala and Mien lost a pitched battle of most sanguinary character. '1 he Tartars seem to have followed the course of the Brahmaputra river, and from these mountainous districts to have penetrated into the plains of Bengal and of Ava : a very bloody and protracted struggle followed, which finally terminated in the Tartars taking possession of Pah-gahn, the capital of Ava, the celebrated ruins of which still attest its former grandeur." — See Marsdens Marco Polo, 445 — 449.
Colonel Symes, in his nariative, observes of this city — “Pah-gahn is said to have been the residence of forty-five successive monarchs, and to have been abandoned about 500 years ago, in consequence of a divine admonition. Whatever may be its true history,’ remarks Colonel Symes, “ it certainly was once a place of no ordinary splendour." There can be no question that the divine admonition which led to the abandonment and decay of Pah-gahn, and to the surrender of Ceylon and of the Budha's tooth, are, in truth attributable to the inroad and hostilities of the Tartars, who, in the end, made an entire conquest, according to Marco Polo, of the kingdom of Bangala; it was at this period that the Tartars became acquainted with the elephant for uses of war, and they ever after- wards introduced them into their armies ; for which purpose, one portion of the tribute exacted from these provinces consisted of elephants for their armies.
JUTAKA OF BAMBADAT-RAJA.
33
and fishes. These Jutakas contain the complete history of his visits or births among these different classes of beings, and give, at the same time, the substance of his intercourse with them, for the purpose of exemplifying three of the chief traits in his character-purity, compassion, and wisdom. Every Jutaka closes by such strong exhibitions of these excellencies, that the beings about him discover that they have been visited by Blmdisataya (the name he had while a candidate for the Budhaship), who vanishes; and they are left to moralise and improve the example he has set them, by some parable, narrative, or discourse, concerning his infinite wisdom, purity, and compassion. And that all may attain what he has attained, namely, Nirwana, they are to act agreeably to the principles and maxims laid down in the Jutakas, on which account this is looked upon as the chief book among the Budhists. The book was originally written in Palee, and translated into Singalese. The copy in question contains 1172 leaves, or 2344 pages. A native writer would write about four pages per day upon an average, and thus the whole would employ him 586 days.
The following are faithful translations of three of these remarkable narrations, the last of which, relating to King Wessantara, possesses the greatest share of the reverence of the followers of the Budha, from its recording the precise stage which concludes the whole series, and exhibits the soul purified by its process to a perfectibility which exonerates it from all thraldom of the body by desires, appetites, or affections, and terminates in the Budhaship. The wtfrd Wessantara means “ a change of existence or transmigration but its precise signification must be regulated by the state of the person desiring it ; though it is seldom used unless in reference to those desiring the highest state, or Nirwana. The expressions and style of the original are closely preserved, as exhibiting the precise ideas conveyed by the doctrine of the Jutakas.
THE JUTAKA OF BAMBADAT-RAJA— PLATE I.
“ Budha was once born a merchant in the country called Barrenas (Benares), and as he was one day passing with his wife in a carriage through the capital of the king called Bambadat, in the kingdom called Rajagaha-nouwara, the king, perceiving from his palace the young merchant and his wife, and becoming captivated with her beauty, immediately formed a plot to obtain the wife. He accordingly called one of his officers, and giving him one of his precious stones, directed him to go and drop it unperceived into the merchant’s carriage. He moreover ordered another officer to go and seize the merchant, accusing him of stealing the king’s precious stone, and to bring them both, the man and his wife, to his presence, by way of complaining of them. The officers did as they were ordered. When therefore the merchant and his wife were brought to the king, he pretended to inquire into the case, and ordered the merchant to be put to death, and his wife to be detained in the palace.
“ The king, not satisfied with this order, rode out on his elephant himself to the place, to see that his sentence was properly executed ; but when the executioner lifted up his sword to give the mortal blow to the victim, and before the stroke fell, the god Sekkraia, who was enraged at the brutal and cruel conduct of the king, in the twinkling of an eye put the king in the place of the merchant, and conveyed the merchant to the seat of the king on the elephant : the executioner gave the fatal blow, when, perceiving his mistake, he dropped the sword on the ground, and stood still, not knowing what
F
:J4
JUTAKA OF BAMBADAT-RAJA.
to do ; but the people in general, who were long tired of their king, and hated him for his tyrannical and cruel conduct, the moment they saw it rejoiced at the event, and soon after, placing his wife by the merchant on the elephant, they carried them both to the palace with loud acclamations of joy, and then, placing the merchant on the throne, acknowledged him to be their king from that day.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE I.*
1. The merchant passing in a carriage with his wife.
2. The officer drops the precious stone into the carriage.
3. The officer seizes the merchant, and charges him with the theft.
4. The merchant is brought before the king as a criminal.
5. The king passes sentence of death upon him.
6. The merchant’s wife is detained in the palace.
7. The king rides out to the place of execution.
8. The god Sekkraia places the merchant on the elephant.
9. The king is conveyed to the place of the merchant.
10. The executioner’s surprise.
11. The merchant’s wife placed beside her husband on the elephant by the people.
12. The merchant and his wife repairing to the palace.
13. The new king and queen on the throne.
* As the outline and style of the plates, illustrative of these narratives, unquestionably evince somewhat of a European character, it is of importance to subjoin the remarks of one, who was an eye-witness of these representations in the temples, and who notices this seeming coincidence. Whence derived, and however these subjects have become naturalized in Ceylon, it is not now, perhaps, in our power to trace ; they are, however, genuine transcripts of original drawings presented by the priests to Sir Alexander Johnston, during his residence as Chief Justice in that island.
Captain Mackenzie, who, in the year 1796, visited the West and South coasts of Ceylon, gives an interesting detail of his observations. Among other particulars, he describes a temple of Budha, at Villigaam ; after noticing the idol, which was in a reclining posture, and of gigantic size, he thus proceeds: — “ The gallery which ran round the inner apartment, was entirely covered with paintings, in compartments rudely finished, each apparently containing the history of some event of the life of Budha : these the priests told me, were also narrated in a great book, always kept by the modeliar of the place. One of these paintings seemed to represent the birth of the divine child; others represent his juvenile adventures, some of which seemed akin to the sportive Kighen s amusements on the plains of Muttra. In one, a youth held eager converse with a nymph, amid deep shades and woods, while a monkey, hid by the branches of a tree, seemed to listen with mischievous intent. In another, the god appeared as a youth, slily stealing, and distributing handfuls of coin from a chest, towards which an aged man approached with cautious steps, holding a huge key in his hand. On others, processions appeared ; feasts seemed prepared ; food was distributed to the poor of various nations (as appeared by their various habits); and the different habits and manners of men in active life were portrayed. A large white elephant made a conspicuous figure in most of these assemblies. The style, or costume of these paintings, was entirely different from that of the Hindus in the peninsula, and plainly belonged to a different people, though they undoubtedly showed those of the Singalese and the followers of Budha. On observing in these representations chairs, tables, metal lamps, and raised seats, such as are used by the present race, inhabiting the coast of the European part of Ceylon, which I had at first supposed they had borrowed from their present masters, I reflected that these indicated a connexion with the nations to the Eastward, which still use them, and that custom, so widely different from that of the Hindus, who always seat themselves on carpets, or on cloths spread on the ground, might have been imported from China, Siam, or Pegu, with their other customs and religion.'* — Asiatic Researches , vi. 437-
The paintings are <igain noticed in pages 443 and 446, of the same volume ; but the last observation just quoted, assigning the style of furniture exhibited, to China, Siam, or Pegu, appears erroneous ; as it should be observed, that the Indo-China states admit having received their arts and religion from Ceylon. The great book, stated to be in the possession of the modeliar , and from the contents of which the subjects of the paintings were furnished, was, without doubt, the temple copy of the J utakas.
T III IK ST<(DRT 4D.1F IBAMBABAHT IRA JJAB
|
-'•■e |
|||||
|
fffil; |
n |
H |
|||
|
JMH Bjjfrjft |
■ ""“ |
TJiSSJBIBMATANAM MAJAJH, Parti
JUTAKA OF USEERATANAM-RAJA.
35
THE JUTAKA OF USEERATANAM-RAJA.— PLATES II. AND III.
“There was once an emperor, in Damba-dewa, called Useeratanam-raja, who was an enemy to the Budhist religion, and led a sinful life, by drinking, killing animals, and committing acts of violence on people, and, through his bad principles, all his subjects became as wicked as himself. The Budha, who was then born god Sekkraia, seeing the misery of the empire, and taking compassion on its wretched state, assumed the form of a limiter, while the god Matalee took that of a most frightful dog of enormous size. They both descended from heaven, and the hunter led the dog by an iron
t
chain into the capital of the emperor. As soon as they got within the walls of the palace the dog began to bark ; the sound was louder than thunder itself. The affrighted guard ran and related this circum- stance to the emperor, who, on hearing the sound, was not less terrified than the guard himself. While the guard was still with the emperor, the hunter and his dog appeared before him, and the dog began to bark still louder. The emperor, who was so alarmed that he could scarcely support himself from falling to the earth, summoning up all his courage, asked the hunter what he wanted there ? and why his dog barked with such a horrible voice? To which the hunter answered, that it was through hunger that the dog thus barked, and that this was his reason for coming to hirft. The affrighted emperor, who would gladly have done any thing to stop his barking, readily promised to satisfy his hunger, and sent for the food which was dressed for his table, which, on placing it before the dog, he ate all at once, and began to bark again. The emperor sent for more, and more, until all that was in his kitchen was consumed. The emperor, then finding that the dog was not yet satisfied, sent for the victuals that were prepared for his subjects, until the whole that was in his city and the neighbourhood was consumed. Still finding that he could not satiate his hunger, the emperor asked the hunter what more he could expect, seeing that all the food, both in the city and the neighbourhood, had been produced and consumed? To which the hunter replied, that 4 this sort of food would never satisfy his dog’s hunger, for that he delighted in the flesh of his enemies.’ The emperor then asking him whom he meant by saying his enemies ? he began to say, ‘ My enemies are those who profess no religion ; those who are addicted to drunkenness ; those who kill animals;* those who commit acts of violence on people ; and, in short, all those who lead any sort of wicked life, unless they promise to abstain from their sins, and to lead a good life.’ The emperor, seeing that he himself should not be exempted on these points, and fearing the consequences, readily promised to adhere to his doctrine, which example was immediately followed by all his subjects. The hunter thereupon assumed his real form, as the god Sekkraia, as did the dog, and after having preached to the king and his subjects the religion of Budha, they ascended into the heaven from which they came.”
EXPLANATION OF PLATES II. AND III.
1. The emperor sits in his palace drinking, and commands an attendant to beat a beggar whom he sees coming.
• The Budhist doctrine dooms “ those who kill animals , and who are by profession hunters, warlike kings, ministers, and governors, who oppress the people, to the great hell, Sengata, there to be ground between four burning mountains for ..IKK) years. Asiatic Researches, vi. 220.
36
JUTAKA OF KING WESSANTARA.
2. The attendant desires a watchman to do so.
3. The watchman beats the beggar.
4. The emperor amuses himself in hunting.
5. A stag is killed and taken away.
6. The king returns from hunting to his palace.
7. The hunter and his dog arrive at the tower gate.
8. The palace. #
9. The gate.
10. The hunter and his dog come into the presence of the eyiperor.
11. The emperor.
1 2. The queen frightened.
13. The queen faints away.
14. The dog eats all the food that is set before him.
15. Baskets of victuals.
16. Officers report to the emperor that no more food can be procured.
17. Queens in the palace.
18. Queens attending the bana , or sermon.
19. Emperor and his attendants hear the ba)m.
20. The god Sekkraia in his natural form.
21. Matalee in his natural form.
THE JUTAKA OF THE KING WESSANTARA. — PLATES IV. AND V.
“ The Budha was once born King Wessantara, in the kingdom called Jayatoo-roopura ; he was universally beloved by all his subjects for his eminent virtues; he had also an ail-aita, or a white elephant, which was sent to him from heaven, and which itself possessed many virtues. At this time there was a great famine in the country called Calinga, occasioned by want of rain, and the king of that kingdom, called the Calinga-raja, hearing of the different virtues of the white elephant, and the mild and beneficent disposition of the owner of it, sent eight of his trusty Brahmins, to go to the King Wessantara, and borrow the elephant in his name, as it was the only means to restore Calinga to its fertility and former state, for the virtues of the elephant are such, that rain will not fail to fall wherever the elephant is, if it is but wished for. The Brahmins immediately departed, and, after a long journey, arrived at the place of their destination, and went and met the king as he Avas riding out on this very elephant to the hall of public alms. The eight Brahmins, then placing themselves on a lofty spot, and saluting the king by lifting up their arms, informed him of the puqjort of their journeys the king becoming deeply affected by Avliat he heard from them, immediately alighted from this royal animal, and delivered it to them, notwithstanding the murmurs and entreaties of his attendants, and other persons in general, to the contrary.
“ The people of King Wessantara’s kingdom, who were very much displeased at this act of their master’s, finding that all their remonstrances had no effect on the mind of the king, all proceeded in a body to their king’s father, the old king, named Sanda-maha-raja, and informed him of it ; avIio, growing
W
UJ S SEERA.TANAM RAJAH. Poxt H.
JUTAKA OF KING WESSANTARA.
37
more and more enraged at this news, sent immediately an order to Wessantara, his son, to quit the kingdom within the space of one day.
I he king, after distributing all his riches among the poor, set out the next morning with his queen, Mantra-dewa, and two young children, in a carriage drawn by two horses, to go to the wilderness, where an immense rock, with a cave, called Wanga-geriyah, is situated, and there to assume the habits of hermits. While on his way he was accosted by two Brahmins, who came too late to receive any thing from the king, and who# desired him to give them the carriage and the horses; the king, immediately descending with the queen from the carriage, presented it to them with a cheerful countenance. After doing this act, the Icing and the queen, each taking a child in their arms, proceeded on their journey on foot; in their progress to the wilderness they were obliged to pass through the kingdom of his father-in-law, named Chatiya-raja, and not wishing to let his father-in-law know any thing of his intention, he took his lodging for the night in a public place, or ambalam. The next morning one of the slaves of the palace happening to pass, saw and immediately knew them, not- withstanding the disguise of their dress : she saluted and talked with them, and learning their resolution to go to the wilderness, immediately informed her mistress, Chatiya-dewa, the mother-in-law of the King Wessantara; who, on hearing this account, immediately repaired to the spot, with the raja her husband, to see their relations. When they understood from them their reasons for leaving their own kingdom, and coming to theirs, they used their best endeavours to prevent them from prosecuting their intended journey into the wilderness ; but finding, after every entreaty, that they were resolute to go, the King Chatiya at last obtained their consent to stay with them for seven days, that he might cause the road to Wanga-geriyah to be cleared within that time ; and he immediately despatched a sufficient number of persons, with proper officers, to execute this commission. At the expiration of that time, when the officers who were sent into the wilderness came and reported to their king that they had executed his orders, he communicated the same to his son-in-law, and the King Wessantara then advised his queen to remain with her father, as it would be a hard thing for a woman to go and live in the wilderness, where there are many dangers ; but, finding that she was resolved upon accompanying her husband, and that all his persuasions to remain with her parents had no effect on her mind, the King Chatiya took leave of his daughter, and son-in-law Wessantara, who, with his queen and two children, proceeded on his journey in the wilderness to the place called Wanga-geriyah, and there they took the habits of hermits.
“ The King Chatiya soon after taking leave of his son-in-law, called to him a trusty hunter, or wedilali , who was distinguished for his skill and courage, and placed him as a guard in the way that led to the rock Wanga-geriyah, to prevent any person whatever from going thither, lest some mischief should happen to them or their children.
“ It happened about this time that an old Brahmin, called Jutaka, of another kingdom, who had a thousand pieces of gold in his possession, having occasion to go a journey, deposited it for security with another Brahmin, who, during the absence of his friend, little expecting to see him again, spent the whole stock of gold with which he was entrusted ; but some time after, Jutaka returning from his journey, went to his friend and demanded his gold; on finding that he could not produce it, Jutaka, taking up a stick, threatened to beat him and to carry him to prison. The terrified Brahmin, seeing that all his tears and entreaties would make no impression on the mind of the old Brahmin, at last proposed
38
JUTAKA OF ICING WESSANTARA.
to give his daughter (who was a beautiful maid) to him in marriage, in compensation for his gold. The old Brahmin, rejoiced at this offer, caused the marriage ceremony to be published immediately, and went home, taking his bride with him.
« While Jutaka was living happily with his wife, some of his neighbours, being jealous of his happiness, took an opportunity to make a false impression on her mind against her husband ; for, on a certain day, when Jutaka’s wife was drawing water at a well near his house, some of the neighbours assembling there first began to speak of the cruel manner in which she ^yas daily treated by her husband, and then advised her to desire her husband to get some slaves for her. Jutaka’s wife, on hearing this, broke the pot at the well, and returning home in a rage to her husband* seized and threw him on the ground, and began to treat him in a most scandalous manner, pulling his beard and beating him, and telling him that she was not his slave, to do every kind of mean labour in his house, and if he wished her to remain in his house, he must procure her two slaves ; she also told him that the easiest way to get them, was to go into the wilderness, and apply to Wessantara, the most charitable of hermits. Jutaka, who loved his wife beyond any thing on earth, and feared the consequences that would ensue if she was not gratified, promised to undertake the journey, and bidding adieu to his wife, departed, taking with him his astronomical book and the travelling bag. After passing through the village, having directed his way towards the wilderness, he drew near the place where Wessantara was; and, as he was passing by the post of the hunter, who was placed there by the King Chatiya, the hunter perceiving him, took his bow and arrows, and began to pursue him with his dog. The terrified J utaka, seeing the danger that he was in, climbed the nearest tree, crying out to the hunter — ‘ Stop, do not betray the trust which the king, your master, has committed to you, for I was the tutor of the King Wessantara, who is now in the wilderness, and am going thither by order, of King Chatiya, your master, to persuade him, if possible, to return to his kingdom, for what other business could I have to undertake this tedious journey?’ The hunter, believing the artful story of Jutaka, assisted him to descend from the tree, and, after conducting him some way, took leave of him, directing him into the right road ; and Jutaka, pro- ceeding on his journey, at length came to the place called Wanga-geriyah, where the King Wessantara was, and applied to him for his children. The king, as he had made a vow, the moment that he became a hermit, never to refuse to any person any thing whatever, whilst he possessed it, could not do otherwise than comply with his request; accordingly, he called his two children, and delivered them to Jutaka by pouring water on their hands.
“ As soon as Jutaka had thus obtained what he wanted, he took leave of the king, and joyfully departed, taking the two young royal slaves with him ; but as soon as he got out of sight of the king, he tied the arms of the children to make them more secure, and led them. Fortunately for the children, Jutaka, missing the right road, after wandering for some time in the wilderness, at last came to the kingdom of their grandfather, Chatiya-raja, who, on hearing that his grandchildren were in his dominions, in the possession of an old Brahmin, immediately sent trusty officers to bring them all before him. When they were all come, and he had learned from Jutaka the fate of the children, he proposed to him to give him the weight of the children in gold ; to which Jutaka agreeing, the king ordered the children to be weighed, and their weight in gold to be given to him : he also directed that he should be entertained with the choicest food; which being accordingly done, the king took the two young grandchildren, but Jutaka, who had never tasted so many delicacies in his life, devoured so much more than he could reasonably hold, that it
I
JUTAKA OF KING WESSANTARA.
39
proved fatal to him. So he died some hours afterwards by the bursting open of his bowels, and thus his gold went back to the king’s store.”
EXPLANATION OF PLATES IV. AND V.
1. The King Wessantara on the throne.
2. The king riding out on an ail-^ita, or elephant, attended by the guards ; and a party of Bramins apply to him for the loan of his elephant.
3. The king delivers up his elephajit to them.
4. Giving alms to the poor mendicants.
5. Cooking the alms.
6. The ministers entreating the king to desist from his resolution.
7. The ministers taking leave of their master.
8. The king and queen taking leave of their father.
9. The king and his family proceed to go to the wilderness.
10. A Brahmin craves the king’s carriage and horses of him.
11. The king, after giving the carriage and horses, begins to walk with the queen, carrying the children in their arms.
12. Sitting in the ambalam with their children.
13. The slave sees and recognises them.
14. The King Chatiya comes and salutes his son-in-law.
15. The King Wessantara exhorts his queen to remain with her parents.
16. The King Chatiya directs his subjects to go and clear the road into the wilderness.
17. The King Chatiya takes leave of his son-in-law.
18. The queen takes leave of the king, her father.
19. The King Wessantara sits in his cell in the dress of a hermit.
20. The queen sits in her cell with the children in the hermit’s dress.
21. Jutaka, the Brahmin, receives his intended wife from her father.
22. Jutaka goes with his wife to his home.
23. The wife of Jutaka draws water at a well, where her neighbours instruct her how to get some
slaves.
24. Jutaka’s wife abuses her husband, and insists on his procuring her some slaves
25. Jutaka takes leave of his wife to go in search of slaves.
26. Jutaka proceeds on his journey.
27. Jutaka attacked by the hunter on his road.
28. Jutaka applies to the king for the children.
29. The King Wessantara gives his children to Jutaka.
30. Jutaka leads the children.
31. Jutaka and the children are brought before King Chatiya.
32. The children are weighed against gold.
33. The death of Jutaka.
40
JUTAKA OF KING WESSANTARA.
In tracing the adventures of King Wessantara, here delineated, the first and most prominent object is the ail-aita, or white elephant, the copy of the great elephant belonging to the paradise, or garden of the Tavateinza heaven. This important animal was regarded as oracular and capable of giving responses, and it has been considered as a token of political power, as well as of the divine favour. By the chief Indo- Chinese states, the possession of such a quadruped is ascribed to the especial favour of the Budha, and it is regarded as a gift from the gods of the heavens, who order the process of events in this sublunary stage; and the Dewa Loka heavens are thus frequently declared to shower down gold, jewels, robes of honour, chettras of dignity (umbrellas), whenever the gods are propitious. For a monarch to proclaim himself the king of the white elephant, is the same as to designate himself thy favourite of the gods, and also to ascribe all virtue and excellence to his actions ; and, therefore, any similar assumption or transfer of it to any other state or person, would be resented as the renunciation of a divine right. Thus Wessantara, meditating the assumption of the Budhaship, and prepared for the most signal sacrifices, bestows his ail-aita upon the Brahmins who beg it ; and herein, also, are shown the property of the animal to work miracles, and the inherent divinity which he possesses, that they ground the request on the expectation that his presence will deliver them from a great drought; the ministers, however, deeming it to be an act of impiety, refuse
to participate in it, and, exposing themselves to the consequences, expostulate, and finally leave him.
«
Having divested himself of his royal and sacred supremacy, he next exhibits himself as the feeder and benefactor of the mendicant class. The rank and importance which these naked and disfigured fanatics assume in the presence of the proudest princes can only be attributed to the deep impression which this act of the Budha Gaudma’s humility was calculated to make ; but it does not appertain to the life of Gaudma alone, for the Prince Kumara, as well as every character of the sacred histories, made a practice of feeding this class, as a portion of duty. Wessantara now proceeds to distribute his riches, and resigning his kingly power, to retire to the wilderness, as the Ban Perust, who, after fifty years of age, devotes himself to the service of God in the desert, which appears to have been the usual road of every aspirant after heavenly exaltation or earthly honours. Zoroaster dwelt amid the caves and scorching plains of Mazanderan ; Pythagoras retired to the cave of Zalmoxis ; Mahomet brooded over his mission in the solitudes of A1 Hafia. He finally marks the consummating act of self-surrender, by giving up his children at the request of J utaka, whose sordid and avaricious qualities seem purposely introduced to heighten the colouring,* and to aggravate the sacrifice of thus yielding even his children to a being in all respects unworthy of the least exercise of benevolence. With this last act, as the climax of self-denial, the tale concludes with a stroke of retributive morality, in making Jutaka to perish from the consequences of his own ill-regulated appetite ; thus exhibiting the exaltation of Wessantara to the heaven Toisite, and Jutaka’s exemplary punishment and death, a tenet precisely expressing the Budhist idea.
The act of “weighing the children against gold," is an act of piety frequently resorted to by Indian princes in great trouble or extremity of sickness, to propitiate the favour of heaven ; the gold being distributed among religious mendicants.
BEINGS LIVING IN THE UNIVERSE.
41
BEINGS LIVING IN THE UNIVERSE.
Before we enter upon the description of the heavens, it may be useful to draw into one view the different agents of Budhism, as exhibited in the legends and doctrine of this faith, for this list, together with the recapitulation of their abodes, will greatly aid the reader to understand what follows.
All living beings belong to one of the three following classes : — 1. The Cliama, or reproduction. — 2. The Rupa, or material, that is to say, visible gods. — 3. The Arupa, or immaterial. These beings ascend in progressive transmigrations from the lower to the higher classes, according to their good or bad conduct in that which they have just left ; and their last state of final beatitude, which is indissoluble and unchangeable, is Nirwana. As beings are continually proceeding from one state of existence to another, so are the worlds which they inhabit ; and neither the beginning, nor the termination, of this unbroken chain of mundane systems, was known to Gauclma himself. These beings inhabit “ the Loka or Logha,” a word expressing the universe, and signifying successive destruction and reproduction, and are thus classed :
Mankind, and the Nat gods their inspectors and judges, with attendants ranging in rank as tutelary genii and evil demons.* To this first class are appropriated the earth, the atmospheric regions above it, forming the region of Mienmo, and the six Dewa heavens, which successively arise above each other in superior splendour.
To the second class, the Rupa, or visible gods, belong the sixteen heavens of Brahma Loka, 7 to 22.
The third, all spirit, or immaterial, which comprises the Passe Budhas, the Arihats, and all faithful followers of the Budha, who have gained the state of Nirwana, occupy from 23 to 26.
The Budhas in their hall of glory (Mokse) occupy the sky, or empyrean, above all.
1. The Chama class comprises the inhabitants of this planet; combined with which may be classed the superior beings of the unknown southern part, which (although imaginary beings) are frequently mentioned in the Budha books, namely : —
2. The gods of the Himaleh Parkwette.
the Satagirinam Parkwette.
the Wissametee Parkwette.
the Wipoele Parkwette.
3. In a doctrinal conformity of character with those beings are the five hill-gods of Ceylon, to whom the Budha, through the chief god of the Dewa Loka, deputed the superintendence of the earth. These are the Pattinnee, or gods of healing.f Wisme-karma, the chief, or protector of the Budha faith, as the god of the mountain Waykoote, governs the destinies of Ceylon ; he is, also, the artificer of the immortal arms of Sekkraia, herein resembling Vulcan, the Lemnian deity, and forms, with the aid of his genii, the stupendous excavations of the rock temples.
' It is worthy of notice, that both these classes, the genii and demons, are called devils , and although mischievous are not determinately and purely evil agents.
t It is impossible not to advert to Chiron, the Centaur, skilled in pharmacy and surgery, invested with immortality, and a species of demi-god, inhabiting Mount GEta, which was also the scene of the exploits of the Nemean Hercules.
G
42 BEINGS LIVING IN THE UNIVERSE.
Saman-dewa, who reigns on Adam’s Peak, and governs the whole class of genii, &c., entitled the Koombandeo, or inferior gods.*
Kandi-kumara, who is worshipped at Katregam.
Wiebesana, the god of power for the temple of Calany.
These servants of the gods of the heavens of the Dewa Loka possess the power of transformation, and of commanding the elements of the atmosphere.
4. The Asura-raja, king of the Asura Loka, which lies beneath the Maha-meru stone, in the region
Treekooto, 3000 juzana high, which is sustained on three rocks of carbuncle ; supporting the central mount Mienmo. #
5. Suthagiria, the chief of the demons, obedient to the region of Jugandere.
6. The four elementary gods of the first Dewa Loka, who exercise an influence, as it will be seen, on its inhabitants, and can command the regions of the atmosphere ; these are
Dirtheraach Shetheire, the god of the East,
Wiroedhe West,
Wiroe Pakshe North,
Tiroe Wenne South.
These possess as a bon or 'abode, the first heaven, or the Dewa Loka Tjaturum-maharakeye, and their office is to watch around the Parkwette, or Maha-meru stone, and to warn the god Sekkraia of the approach of his enemy, the Asura-raja.
7. The thirty-two councillors, or recorders (visitors of the earth), who report to the chief god, Sekkraia, on the moral state of man, and who inhabit the second Dewa Loka, or the Tavateinza heaven
8. The god Sekkraia, in many respects resembling the god of the sun of the Greek myths, chief of the second, or Tavateinza heaven.
Other deities, not particularized in the codes, range in. the heavens, Nos. 3 to 5.
9. The sixth Dewa Loka is the abode of the Wassawarty-raja, a chief, and most powerful Nat god, who is so decidedly the enemy of the Budha, as to be called in some manuscripts, the Anti-Budhist. This deity we shall trace in his legend, as exercising an open as well as covert hostility against the laws
* In illustration of the rank and importance which these agents, or inferior gods, hold in the opinion of the votaries of the Budha, we subjoin the following ceremonial at the interment of the late King of Siam, wherein these deities were the chief characters exhibited. “ The funeral of the late King of Siam took place on the 23d of April, 1825, and among the crowded procession were introduced the following representations of the divine inhabitants of the Budhist aerial and celestial regions:
“ The figure of a rhinoceros, of the size of an elephant, upon a sledge, or carriage upon low wheels, drawn by men and horses, with a small temple on its back, in which was a quantity of yellow dresses, to be given to the priests as offerings.
“ Two figures of elephants (very large) drawn as above.
“ Two figures of horses, similarly drawn.
“ Four figures of large monkeys, two and two.
“ Four figures of eagles, two and two.
“ Four figures of cocks, two and two.
“ Four figures of wild men, or giants, two and two.
“ Four figures of lions of immense size, two and two.
“ These were followed by the figures of a variety of other indescribable beasts and birds, two and two, and each figure bore its supply of dresses for the priests.
Eight hundred men dressed in white, with white caps or helmets — these represented celestial messengers, and their purport was, as if to show the soul of the deceased king the way to heaven. Along with these were many bunds of music.” — Cranford's Embassy to Slam, 318.
These are all of the Koombandeo, or gods of the Jugandere.
BEINGS LIVING IN THE UNIVERSE.
43
and person of Gaudma, and yet we find him and his followers placed in the highest Dewa Loka of splendour and happiness.
10. The Brahma Loka heavens, where the god, Sahan-pati Maha-brahma, is supreme ; he inhabits the Brahma-keyepenam, or supreme ninth heaven of the Brahma Loka, and is the chief of all, except the Budhas.
11. To the Budha, the supreme of the Budhist faith, is assigned the sky, the blue empyrean, the cerulean ether, the peculiar region of the great Olympian Jove, in his highest elevation. In the Budhist doctrine the elements are deified, and the empyrean is a hon or habitation, called Nirwasanyana Sansa-yattia, and deified as the giver of Nirwana. This region is the hope of every Budhist, and the reward of every faithful follower ant^ disciple of the Budha, wherein he rests, sheltered for ever from every change, and iii the possession of all possible good. Here, in a hall of glory, repose the Budhas, and among others, Gaudma, whose transmigTation into this abode, 'or becoming Nirwana, as it is termed, marks the commencement of the present era.
Thus the three classes of beings are subdivided into thirty-one species ; each having its proper bon or habitation in the Chama. There is also the Asura Loka, or universe below the great abyss, the rocks, central stone, and gardens, but not the original tree of inebriating fruit; this abode or bon , forms No. 1.
The four hells, states of suffering, called Ape, No. 2.
The subterranean world, or the portion of the earth, which is the abode of the Naga gods, or serpents, No. 3.
The world, Manoepeloka, the abode of man, No. 4.
The Mienmo central stone, and its regions, Jugandere, &c., tenanted by the Koombandeo, or tutelary gods, or devils ; also by inferior deities who transmigrate ; gods of rocks, woods, and trees, snakes, birds, and giants, No. 5.
The six Dewa Loka gods of the elements, conducting the metempsychosis, or purifying changes of man’s existence, Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
Thus are formed the eleven bon , or states of existence, of which four, the hells, are states of misery, and seven declared to be states of happiness. The Asuras therefore we find, are not reckoned as in suffering, nor purely evil agents.
In the Rupas, or sixteen bons of the heavens of Maha-brahma, and Brahma gods, Nos. 7 to 22, the twenty-second heaven forms a Zian, or refuge, indissoluble at the occurrence of a determinate period of mundane destruction, wherein the existence of those beings who have acquired a title to Nirwana, but as yet not advanced to the triumphing heavens, is preserved for Nirwana, with certain other beings destined to be the germs of a renewed world ; and termed therefore, a triumphing heaven in the arupa state, comprehending Nos. 22 to 26.
The 27th bon, is the sky, the empyrean, or hall of glory.
Respecting the happiness of all these different classes of beings it is stated generally in the writings, that the happiness of each state is double that of the inferior one, and the lives of the inhabitants of each bon , or habitation, endure four times as long as those of the next inferior species. According to this ratio, the highest gods of the sixth Dewa Loka would live 576 millions of years.
The duration of the lives of the Brahma deities increase similarly, and their almost interminable periods may be found in the Asiatic Researches , vi. 215.
TIIE EARTH AND ATMOSPHERIC REGION.
4(>
to the lake of Anaudat, is the lake Zaddan, encircled by blooming gardens and mountains of gold, silver, carbuncles, and crystal, one of which emits a splendour equal to that of the sun. To the west of the lake Zaddan is a beautiful cave filled with gold and jewels, and to the north is another lake fifty juxana in length, and as much in breadth ; its waters nourish various flowering trees, and its sands are minute fragments of crystals and of diamonds. Between the lakes grows the Gnaung-bayn, or the Budha tree, which is sacred, as being the tree under which Gaiidma received his divine nature; and here resides the king of the elephants, named, from the place of his abode, Zadda ; he is king of the white, red, and black elephants, all which weave and wear crowns of flowers of the sacred tree, and in winter live in golden caves, near which reside genii, birds, and other g beings. The most celebrated is the lion Chalarasi, and a lion which has a human head and a lion’s body; this kind is never seen but when a Budha appears on earth. Such are a few of the details characterising the Mienmo mount, the prototype of the Olympian, Samothracian, and other sacred hills.
Connected herewith, is the region of the air, or Jugandere, the region covering the earth, which is on the summit of Mienmo, and the seat of the stars and planets, and all the bodies which we call celestial.* This abode, which, with its inhabitants, is subject to the chief of the first Dewa Loka heaven, is divided into four portions, each of which districts is guarded by its appropriate inhabitants, and these maintain the region about the sacred mount and the earth against the rebel Asuras. The first portion is called Ivoombandeo Ludaia, and is the residence of genii, or inferior gods of the woods, rivers, and rocks, the prototypes of the Pan, Hamadryads, and Naiads, of Greece. The second station, called Yakhsa Ludaia, is tenanted by the giants. The third, termed Garuda Ludaia, is the region of the Nat gods,f under the shape of monstrous birds ; these, by the power Galoun, can cause rain. The fourth, called Naga Ludaia, is the abode of the nagas , serpents, and dragons, who are also Nat gods. Thus the monstrosities of fiction derive their weight and impress from forming an intermediate state
alabaster, is most commonly yellow, or gilt. The form and countenance of the Singalcse Budha Mr. Finlayson deems to be decidedly Egyptian or Ethiopian. The priests of the Budha are gilt and embalmed after death, as the Egyptian mummies frequently are, and the Budhist priests of Siam use a staff, with a bird’s head carved on it ; thus in the same manner all the images of Osiris invariably carry this staff, so that it is called the sceptre of Osiris. As the bull Apis and Mnevis were an actual incarnation of deity, and furnished oracles, so the white elephant is considered a Budha, and, according to M. Klaproth, was reputed to furnish oracles so late as the eighth century. We may also trace a striking resemblance between the natural scenery of the two countries, for as Egypt, a longitudinal valley, composed of black slime, or mud, from the yearly inundation of the Nile, was called Chemia or Black, by Plutarch, so is Siam, a similar valley, corresponding in its soil, arising from the deposits of the Mei-nam river, called Chiamay, Syamay or Black ; and in the city of Arracan, the country whence the Birmans derived their faith, have recently been discovered figures of the Egyptian sphynx, and also parts of an ancient zodiac, in a series of very ancient signs, in perfect conformity with those transmitted down to us. — Asiatic Journal for 1826, 513.
The Siamese exhibit the most striking resemblance to the ancient Egyptians in the custom of shaving their heads, in their frequent ablutions, in the practice of wearing linen invariably followed by the priests, and also in the character of their physiognomy and complexion. It is a fact worthy of particular remark, that wherever the rites of Egypt penetrated, there the use of linen by the sacerdotal order may be traced. We may add another point of resemblance, inasmuch as the Siamese manifest a stronger dislike than any other branch of the Indo-Chinese race to the pursuits of commerce and navigation.
• It seems evident, from many particulars, that this region is one of the most important of the system, as being characterised by sundry incidents in the existence of the Budha, and also being the abode of the chief agents in his deification and power ; thus the river which flows from this spot is said to be the stream on which the miracle of the golden dish floating against the current is exhibited, which enables the Budha to claim the Budhaship. It is also the abode of the dragon king, who awakes and hails the new god, as well as the compound lion, always placed near the Vihari of Gaudma. Here too is the sacred tree, with its fruits and flowers. All these things figure in the progress and life of the Budha : in this region, Jugandere, we shall trace also the abodes of the four Pattinnee gods.
t Around Jugandere is Issedari Pagwatte, where lives a bird called Gourouuss, one hundred and fifty juzana in height. — Asiatic Researches, i. 406.
the earth and atmospheric region.
47
through which the soul transmigrates from the earth into the heavens, of which this region is the border or frontier, and they act probably as ministers of punishment, when the sins committed consign the delinquent to the hells, or to a degradation of form. In this systematic arrangement we may trace a clue to the magic power of enchanters, who are often described as assuming and exercising the privilege of transforming human beings into bestial forms, either at their caprice or as a punishment ; since, in the local situation of these genii and dragons, we immediately discover the mode whereby such intermediate agents become the organs of good or evil to man— conceptions which have struck deep root into the literature, feelings, and machinery of the East, and thence extended to the great bulk of mankind.
ft
The scene of their agency is the region of the sacred mount Mienmo, the type of the Maha-meru, the centre of the universe, in its roots penetrating downwards to the central abyss, even to the hells, the abode of condemned souls, and of the Asuras or rebel spirits ; while, in its upward progress, it is the link and foundation of every stage, of the heavens ; it therefore connects together these regions with the state of man's existence. Thus, as a covering to the earth, or its azure vault, it becomes its primary region or atmosphere, wherein are stationed beings superior to man, called inferior gods, in whose direction is the great regulating principle of rewards and of punishments attendant on the transmigrations after death. «
l he all-powerful interest attached to these beings, therefore, naturally results from their proximity to the earth, their personal association with man, and their power of transformation, itself a feature in the existence of man ; the difference being, that these genii (alike transcripts of the Simorgh, the Garuda, and other fictions of Eastern imagery) exercise the power of assuming shapes at will, whereas in man, his mortal existence is made a medium of discipline and degrading confinement, whence the figurative expressions of a prison, a tenement of clay, &c., as applied to the body, are probably derived.
In the sketch of the protecting genii, and their abode, given in the Asiatic Researches (vi. 265), is a legend purely oriental, connected with the most striking type of orientalism, the king of the dragons.* This legend exhibits two incidents, prominently detailed in every Budhist work on the life of Gaudma, and which have neither interest nor meaning, without the elucidation of the doctrine, which is as follows : — A woman, bearing a plate or dish of rice, beholds Gaudma leaning against his tree (the bogaya), and she conceives the desire of performing a meritorious action, by presenting to him her rice-dish for his repast ; Gaudma, by his prescience knowing and deciding to accept the offer, intimates to her, that her inward thought and wish will in future come to pass. Gaudma, after eating
Dr. W arton observes, “ that there is no character more strictly Oriental than the dragons of romance and fiction ; they are intermixed with every tradition of early date, and of themselves confer a species of illustrative evidence of origin. In no writings me these characters more marked, than in the details of Budhism ; these record particulars of the Nagas, or kingly snakes, inhabiting the cavities under the earth, corresponding with the abodes of Tiresias and the Greek seers, a region of mystery and darkness, wherein revolves much of the system of divination and oracular response, connected with inflation, or a sort of possession, designating the spirit of Python himself, the dragon serpent slain by Apollo. The great divining deity of Delphi was invoked at a spot placed over the supposed central abyss, in the vicinity whereof the temple stood; near it, two mighty fissured rocks towered above its roof, from whence an aperture opened to the bowels of the earth.” Such are the descriptions given by ancient writers, but from the higher parts of Parnassus being of limestone, containing entrochi and other organic remains, Dr. Daubeny considers that certain gaseous exhalations from the ground co-operated with the enthusiasm of the moment in bringing on the ecstasies of the priestesses. Near this opening stood a pillar of two convoluted Nagas, or serpents, still existing in the hippodrome of Constantinople, and the tripod, on which the reluctant priestess was held or bound down to receive the afflatus from the abyss, by virtue of which the response was accounted a divination.
48
THE EARTH AND ATMOSPHERIC REGION.
of the rice, knowing now that the rite was fulfilled, that he was become a Hi id ha, to show his supreme will, according to the ancient doctrine, throws the dish, which proves to be of gold, into the stream, to demonstrate to the world his miraculous power, by its ascending against the current ; which result of course takes place, so that the dish actually ascends against the current of the river lvassi, and Gaudma is acknowledged to be the Budha.
There is a reference to this part of the Budhist doctrine in the following passage, which at once connects the dragons, or the ancient Ophite worship, with the Budha Gaudma : — “ Below the first heaven are found many Nat, who inhabit waters, woods, and mountains, in the shape of large birds, dragons, and the like; and it is said that the king of the dragons saw the first god (the first Budha), and that he will see the last. This king of the dragons always sleeps at the foot of the Hemavunta mountains, whence springs the river Kassi (the Ganges, near Benares), during the existence of a world, and he only awakes at the appearance of a new god (a Budha). When any human being has arrived at such a transcendent degree of merit as to deserve to be declared a Budha, he eats rice , which has been boiled in a golden “goblet, and he then manifests a proof of his newly acquired divinity, by throwing the goblet into the river Kassi. The goblet floats against the stream till it arrives at the place where the king of the dragons sleeps; there it strikes against the rock and makes a noise, when the king awakes.”
In all works on Budhist doctrines, the era, or Budha-verouse, is termed the period “ when the milken rice came into the world which evidently alludes to this incident of Gaudma’s eating the rice, a symbol of the acquiescence of the dragon king in his exaltation to the Budhaship. The floating of the golden dish, although in the narrative described without any comment which marks its true import, formed in reality the sign and miracle by which the elevation of the Budha was ratified; and the act of the woman became a most important office of duty and respect to the great Eastern lawgiver, as furnishing the test of his divinity, by presenting to him rice, the produce of the earth, probably in token of its submission to his divine will, f
Connected with the Maha-meru, the Hemavunta, or Mount Imaus, and those sacred mounts, whence flow the sacred Kassi and other streams, which confer such sanctity on the sources of rivers, and the Jugandere, the region of the air, are also the hill-gods, for their abodes are on the peaks of hills which ascend into the same atmospheric region superior to man. These four deities form the subjects of plates 6, 7, 8, and 9, and exhibit these four gods attended by one of each of the four classes of the genii of Jugandere, the spot designated in the doctrine as the residence of the four Nathe Dewa gods. The legends of the Budha narrate that their president or chief, Wisme-karma, has thus allotted their positions : —
Wisme-karma-raja, inhabits Waykotte, Himaleh-vanni, a peak of the Himaleh mountains.
Saman-dewa-raja dwells on Adam’s Peak, the most celebrated of the mountains of Ceylon.
* The practice of the court of Inimerapura, in selecting for presentation to the golden feet a tmzzur of rice, is grounded on this incident in the life of the Budha, and not on the ideas suggested by Synies ; it is significant of the spiritual superiority, as well as temporal supremacy, claimed by the Birmah emperor ; and it also forms part of the established etiquette of the court, precisely to copy the example and actions of the Nat gods, into whose heavens they expect to transmigrate.
t It is probably from this tradition, that, in the marriage rite among the Birmans, and also in all transactions of business, the contract is made valid by each presenting the other contracting party with a little laspac, a sort of ten-leaf steeped in oil, to eat, which act of eating is the ratification.
the earth and atmospheric region.
49
"r'h"’P“1 “ *• P*S”‘* - -*• « .1.. ..p or Maha-meru
Wiebesana-dewa-raja, holds his residence at Calany.
These gods are respected in the Dewales, which are large buildings, and are always four in numher • ey watch to cure the srck, and to preserve men from incurring losses in their goods, and are represented res. mg on the peaks of then high mountains, whence they inspect, govern, and exercise a tutelary superintendence over then favourite districts. Their mountains are so lofty that they are elevated int'o the lunar mansions, the regions of Jugandere, the portion of the universe stretching from the Manoepe- loka, or human world, to the Tjaturun.maha-rit, or first heaven of the Dewa Loka, comprising the tract
wherein the orbits of the sun, moon, and planets are marked out.
This region, as before stated, forms the habitation of the inferior created agents, who can command the elements ; who exercise the gift of the metempsychosis at will, by assuming different shapes ; and who, through the central navel of the earth, or Mem stone, can pass through the earth, and transport themselves to either the invisible world of Hades below the central abyss, or ascend (as the Asuras are often represented to attempt) to the Dewa Loka of the palol tree.
In the legends of the scenery and inhabitants of this region, we tr*ee a striking picture of the imaginary beings with which the traditions of aU mountainous regions abound; for the hills of the
gods of Greece, even Parnassus itself, are not more vocal, or more deeply interested in the actions oi man than those of the Budha system.*
The character of the Pattinee gods requires development, because they exhibit the chief traces remaining of the ancient paganism of Ceylon, and probably of other Eastern regions. When the Budha Gamlma introduced his faith, and sought to attach the inhabitants to his doctrine, the belief in demons was too strongly rooted; he therefore wisely forbore to aim at a fruitless extirpation, but forbade any
acts of worship or priests in honour of these gods. The following curious particulars are collected from authentic sources :
•
“ The Dewales and Kowiles, are places consecrated to the Kappooism, or demon-worship, of Ceylon w nch is the character of these celebrated chief gods of the hills. Drums and tom-toms are beaten in their honour in the morning and evening, and trumpets and horns sounded. In the month of July the great offering takes place, and in the montli of November only the Dewales are illuminated. The daily offerings consist merely of boiled victuals, upon which the common servants and superintendents, called B.tmorales, Kappoerales.f and Basnaikerales, subsist. The office of priest does not exist in the Dewales,
• Birtheniach Shetheire the god of the muses, and of music, resides also in the mountains of Jugandere, or first Dewa Loka heaven
1 1 f’e K,a?P“er“leS °f the DcwaIes derive a c°nsiderable emolument from the sale of charms. A native, with one of these pin e rom ns o y, esteems himself secure, and will boldly face the danger from which he would timidly fly if destitute of the ancit protection. ese charms consist often of a piece of olla-leaf, covered with astrological signs and unintelligible jargon These may be seen hangmg from the arms, legs, or necks of the natives; as they imagine that the evils which float about in the air ,re prevented from al.ght.ng on the hmbs of those who are thus protected. If an accident happens to a superstitious Singalese, at a time when he has not one about his person, he has immediate recourse to a Kappoerale, persuaded that his charm is as efficacious to cure as it is powerful to preserve."— Harvard’s Narrative of the Mission to Ceylon, 211.
“ The Na8“' or snake S°ds’ supposed to give the power to some men to blight all the fruit they look at; and this they call aes-was, or eye-poison. I knew a native (Singalese), of whom his countrymen said, that if he looked on a tree, it would wither • they told me the Naga-raja, or king serpent was on him .'-Remarks by Mr. Fox. It is (among other ideal evils) against this eye-poison that charms are sought for. ^ ^
H
50
THE HILL GODS, OR PATTINEE DEITIES.
and much less in the Kowiles, which are merely chapels situate in villages and hamlets, wherein no service is performed ; only every person may there offer boiled victuals.” The chief attendants are the Kappoerales, who also appear to act as the celebrated conjurors, or wizards of the North, and they are appointed in the following manner : —
“ When a Kappoerale of a temple dreams that he must appoint a man as Kappoerale, then he goes and mentions to the man his dream, and then the man of whom the Kappoerale dreamed, upon this inquiry, goes to wash himself, and to keep clean (pure), and he goes to the temple to do the duties of a Kappoerale, by offering some flowers and other things to the deity. From that day he must not eat any fresh fish, or any other thing, except rice and dried fish, nor drink any liquor but water ; they appoint him a day. and on that day the head Kappoerale of the temple comes and says to him, that he was appointed as Kappoerale of that temple ; with that the appointed Kappoerale, with all the others, calls all the beggars of the place within the temple, and gives them alms.”*
The duty of a Kappoerale is, that ‘‘one of them always remains at the temple, to open it, to keep it always clean, to light the lamps, and when people come there to make their prayers, to let them in, and to accept the presents they bring to the temple, and when any sick persons are brought there, to read some prayers, and to strike their, bodies with some medical oil that is in the temple. In the temple of Nawegammooa there are four Kappoerales.”
THE FOUR HILL GODS, OR PATTINEE DEITIES.— PLATES XXII. XXIII. XXIV. AND XXV.
Pattinee Dewa (plate 22). The history of the Dewa Pattinee' is one of the most extravagant of the Budhist legends. She marries a merchant, who after a time resolves to travel, and is warned by her, if he sees a flight of birds to turn back again, to avoid promiscuous women, and on no account to talk to goldsmiths. In his adventures he neglects all these injunctions ; he sells the Pattinee’s golden ear-ring, and its beauty attracts the notice of the emperdr ; the goldsmith charges the merchant with a robbery, and he is unjustly ordered to be beheaded. His life being charmed by his wife, the Pattinee, the executioner, to his great terror, finds that he cannot strike the fatal blow, but he is instructed by the merchant himself wherein Die spell consists, and he is decapitated. No sooner is this done than darkness ensues, fires issue from the earth, and it rains blood, which prodigies are performed by the power of the enraged Pattinee, who has learned the fate of her husband from a bird on the wing, which witnessed his execution. The sovereign is advised to appease her by sacred offerings, and she ranks as the goddess of healing.
Another legend associates the Pattinee with the demons of the island, and Vige-raja, or the lion king. She is, in fact, the mischievous fairy of Ceylon, presiding over the planets, and appearing in its legends and tales of witchcraft.
Wiebesana-dewa-raja (plate 23) is the deity who protects the temple of Calany,f and is mighty
* The giving of alms seems to form so integral a part of every act, either in the worship or government of Eastern states, that it appears in fact to exhibit a recognition or practice of that religion which custom has rendered general.
t A temple of Budha exists at Calany, about six miles north-east from Columbo. The images are of stone, nearly the same as that at Budha Gyah. Both agree in long pendent ear-rings and crisped hair ; but the heads of all the images of the Budha at Calany are crowned with a sort of tiara, somewhat resembling a hand. The lotos appears to be the favourite flower of the god, and also the keyera
■PatUn
|
m |
|
|
r gk |
v >41 |
|
s |
|
|
Si |
ll |
|
iVvy |
v^* \ T > |
|
[(' /& |
i>/A |
|
\\ A |
v - / > |
|
It ,/% |
|
|
A |
|
1 |
V: 1 |
|
|
( / > |
\ |
S. 1 •' J\ J// ^ |
c
t
THE HILL GODS, OR PATTINEE DEITIES.
51
ovef a number of deities, and equal in power to Saman-dewa-raja. In the second visit, which was made by the Budha to Ceylon, after reconciling two warring princes of the Nagas, Gaudma gave the minny phalange and the sacred tree to Wiebesana, that by worshipping the same they might become liis faithful followers, and obtain Nirwana. He is accompanied by two singular birds, which remind 11s of the compound figures in Persepolitan sculptures of winged monsters, which are probably drawn from the same originals as the Budha birds and sphynxes ; these birds are named in the Asiatic Researches (vol. i. p. 406). The particular utility of these plates arises from their supplying the connecting link between the agents of this region and the doctrine of the Budha ; showing how it has mixed its tenets with the ancient Kappooism of Ceylon*
Saman-dewa-raja (plate 24) is the king of the inferior deities of Koombandeo ; he is described as having attended the preaching of Budha at his first arrival at Mayhangamy, and in consequence renounced his wickedness. He is now declared to be living with his deities on the top of Samana Galle (Adam’s Peak,) with power over Ceylon. In this mount (which is also a Mienmo) grows the tree called Kirri-palol, also Kinni-naga, and Raja-tenai. The Budha seat of power, the minny phalange, was buried below this tree, under the charge of Saman-dewa-raja, for the purpose of offering supplication thereon ; that the nagas , snakes, might obtain blessedness, that is, that they might by virtue of the doctrine be converted to the faith of the Budha ; and the same is the stony seat below the said tree in the island Minne-naga Dewa-inne, whereupon the Budha sat down, leaned against the said tree, preached, and communicated the feelings (virtues) of his body. The divine Nagas are of mighty power, kc. as Dewas ; and the divine snakes, who invited Budha the third time to Ceylon, and who are called Mani-okkeke, who live in the river Calany, have the same power and happiness.* Saman-dewa is delineated as standing on the minny phalange , or seat of power, on which the Budha always sits, which seat is invested with the powers of the flying chariots, &c., of Oriental fictions ; he is accompanied by the white elephant, an incarnation of the Budlias, as the bull Apis was of the Egyptian god.
Wisme-karma is represented (plate 25) as a great favourite of the god Sekkraia, and the artificer of the rock-temples and palaces of the Budha ; he is accompanied by a garuda, or magic bird, and by a Naga snake, both being local genii of Jugandere. He is a powerful deity, having great influence, and living in a mountain called Waykoote, which is in the wilderness of Damba-dewa, called Himaleh-vanni,
and gool-acheen, two of the most fragrant flowers of India. Images of the Budha represent him in different positions, sitting or sleeping, and his devotees are bearing each a nagisur flower, with sixteen representations of dagobas, which are said to represent the sixteen temples of this description in the island of Ceylon. This idol-temple, which is very old, is called a vihari, or college. — Asiatic Researches, vi. 449.
* The above may be fairly concluded to refer to the contests between the native princes, termed Nagas, from their Kappooism, or national faith, antecedent to the introduction of Budhism ; the struggle for the minny phalange, or throne, was neither more nor less than striving for the lead and mastery in the doctrine. The ascending of the mystic seat, announced the Budha. or Muni, and elevated its possessor in rank above regal authority. The minny phalange, it was conceived, would support none but the rightful Budha, or his lawful representatives, and possessed the virtue of enlarging or contracting its dimensions, as their number required. The legend of Budha says — “ After the Budha had edified the gods by his bana, he gave Ceylon to Saman-dewa, and gave him, at the same time, a handful of his hair, which Saman-dewa locked up in achest,(a minny phalange) with precious stones ; this is recorded of the second visit made by Gaudma to Ceylon, when lie came from the pagoda of Settawanna. His third visit was on the third of May, in his eighth year, at the request again of a serpent of godly power, Mnni-okkeke-garum, by whom he was again worshipped on his seat of power, and he converted by his sermons a number of men. He tarried for some time, with five hundred Rahatoous, his disciples, in the pagoda of Calany, and, at the request of Saman-raja, he, as the moon that rises from the East, repaired to the rock of Samana Galle, to witness the rain of flowers and precious stones, caused by the joy of the Dewa Loka gods.
11 2
52
THE HILL GODS, OR PATTINEE DEITIES.
to whose charge Ceylon was committed* by the god Sekkraia. The important part which he fills in the Budhist system, is farther detailed in his character as a minister of this god in the Tavateinza heaven.
Kandi-kumara, whose residence is on the rock called Maha-meru Parkwette, situate between the
bottom of the sea and the Asura Loka below the abyss, is also worshipped at Katregam, at which temple
o-reat numbers assemble on his festival. He has six heads and twelve hands, ten of which are for ten o
warlike weapons: — 1. Trisoele or harpoon — 2. The pallos — 3. The spring or ring (the valhalla invented by Wisme-karma), sharp outside ; by turning it round on the finger it is thrown on the enemy — 4. A pike
5. A line 6. A shin-breaker — 7- A standard, with a cock (the dienza) on it — 8. A throwing chain — 9-
A bow and arrow — 10. A sword. He is represented riding on a peacock, and he became invested with his power from worshipping the Budha when seated on the viinny phalange, under his palol or bagaya tree, whereby he obtained from him the power to cure the sick in general, especially such as are of royal blood, to perform wonders, to do good to animals, to assist men in distress, and to work miracles, with a direction, however, that men should respect, hut not worship him as one of the Dewa Loka gods.
His festival, the first day of the new moon in July, brings together immense numbers of Gentoos, Bramins, Pattinees, and Mains, from Madura and the coast of Coromandel ; the ceremonies are as follows: — Sixteen women make preparations for the procession — three tusked elephants are richly adorned ; the largest bears a tilted awning, covered with silk, and having curtains of the same, within which is an ivory seat, wrought with gold, silver, and precious stones, upon which is laid a gold sword.f A small elephant on each side of the larger one bears a Ivappoerale (an attendant of the temple of Kumara), holding and waving a hairy tail of the Tjameri each of the women has twro brass bowls filled with sapan water; eight of them walk on the right, and eight on the left of the smaller elephants, saying, “ May those who are assembled here fare well.” Thus the crowd proceeds through the streets with colours, tom-toms, drums, and lighted torches, the houses too being illuminated : this is continued for fifteen days, until the day after the full moon, when the procession is continued throughout the night until the morning ; when, the tilted awning being lifted off, and the elephants driven away, a palanquin, richly adorned and hung with cloth of gold, in which is laid the said gold sword, but what it contains more cannot be known, is borne by two Kappoerales to a shallow river, situate about a mile from the temple, and then it is placed in the water, whilst one, by the name of Dieje-kappoerale (one who can cleave or cut the water), draws out the sword, and gives a blow to the water, showing thereby that the water in the most rapid stream stands still, in a miraculous manner, for a moment; the ceremony ends at seven in the morning, when the sword is carried into the temple. The moment the palanquin, or tilted awning, is placed in the river, numbers rush
* It is recorded that the space of time, reckoning from the day of delivery in charge, up to the 29th of November, 1828, would make 2370 years, eight months, and seven days ; the precision here manifested in the calculation of the present era of the Budha becomes evidence of much importance, in ascertaining the series of historical annals of this sect, as the Maha-vansi, which is divided into eighty- nine chapters, carries the history of the Budha faith until within 350 years of the present period.
+ Kumara is, moreover, the god of war, as is indicated also by the formidable array of hostile weapons ; the symbol of the gold sword recals the narrative of Herodotus (referring to Scythia), who says the Scythian god, Xaca, one of the appellatives of Budha, was adored under the symbol of a golden sword ; the similarity of the name and symbol shows, therefore, the existence of this faith in these regions.
X The chowry, formed of the tuft of the yak — See an account of this animal in the Asiatic Researches, iv. 351.
THE HILL GODS, OR PATTINEE DEITIES.
53
into'it with their clothes on to bathe. Offerings of gold and silver are presented ; those that are sick come in person, or send images of gold and silver with their names, for the purpose of being offered to recover health, or to prevent sickness and death. Thus the votive offerings presented to Apollo at Delphi bore the names of the donors, and various marble slabs are deposited in the British Museum, which bear the impress of the diseased part, with an invocatory address, or one of grateful acknowledgment of benefit. A very remarkable slab has a pair of eyes, on one of which an incision, as of couching, is clearly to be distinguished*
The offering house, erected in honour of Ivandi-kumara, at Katregam, is considered as more sacred than the temple built in Kandy for the use of the king, so that the presents of the king are sent to Ivatregam for the purpose of being offered, and the natives of Kandy in crowds attend his festivals. The Mains, who come in great numbers from the coasts of Madura and Coromandel, call Kandi-kumara a Nabbie or prophet of theirs.
See Articles in Room xv., 245 to 251, Catalogue of the British Museum.
CHAPTER V.
THE DEWA LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
“ Now being let loose from that prison (the body), where the spirits, or forms, were detained, a little time restores them to their universality 'in the heavens;’ and flowing in an ocean, ‘the sky,’ where celestial influences are continually descending, and vapours ascending, they receive new impresses of virtue, ‘ new forms,' to fit them for further service.’’ — Bulstrodc on Pythagoras.
The next point of the Budhist system, and a very interesting portion of the subject is unquestionably the Dewa Loka heavens, and their gods, as these are invested with qualities combining an agency and interest in the actions of man, which become thereby associated with their superior powers and dignity. These gods are termed the Nat;* their character and operative influence on man are described in various parts of the Budhist writings with the richest imagery, elucidating most of the grandeur, etiquette, and observances of the great princes and monarchs of this faith, who appear to have been intent upon transfusing the details of the Tavateinza heaven and of the Dewa Loka into their titles and usages, and to have framed their courts after the royal and splendid scenes of the Nat paradise. In these abodes are the mines of gold and silver, of diamonds, rubies, and all precious stones ;f gardens, or a paradise of sandal, and all odoriferous woods ; trees, the produce of which are robes (splendid personal ornaments), and all sorts of riches: these are at the disposal of the gods for great and virtuous kings and men, votaries of the Budha.
* If the inferior gods of Jugandere are described so as to remind us of the interesting tales of the Arabian Nights, the Nat deities are more essentially the presiding genii of the Arabian fictions and the beneficent fairies of the W est ; they bestow riches at will ; they can assume all forms ; they wield the elements. The diamond fruits of Aladdin’s garden are an exact copy of their gardens, and of the produce of the padze-zebayn tree.
t One portion of Budha doctrine will explain the original cause of laying such stress on the possession of diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and other precious stones, and enumerating them so elaborately. These splendid ornaments and vestments grow on the sacred trees of the Nat paradise, the padze-zebayn in Zabudistan ; they are also formed in the bowels of the earth, and are at the disposal of the gods of the Dewa Loka, and their servants, the genii of the Jugandere, the region of the hills ; the doctrine describing these celebrated hills as the haunts of these spirits, and endowing them with all the treasures of the depths of the earth. We see at a glance how powerfully this scheme has been sustained in the Eastern world by the circumstance of their mines, both of rubies and gold, being seated amid these very mountains. In conformity with this faith has arisen the class of Arabian fictions, which invariably exhibit a giant or genius, who, in conformity with the sleep of the dragon king, is usually awakened from a trance, and who sometimes capriciously opens his stores of gold to the intruder. As it is deemed impossible to acquire the knowledge of these mines without the permission of the genii, their possession is the proudest boast of the monarch, and the origin of their being so pompously enumerated in his royal titles; accordingly Minderagce Praw, the Emperor of Ava, proclaimed himself emperor of the ruby, agate, lasuli, sapphire, and opal mines, of gold and silver, amber, &c. — Sytncs, iii. 331. — See also Crosier's article on the Emperor Vong Telling of China.
T1IE DEWA LOKA, or six heavens.
'I HE FIRST AND SECOND HEAVEN PLATE VI.
Tjaturum-maharakeye, the first of the Dewa T nl™
% i l 4. i i JJe L,okd havens, commences at the summit of Ju
ft™' r.;' r 1,1 * pl“ - *• — ■ -* **. «. rf
lo ™»n elo„s ,l„ „,d „ „ic|, „ J t|ie t 'd
d i d' T B “ •'» "«» «- «¥«, to distinguish years,
7 , “ f 1 “4 ™> » TW cpitd ei,y inlengt, J
o„, .bo«.„d juzana. A, ,h, ™d,„c, of the god S.U™. is d«,iW „ being in ,U lllin« hod, the Tj.tnrd,u „d W,im he.v.ns, ,h. Mowing deseriplion of i„ g„„deu, and eiehe, will
L“;: IT ** hm.S“bj" “ ‘"™ ,h' N“’ » — -
... Tl‘° 01' Pa,laCe °f the S°d’ 18 fifty JUzana in diall‘etc'-. this palace is within of gold, and without of crystal ; the moon palace is formed externally of silver, and within of carbuncle. In this heaven
also grows a great sacred tree,* which will last as long as the world. Here reside the four gods assistant to, yet independent of the god Sekkraia, for Sekkraia is higher in dignity, without exercising any control or authority. These four gods, being of the same rank, and having the same power, constantly watch over the safety of Sekkraia, which is menaced by his enemy the Asuragod; they also superintend that is, watch, the events of the four parts of the world; for the Budhist religion in no shape intimates any authoritative divine interference, only by the aid of doctrine and the fear of the transmigration.
The first, Dirtheraach Shetheire (see plate 6, lower division), presides over the East. His attendants their clothes, his chariot and horses, are all of them of a white colour, and his arms are of crystal. He is the chief over the muses and of music.f His residence is described to be in a city shining with splendour, on the summit of Jugandere, to the east of Mount Mienmo. Its pillars, walls, and^eams are of silver, suiting the bowers of light. In the whole of this heaven grows the padze-zebayn tree, on which, in place of fruit, hang precious garments, the most exquisite viands, and whatever can afford delight tor personal ornament or feasting. Every where are to be seen running streams, lakes, and the most delicious gardens. On the whole, this habitation, or bon , is filled with delights'.
The second god, here called Wiroedhe, governs the West, and, together with his servants and chariots, is of an azure, or blue colour. He presides over innumerable Koombandeo, or angels; but chiefly the thirty-two counsellors and four assistant gods. His heaven is also the grand residence ot the chief god Sekkraia, who is supreme in dignity throughout the six Dewa Loka. He appears to rank as the god of light, having direction of the elements, and the sun itself being his splendid palace. This god is described as having a bright shining body of prodigious bulk, and similar to the light of a lamp, wearing a diamond crown three yodoons in height. His form, ever bathed with precious perfumes, is clothed with divine garments, and decorated with ornaments emitting the brightest rays. Every Sackwalle, or world, has a Sekkraia god, who ranks as regent of the sun, while he is also attached
* Each bon, or island, has a sacred tree, which lasts its term of existence, and marks its prosperity or decline by its flowers. This
particular doctrine, which will be found more largely treated of hereafter, seems entitled to be the prototype of the consecration of trees to mark the same results to individuals in the Arabian tales. — See one of the most pleasing of its fictions, the Rose-tree, in the beautiful tule of Simoustapha. — Weber's Tales of the East, ii. 49.
+ These gods of the Eastern bon have subject to them certain genii of an inferior rank, also called Nat, or Nathe : these are giants, great birds, evil genii, dragons, and the like, which inhabit in the desert of Mount Jugandere. — Asiatic Researches, vi. 183.
56
THE DEVVA LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
to every material incident in the life of the Budha ; he is always present at the inebriating festival of the Budha, described in a subsequent page. Sekkraia also performs the office of holding the golden seine or net, for the reception of the Budha at his birth, and it was he who preserved, as a precious relic, the hair which Gaudma cut off with a golden sword, and flung into the Dewa Loka heavens, when he renounced royalty, by cutting off his locks, and professing himself thereby an ascetic, as will appear more fully in the legend expressly relating to the Budha.
The descriptive sketch of this heaven cannot be better supplied than from Dr. Buchanan’s selections in the 6th volume of the Asiatic Researches.
“ The god Sekkraia resides in the great city Maha-soudassana, which has a square form ; its gilded wall surrounding it being a perfect square. The gates are of gold and of silver, adorned with precious stones. Seven moats surround the city, and beyond the last range a row of marble pillars studded with jewels; beyond which are seven rows of palm trees, bearing rubies, pearls, gold, &c. ; lakes, odoriferous flowers, and fragrant trees, with the padze-zebayn trees,* are dispersed around. To the south of the city is the garden Parasa, and to the west that of Massata. To the north-east is a very large hall, extending every way 500 juzana; its circumference 900, its height 450 juzana. From its roof hang golden bells ;f and its walls, pillars, and stairs shine with gold and precious stones. The pavement is of crystal, and each row of pillars contains 100 columns. The road to this hall is twenty juzana long, and eighteen broad, bordered with trees bearing fruits and flowers. Whenever Sekkraia repairs to this hall the winds shake off all the flowers (fresh ones instantly blooming on the trees), with which the presiding gods of the winds adorn the road in honour of his approach, and the flowers are so abundant that they reach up to the knees. In the centre stands the great imperial throne,}: surmounted by the white chettra, or umbrella : it shines with gold, and pearls, and jewels. It is surrounded by the thirty -two shrines of the
• In the Tavateinza heaven grows the padze-zebayn tree, on which, instead of fruits, hang precious garments, delicious viands, and whatever can give enjoyment to the Nat deities ; beyond which are seven rows of palm trees, on which grow gems of gold and silver. In the centre of the garden grows the celebrated flower, which is as large as a chariot wheel. The garden is called nanda, or crowd, because the Nat gods frequent it in multitudes to pull the flower, and wear it in their hair. Here is the renowned twining-plant, lota, which every thousand years produces a most exquisite fruit. In order to get at this fruit, the Nat gods assemble in crowds for one hundred years before it ripens; and for one whole year sing and dance, accompanied by drums, and other musical instruments. Having eaten of that fruit, the Nat become inebriated for four entire months.
Sekkraia, and his thirty-two counsellors and gods, periodically visit the celebrated tree, or lota, wjiich is the sacred image of the heavens. This tree is surrounded with several padze-zebayns, and when it flowers its ruddy splendour extends all around. Arrived there, Sekkraia takes his seat on his magic stone, and the whole assembly, seated, begin to celebrate the festival, which lasts for four months. They need not ascend the tree to gather the flowers, for the Nat of the winds shake it, and make the flowers fall ; and lest the beauty of the flowers should be spoiled, the winds support them, and permit them not to touch the ground. The whole bodies of the Nat are then covered with the odorous dust coming from the stamens of the flowers. Reading these poetic episodes of sweets and flowers, we need not wonder at the offerings of flowers constituting the chief service of the temples, and the flowers strewed for the Budha are always typical of this festival.
The following exhibits the conformity in the doctrine of Islamism — “ The tree of happiness, or tuba, they fable, stands in the palace of Mahammed, though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer ; and it will be laden with fruits of tastes unknown to mortals. So if a man desire to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented to him ; or if he choose flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, according to his wish. The boughs will spontaneously bend down to the person who would gather of its fruits, and will supply the blessed not only with garments," &c. &c. — Sale’s Koran, 127- From the roots of the tree flow rivers of water and milk, and honey and wine ; also the river of life.
t And the sounds of the bells hanging on the trees will be put in motion by the wind proceeding from the throne of God when they wish for music ; nay, the very clashing of the golden-bodied trees, whose fruits are pearls and emeralds, will surpass description.
+ The throne of the Emperor Minderagee Praw, called Yazapulay, was an imitation of the sacred seat of the Budha ; while the royal robes, covered with gold, with the golden wing on each shoulder, mark the emperor’s studied adoption of the dress and splendour of the god Sekkraia. The Bramins, in white, chanting a hymn, show the perfect copy which is transfused into the ritual and observances of this court. The lavish gilding of the temples and kiaungs are all grounded on the Tavateinza heaven, and an emulation
THE DEWA LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS. 57
counsellors; and behind these the other Nat, each in his proper place: the four assistant gods also attend, while the inferior gods touch their musical instruments, and sing melodiously. The four assistant deities then command their inferior gods to go through this southern island, or the world, and inquire diligently into the actions of mankind; if they observe holy days, and laws (the Budha’s precepts), and exercise charity. At this command, quicker than the winds, the messengers pass through this world, and having carefully noted in a golden book all the good and evil actions of men, they immediately return to the hall, and deliver the record* to the four presiding gods, who pass it to the lesser deities, and they onward until it reaches Sekkraia. He, opening the book, reads aloud ; and if his voice be raised, it sounds over the whole heaven of Tavateinza. If the Nat hear that men practise good works, and observe the Budhist laws, they exclaim — ‘ Oh ! now the infernal regions will be empty, and our abode full of inhabitants !’ If, on the contrary, there are few good men — ‘ Oh ! wretches,’ say they, t ‘ men and fools, who, feasting for a short life, for a body four cubits in length, and a belly not larger than a span, have heaped on themselves sin, which will render them miserable in futurity !’ Then the god Sekkraia, that be may induce men to live virtuously, charitably, and justly, speaks thus ‘Truly, if men fulfilled the law (the Budha’s precepts),! they would be such as I am.’ After this be will, with all his train, to the number of 36,000,000 of Nat, return to the city with music.
* 4
In the centre of the glorious city of Maha-soodassana rises the palace^ of Sekkraia, surrounded with golden and silver standards : who can describe the lustre of its beauty, or the gorgeous splendour and glory wherewith it shines !
of copying on earth that region into which they aspire to transmigrate after death, as they can only appear therein in virtue of these and similar acts and meritorious deeds. In the chettrus, or umbrellas of rank, the grade of dignity is accurately observed. The emperor bears a white, as Sekkraia ; the princes a gilded, as the god's assistant ; the wingyers red, as the counsellors ; the governors blue, or azure ; and the commonalty black.
Zechariah i. — “ Then, said I, O my Lord, what are these ? And the angel that talked with me, said unto me, I will show thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said. These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro upon the earth. So they walked to and fro upon the earth, and they said. We have walked to and fro through all the earth, and behold all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.”
+ 1 he expression here used of the surrounding deities saying smilingly — a term, which is meant in sorrow and reproach — is somewhat remarkable, and the more so, as the sculptured images of the Budha, as well as most of the oldest Egyptian gods, embody the exact idea ; moreover, it is precisely the tone and character of all the Eginetan statues, the most ancieut forms of Greek art, which are unfortunately lost to this country, a deprivation which cannot he repaired, when it is considered how perfect would have been the Greek school of sculpture, if in one unbroken series the Eginetan, Phigalian, and Elgin marbles had been united. The remarks ot the N at tend to encourage morals by showing the progression of the Budha's followers to the highest stage of divine happiness J “ Guudma taught — Whoever honours his parents and old age ; whoever respects the thre eexcellent things, namely, the Budha, his law, and the Rahans ; whoever abhors wrangling and disputes; whoever is charitable, particularly to the Ralians ; — all such persons shall after death transmigrate into Tavateinza.” — Asiatic Researches, vi. 215.
§ A picture of much striking beauty, alluding to this palace, and the connexion of its chief god with the earth, is drawn with such felicity in Amorassan, that it may be appropriately introduced :
“ The words of power were spoken, and a thick gray cloud came rolling from the north. In its passage over the mountain Caucasus, its shadow fell on the pavilion of mortal excellence. The roof of this brilliant pavilion is formed of moonshine ; the golden columns on which it rests are beams of the sun, and in number a thousand and thirty ; its walls are composed of woven aether, meteor fires, and the condensed evaporations of aromatic shrubs and flowers. A profusion of falling stars is showered over the whole paviliou, and it floats upon the clouds of autumnal evenings, which form for it a floor of the most brilliant crimson. This is the abode of the spotless and generous spirits of those, who, while on earth, dignified and enlightened human nature by their virtues, and who have purchased for themselves after death a seat in the society of the pure genii by their glorious actions. On the ethereal walls of this pavilion ure continually represented every noble and virtuous action, from the first instant of its suggesting itself, to the moment of its completion. Nothing can be more brilliant, nothing more soft, than the colours of which these pictures are composed: unlike those of earth, instead of fading, they become more bright and fresh with each succeeding day. But when a mortal, even to the moment of dissolution, remains faithful to the heavenly inspiration which incites him to glorious deeds, when the lamp of his life, in expiring, still
1
58
THE DEWA LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
“ To the north-west of the great city, is a most celebrated tree, the sacred image of the heaven, which lives for the duration of one world. Under this tree is a prodigious stone,* sixty juzana long, fifty broad, and fifteen high. It is smooth and soft like cotton, and elastic under the feet of Sekkraia, being depressed when he stands upon it, and rising again when he descends from it, as if it were sensible of the honoured weight by which it is pressed. When the affairs of our southern island are prosperous (when men live virtuously), the half of the god Sekkraia’s body sinks into the stone (see plate 6, figure 2); but when evil prevails, the stone remains tense and rigid, like a drum. When the tree flowers, its ruddy splendour extends around for fifty juzana, and its agreeable odour for twice that distance. When it has flowered, the keeper of the tree (the guardian god) notifies it to Sekkraia, who is immediately seized with a desire to see it, and demands an elephant; no sooner has he spoken than the elephant Erravumf appears ; for here, as in all the heavens, there are no animals as on earth ; whenever the Nat wish for them they appear.); This elephant has thirty-three heads, on which ride the god and his thirty-two counsellors, under ruby thrones. Having arrived at the sacred tree to collect the flowers, and Sekkraia being seated on the stone, they begin to celebrate the festival of four months : this, therefore, is the tree of the intoxicating quality which inebriates the Nat, and which produced the fall and wars of the Asura gods. To gather the flowers they need not ascend the tree, for the Nat of the winds shake it, and make them fall, and lest the beauty of the flowers should spoil, the winds support them, nor permit them to touch the ground: the whole bodies of the gods are then covered with the odorous dust, coming from the stamens of the flowers.
“ This tree, in another part of the doctrine, is called “ a renowned creeping plant, which every thousand
throws forth a flame, which warms and enlightens posterity witli the remembrance of his virtues, then does the whole pavilion blaze with celestial radiance. The reflection of this sacred shining light pierces through the thick vapours which compose our atmosphere* and illumines the horizon with a soft trembling glow. The pilgrim stops, and gazes in rapture on the lovely vision ; the ignorant man of wisdom affixes to it some unmeaning name, and leaves the matter just where he found it ; and the natural philosopher accounts for the phenomenon falsely, and astonishes his auditor at the profundity of his science. The setting sun poured its lustre through the transparent pavilion, gilded its roof and pavement, and illumined the pictures on the walls of a;ther. The spirits of the pure enjoyed in silent rapture the sight of the glorious actions of the good on earth.”*— Lewis’s Romantic Tales.
* This stone is doctrinally one of the class of the Betulia, or oracle stones, such as the Budha’s seat is composed of, and similar to the magical rocks and rings. The stone is endowed, instinctively, with the power or sympathy of indexing the state of moral good and evil in the world ; as the minny phalange , or throne, of which every Budha’s seat is a type, instinctively recognises its possessor to be a divine teacher, without which virtual right, it will not yield to him a seat. Of this same class are the cube seats of Osiris, and the judge of the dead in the Amenthes of Egyptian doctrine, and the custom of the Mogul emperor weighing himself, and estimating the prosperity of his rule by the depression of the balance, is in perfect conformity with the actions of Sekkraia.
t The following derivation of this name is borrowed from the celebrated scholar, to whom Europe is so largely indebted for whatever is most genuine and valuable in Sanscrit literature, Mr. Colebrooke. Airavata is the name of an elephant, in Hindu mythology, which bears the god Indra. The female elephant, which is his companion, is named Airavate ; both derived from Iravat , the ocean (or any thing watery), which again comes from Ira, water, with the termination vat, for an adjective derivative. Airavate, or Airawate (there is no difference between v and w in Sanscrit), is the proper name of the Ravi river, in the Punjab ; and of the river which passes through Ava. Wadie, or wady is a mere corruption, substituting d for / ; and has no distinct independent sense.
The common terms in Sanscrit for an elephant, in general, are Ilasti (whence the Hindu term Hut’he), Gaja, and other synonyma ; and among them Pilu, whence the Persian Fil and Pil, the names of the celebrated isle at the head of the river Nile, termed the Isle of Elephanta. Airavate, for so I conclude the name for Pegu should be written, must be derived from hira a diamond, or airavate, adamantine.
M. Langl£s, in his very erudite work, Monumens des Index, speaking of Indra Natta, the Hindu god of the elements, says, his u vahan, Iravatti, signifies aqueous, a very significant metaphor for the god of clouds and storms.” But the vahan, or vehicle, is always an elephant, thus showing the connexion between the name of the Irrawady river and the animal.
\ Precisely grounded on this passage, and similar to the Tavateinza in its colours, is the Paradise of Maugraby, beyond comparison the richest and most imaginative Arabian tale of the series. His resort, in conformity with the region of enchantments, is placed amid Mount Atlas, and the animals, viands, and jewels, are supplied also spontaneously at the wish, and the narrative assumes a new interest, step by step, as it develops such conformity with the primary roots of Eastern doctrine, whence its imagery is drawn.
the dewa loka, or six heavens. w
in th' — - -• this fruit the gods assemble here in crowds f for ' 7” ‘ m°8t debC10US ^ In °rder to Set
r, r r - ? —
fru.. . ,,y become ,„,b,„M fa four Wire moot vi 20?
h... h„,«o not tb, light either of the „ fa , „f ^
Nat gods being sufficient, for they shine like so many suns or stars.
The Nat Asura expelled from their heavens, are of the nature of the gods of Tavateinza, although
1 ";r°; w icl; formerly thcy occupied; the — *» ^ ^
relate ! Gaudma, before he became a god, when he was in the state of a man, with thirty-two other men, by the good work of repairing the highways, and by other virtuous actions, deserved, after death, to become Nat Tavateinza. On appearing in the heavens, the ancient inhabitants of that happy abode, in sign of hen- joy, and with flowers in their hands, descended half way down Mienmo, in order to welcome their future companions, and Gaudma, who then was called Maga, began to contrive how he might drive these Nat gods from their ancient possessions. He and his companions accordingly pretended to have runk wine; but what they drank was not true wine; but the former Nat Tavateinza, imitating the examp e of these men, drank real wine, and became intoxicated. Then Maga and his companions < ragged the Nat, while insensible, by the heels, and cast them out of the Tavateinza heavens ■ but as the lot, acquired by the merit of the good actions of these Nat, was not expired, a habitation formed itself for them between the feet of Mienmo; and this habitation is called Asura bon, which, in every thing, except its sacred tree, resembles the heaven Tavateinza.
In Asura bon there is also a tree, under which there are four immense stones, each of them three hundred juzana square. On these rocks sit the four Asura princes, when they determine suits, and
• Thus Mohammed, says Abulfeda, in the account of his nocturnal ascent, having ascended to the seventh heaven, “ was thence carried up to sedrat the lotus tree (corresponding with the tree of life. Genesis, chap. si. ver. 9.), where were the sources of the four rivers of Paradise, the two inner, and the two outer, called the Nile and the Euphrates.”— Hales Chronology, iii. 130.
t It is worth while classing under this head the various references to trees. Every bon or abode of gods has its specific sacred tree . so have the four islands, and the earth is also distinguished by different trees appropriated to each Budha. The river Ganga is placed to the south of the banian tree, and the water thereof is « seerad.” The sulgass trees flourish only in Paradise and in Damba-dewa. The sull is the tree of the Budha Gaudma, and this tree being sacred to Budha, and named in his doctrine with reverence the Bram.ns, in the bitterness of their enmity to the Budhists, in their long contests for the supremacy, actually applied its wood to impale them as heretics ; and thus has been introduced that most cruel and barbarous practice as the punishment of apostacy. The palol tree is also called kirri-naga, as well as rajaca-tenah ; with this tree is associated the stone seat of the Budha, produced from the earth. It appears by the religion, that the minny phalange had been buried below the tree kirri-naga-rupa, which is in the isle Miiini-naga Dewa-inne, in charge of the deity Saman-dewa-raja, for the purpose of the kingly snakes making their supplication that they may obtain the blessedness (Nirwana). On this seat the Budha had sat down, leaning himself to the said tree, and preached, and the feelings of his form were transfused into that seat.
Dr. Buchanan, in his Essay, connects this account with that of the Ficus Indicus, or Boga. “ Near the sacred lakes of Tavateinza grows the great gnaung-bayn tree, sacred, because under its shade Gaudma received his divine nature. This tree is the Ficus Indica, or h icus religiosa, called also bogaya-bayn. From the characters with which it is written, it is evidently a Palee word from Bodi or Bodisat, which means, 'will never perish.*"
In the rich assemblage of curious articles, suited to the ritual of the Budha, brought from the Burmese dominions, the produce of the war of 1826, is a minny phalange, or throne of the Budha, in the heaven of Brahma Loka. It is curiously and strikingly incrusted with coloured glass, displaying in a most ingenious manner the combat of Sekkraia and the Asuras, while the two kingly snakes are represented in the undulating border. The substance of the minny phalange is of the palol or bogaya wood, and it not only serves the Budha for his throne, but it is also made use of as a chest for the bana or sermons, which the legend represents him to have preached • as when seated on it he leant against the same tree, and passed from the state of man into the divine nature. It is predicted in the doctrine, that the future Budha Maitri will separate for his offering tree the iron-wood tree, called nagaha.
60
THE DEYVA LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
administer justice to their subjects. Among these Asuras, one, in the length of time, lias obtained supreme dominion, and has become emperor of all the Nat dwelling in this abode.
The Asuras have another ground of complaint against Sekkraia, for an insult to the daughter of their sovereign. Mindful of these injuries, the Asuras vowed perpetual war against the Nat gods of Tavateinza, and when they saw their sacred tree producing flowers different from the glorious one of their former abode, breathing vengeance, they were wont to ascend the mount Mienmo, and to take prisoners the giants great birds, dragons, and other genii, retained there by Sekkraig as a guard for his frontiers. On this, Sekkraia, mounting his elephant, and calling to his assistance the divinities of the sun, moon, and stars, and those of the winds and clouds, created new forms of Nat gods, and of these raised an army, without the walls of the great city ; but the Asuras prevailing, forced him to retire within the walls. The rage of the Asura was then wont to abate, and Sekkraia, having collected his forces, used to drive them from his walls, and to pursue them in their flight. The Asura having failed, touched a drum, made of the claws of Cancer, and then retired to their own abode. In these battles no one was killed, the combatant Nat gods only tore one another. Now, however, the Asura remain quiet at home, nor do they any more engage in warlike enterprises.
The wars of the god Sekkraia, and the Budhist descriptions of its scenery, refer entirely to this Dewa Loka. The god Sekkraia, presiding over these heavens, and awarding the changes of transmigration to mortals, is described with great splendour ; among his four assistants, he reckons as one of his chief ministers Wisme-karma-dewa, so celebrated and skilled in architecture, that he is called “ the wonderful artist,”* for Wisme-karma invented the chakkra-valalla for the use of Sekkraia: this formidable weapon, with which the god Sekkraia became thereby invested, is described as striking such terror by its mere appearance into the rebel Asuras, when they had advanced beyond the region of .Tugandere, after overcoming the guards of genii, &c. stationed there, that the Asuras immediately took to flight. It appears in the writings, that the god Sekkraiaf proposed to attend a birth-day festival of the Asuras, accompanied by his gods. The Asuras, aware of his visit, prepared for him a japani (intoxicated toast), which being known to Sekkraia, he prohibited his followers from partaking of it ; and the Asuras, tasting of it in error; became so intoxicated, that Sekkraia, assisted by his deities, drove the Asuras from the heavens, and flung them by the heels into the ocean, thus becoming the supreme god of the Dewa Loka, and of the palol tree, which thrives throughout the Treekooto, and beneath the base of Mienmo. The Asuras, lamenting the inferiority of the parasatoo tree in their place of exile, under the central abyss, wage incessant war, and seek through these regions to regain their beautiful tree.
Wisme, having thus assisted Sekkraia, now resides in the mountain called Waykotte, which is in the wilderness of Ilimaleh-vanni, and to his charge Sekkraia has committed the protection of Ceylon and of the Budha doctrine. The capacity of Wisme to form extensive rock temples appears also in the legend of the life of Gaudma, when, as Prince Kumara, having resolved on the ascetic state, he betook himself to the forests. “ Deep in their shades he discovered a rock, with a building upon it
• One of the most splendid of the caves of Ellora is denominated the workshop of Wisme-karmu.
+ In this narrative, we have related of Sekkraia the same event, namely, the expulsion of the Asuras from their heaven, as on the foregoing page had been ascribed to Gaudma, when on earth. The legend, however, is in both instances identified with Gaudma, as a ■Singalese MS., in the author’s possession, declares that it was the act of the Budha, as the god Sekkraia ; and is only another stage of the metempsychosis, or Pythagorean tenet of separate bodies and existences, prepared for the same spark or emanation of the divine energy.
THE DEW A LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
HI
like'a palace called Parne, which, with all that was found within it, was, by order of the god Sekkraia, produced by his favourite Wisme-karma in the twinkling of an eye; the garment also which was found withm lt was Pllt on by him, and he appeared like a pilgrim, and walking in the air* (became Rabat). Seeing that the roads were levelling and decorating towards the capital city, he asked for what purpose it was done, on which the inhabitants told him that it was to be in readiness to receive the Rudha Deepankara, who was coming with 400,000 j- Rahatoons; on hearing this he stepped with such a trembling noise upon earth, as if an ear-ring| of the god Sekkraia fell down.” The ear-ring manifestly means the chakkra-valalla, or thunderbolt, invented for the god by Wisme-karma ; and it was such an incident which Southey has described in the following spirited passage of Kchama, who had expelled the Sekkraia god of the swerga bowers :
Kehama, like a thunderbolt, alights.
In wrath he caine ; a bickering flame Flashed from his eyes, which made the moonlight dim, And passion, forcing way from ev'ry limb,
Like furnace-smoke, with terror wrapt him round. Furious he smote the ground ;
Earth trembled underneath the dreadful stroke. Again in sunder riven ;
He hurl’d in rage his whirling weapon down.
But lo ! the fiery Sheckra to his feet Return’d, as if by equal force re-driven ;
And from th’ abyss the voice of Baly came.
The legend of the Budha throws an important light on the enmity of the Asura god, and displays him as bent upon opposing the perfectibility and progress of Gaudma. It is as follows : — “ Gaudma, having received the sanction (nomination) of Budha Brahma-dewa, and of the second Budha Gautama without any assigned period, is by the third Budha Deepankara declared his immediate successor. He abjures royalty, worships the Budha by levelling his paths before him (the meaning of the phrase repairing the highways), and notifies his accession by the golden argha floating to the mount of the dragon king ; he eats the rice offering, accepts the Ivoosatana grain, and betakes himself to the depths of a forest for the period of the day which ushers in his exaltation ; then, in the evening, going to the place where his tree now stands, and the way to which (similarly to the approach of the tree of the Tavateinza heaven), had been prepared by the gods themselves, he strews the Ivoosatana seed ; this consummates the energy of his will, whereby, in the doctrine, he is declared to assume the Budhaship ; the earth opens,
* The gift of Meipo, or of miracles, is a great object of ambition to every Budhist; its chief privilege is the faculty of walking in the air ; thus Pia Metnk, the Chinese who, upon the expulsion of the Birman invaders, mounted the throne of Siam, in one of his religious frenzies, took it into his head, that by still more intense devotion than he had hitherto practised, he might attain the supernatural gift, and by this means be enabled to ascend direct to heaven, in the easy and rapid manner in which a bird soars to the sky. He sent fo. tlie priest of Guatama, who declared the project to be quite feasible.— Crau/urd’s Mission to Siam, 182. Mr. Finlayson also states the application of a Siamese noble to acquire this faculty.
t It is remarked by an accurate observer of the Slngalese race, that by this number, as also by the thirty-six million of Nat gods, mentioned at page 57, no more is meant than a large indefinite number, such as is signified by an assart hat/ a of years.
J The cundala baranaia, translated the ear-ring of Sekkraia, and having a constant wavering and shining lustre, and which fell to earth, seems clearly to be the same as the ring, chakkra, invented by Wisme-karma, to arm the god against the rebel Asuras ; of which the rings ornamenting these and also the Indian deities are the types.
(>*2
THE DEWA LOIvA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
and produces to him his seat of power, namely the minny phalange , or throne, fourteen cubits high, on which he seats himself, and the tree against which he leans seems to be a pillar of silver (the resemblance of the Tavateinza tree). All the gods repair before and praise him, at which moment a great light shines on the place, and there comes, sitting on a stupendous elephant bigger than the greatest mountain, the Asura <md Wissewarte-mara, with an innumerable company of armed Asuras. lie himself has a sword with which he could separate the heavens in two, by which he intends to intimidate the Budha, and to obtain his seat by force ; but the mere recollection of his good deeds, disperses and defeats the Asuras, and he becomes Budha with the name of Gaudma.
These two legends are somewhat contradictory, and yet they merit a closer investigation, as from them, connected with an incident in the life of the Budha, may be gathered the fault of the Asuras, which produced their punishment of expulsion : from this portion of the Budhist doctrine having been very confusedly stated, as well as the mystical descriptions of the ear-ring of Sekkraia, <kc. these passages of the life of the Budha appear not only to have been misunderstood, but to have fastened upon Gaudma the charge of fraud and abominable cunning.*
The preceding narratives describe the heaven Tavateinza, and its beautiful tree, producing once in a thousand years an inebriating fruit, which, when partaken of, intoxicates the gods, and on the flowering of which they hold a festival of four months.
We further gather, that Gaudma, filling up the circle of his prescribed forms and existence, previously to becoming the Budha, abjured his royalty, became a Rabat, and assisted in levelling the roads for the then Budha Deepankara; by this act of duty and piety to him, he became recognised by him as his successor. This stage of his duty performed, he dies, , and appears in the Tavateinza heaven, as the god Sekkraia, with thirty-two companions, or the Nat dewas, his counsellors. As his next stage was to become king Wessantara (the only mediate link to his exaltation to the Budhaship), the invitation of himself to the festival (which is clearly the same as that held at the great tree which intoxicates), seems to intimate that it wras the duty of Gaudma to refrain from partaking of the personal indulgences or enjoyments of its perfumes, flowers, and nectareous liquor, as a part of his abstaining merits. The Asura god, then the chief deity of Tavateinza, plots to circumvent this resolve, by giving to Gaudma a japani (probably rice) steeped in the juice of the fruit of the tree, and called the intoxicating toast, thereby to defeat his future exaltation ; but Gaudma, by his prescience, aware of this deceit, refrains with his counsellors from partaking of it, and the Asuras, falling into their own snare, are overcome and thrown into the sea.
Their rejection of, and resistance to, Gaudma becoming the Budha, and the snare of tempting Gaudma to sin through the enticing pleasures of the tree and its festival, both levelled against his becoming Budha, seem then to have been the crime of the Asuras ; and this idea is sustained by the prohibitions so strongly marked in the Budha ritual against the Rahans, his foDowers, ever partaking of any inebriating liquor (the term of the law is the same as that which describes the liquor of the Tavateinza tree), or using scented flowers, perfumes, fragrant fruits, &c. These clauses are manifestly referable to the scene of the festival and the snare of the Asuras; while also the prohibitions against partaking of any night repast, and the heinous offence which the Budha doctrine attaches to a seemingly indifferent
* See note of Dr. Buchanan, Asiatic Researches , vi. 212.
HIE DEW A LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
action of the appetite, show that there lurks some hidden meaning under this clause, such as the rebellion
of the Asuras, and the attack on his person on the night of his becoming the Budha, may serve to explain.
The doctrinal account of the Nagas or snakes with human faces and the folds of the serpent ; of the Asuras thrown into the ocean, and subsequently settling themselves in the regions of the air, intermediate between the earth and the heavens; of their bon or habitation being, in the doctrine, declaratory for a limited time ; all these are points of much interest; they are manifestly transcripts of earlier records than the era of Gaudma.
The notion of the celebrated feast of the inebriating fruit, and of the rejoicings which followed the warnings of the Nat god, and preceded the fact of a Budha being about to appear on earth, has clearly been a doctrine in the East in the earliest ages, and throws back original Budhism to a period of time long anterior to the commencement of the law of Gaudma. The historical details of the popular celebration of this identical festival* held in honour of the Budha will demonstrate how deeply rooted its practice had become at a very early period of history, and what strong ground tliere is to infer
that we have preserved a memento of it in many of our common games and old customs, practised in remote parts of our own island even to the present day.
The third god, called Wiroe Pakshe, rules the North, and is, with his servants, as ruddy as the blood-red coral. He is supreme over the Naga-batteyo, or the Cobra-copiles, inhabiting the heavens. The upper part of the body of these snakes has the shape of a human being, and the lower part, from
• Cf The Persians and Babylonians held a festival, which they denominated Sacea, from their god Saca, or Budha Sacya. During his festival, men and women gave themselves up to the most unrestrained drunkenness and lasciviousness.” — Selclen de Diis Syr'uc.
“ It has been inquired, why this festival was called Sacea ; and some have imagined that it was instituted by Cyrus, in commemoration of a victory, which he obtained over the Scythians, Sacee ; but there is nothing in it which resembles the commemoration of a victory. Berosus mentions the festival by its name Sacea, as a Babylonian institution, and Ctesias, in those books which treat of times preceding Cyrus. Hesychius calls it a Scythian festival ; he likewise tells us that the Babylonian Seches was the appellation of the planet Mercury or Budha. From the old Persico-gothic festival, our Christianized forefathers of the middle ages, whose ancestors emigrated out of the north of Iran and Hindostan, borrowed their ecclesiastical mummery of the Abbot of Misrule, and other singular practices." — Faber, ii. 497-
** Among the Celtic nation, the new moon nearest to the winter solstices was peculiarly celebrated. The chief Druid went into the woods on that night, and cut with a golden sickle a branch of the mistletoe of the oak, called Ghiah, in the Celtic. The people also cut branches for themselves, and carried them home, after they had been blessed by the chief Druid, whence the usage of adoruing our churches with evergreens.
“ In France, at the Christmas gambols, as late as the reign of Louis XIV., when they were suppressed on account of their irregularities, traces of the Druidical usages were found. A man, personating a prince ( roi Joliet, “ a mummer”), set out from the village into the woods, bawling out, Au gui menez, le roi le veult ; the monks followed in the rear, with their begging boxes, which they rattled, crying tire-lire, and the people put money in them, under the fiction that it was for a lady in labour. Persons in disguise ( guiscards) forced into dwelling-houses, playing antic tricks, and bullying the inmates for money and choice victuids, crying, tire-lire, tire-lire, maint du blanc ct point du bis (pis ). Hence, says the late Professor Robison, of Edinburgh (from whose work on Natural Philosophy, p. 200, this note is taken), evidently was derived the guiscarts of Edinburgh, and their cry * Hog menay, troll lollay, Gie 's your white bread, and none «> your gruy.’ The old French au gui menez, and the Scottish hog menay, are plainly corruptions of the Greek ctyiau.r}vrlt * holy moon. which was anciently supposed to be in labour at the time of the conjunction or new moon. Perhaps tire-lire may be a corruption of lirez — draw forth, and ‘ put money for the king namely, roi Joliet, the mummer.” — Hale’s Chronology, i. 153.
The season of the epagomene, or days of carousal, were celebrated at Babylon, similarly to the Saturnalia at Rome ; and it was during their excess, and the consequent inebriety of the guards, that her gates of brass were opened, according to the word of prophecy, the river drawn off, and her empire for ever destroyed. Quintus Curtius represents the Babylonians as excessively addicted to wine and the consequences of ebriety.
The season, character, and connexion, of the holy moon in the Christmas gambols in France mark it as an Eastern fragment, the moou being figured as labouring under the same eclipse as the planet Rahoo.
(. j tjie dewa loka, or six heavens.
the middle, that of a snake. Himself and attendants can assume at will the shape of men and of birds, or of any animals ; they can become the same as rocks or trees, or take any inanimate form.
These Naga snakes are deemed Nat deities, and have the power of transforming themselves into all shapes excepting in the four following cases :-l. In rest by sleep.-2. Falling to death—S. Eating of terrestrial food.-*. Intercourse with mankind. In these hints we evidently trace out the serpent fairies, forming the structure of the imagery and enchantments of Eastern fictions.*
The connexion of the Nagas or Cobra-copile Serpents with mountains is equally strong m Hinduism In the Dherma Sastra both Nagas and Garudas are named as races of men descended from Atri ; but in the language of mythology, the Nagas or Urugas are large serpents, and the Garudas
immense birds, like the simorg of the mountain Caf.
The king of the serpents formerly reigned in Chackra Giri ; and his subjects were obliged, by the
power of Garuda, to supply that enormous bird with a snake each day : their king at length refused to <,ive the daily provision. This enraged Garuda, who threatened to devour the snakes and their king ; nor would his menaces have been vain, if they had not all retired to Sand, a Dwipa, where they settled between the Cali and the sea, near the station of Swami Carticeya, god of arms, where they are supposed to live still unmolested, because Garuda dares not approach that more formidable divinity. “ Then,” says the Indian writer, “ they who perform yearly and daily rites in honour of Sancha Naga will acquire immense riches.” The mountains of snakes are mentioned by the Nubian geographer, and are to this day called Hubab or Snake, and the same region was named Ophiusa by the Greeks, who sometimes extended the name to the whole African continent. The breath of the Naga king is believed to be a fiery poisonous wind, and by this hypothesis they account for the simoom, which blows from the mountains of Hubab through the whole extent of the desert. “ Astica, a rislii or saint, so overcame the royal Naga, and reduced his size, as to carry him about in an earthern vessel ; and crowds of people are now said to worship him at the place of his residence, near the river Cali/’t This legend resembles that of the snake, Haridi, of Upper Egypt; and so intimately is the scenery of mountains associated with these beings, that the same term applies to both. Thus « Naga or motionless, is a Sanscrit,
• « The Nagas, or dragons, thus invested with great power, and the capacity ^assuming divers forms, “ ‘ | “uvltenS
benefits, or signal injuries, throughout the whole detail of their cavern,, their ^ ^y who preserved Zoheide
which accompany these rare gifts, form the basis of the wonder-working fictions of Arabia. Tim. the y P from her envious sisters, had been bound in her natural form os a Naga, and for a time became liable to death . under the su pe privileges, she was preserved by Zoheide, and she amply rewarded her preserver for the aid wh.ch she TUto,
Pari Banou, in the romantic and delightful tale of Prince Ahmed, is one of the very same c ass, on in a , , , f
Naga cavern, and drawn, from these Budhis, representations; and such also are the acquired pre.entsof.he ™ “
sighted telescope, the apple that gives life, and the self-conveying carpet : these have all their prototypes » ^
but especially the beautiful story in the Arabian tales of the Prince Simoustapha and Setelpedour, queen of Ginn, Stan « .entwely <* upon these Nat regions throughout its incidents. The supernatural mist which shrouds Simoustapha, and whwh nearly c«t lurn ns lift, a Naga power, as also the punishment of chaining the rebellious Genius to a pillar, and then hrea h,„g
to increase its sterility." Every portion of the narrative might be wrought out to meet its exact coun crpar , ^ rf charnls
feelings and sentiments of the followers of the Budha, which were never more prone to place reliance „ 1 _f pe_. wa8
Pad talismans, thau at the present period, as our late warfare evidenced. Thus Dr. Buchanan relates-.. 1 he late » ^ ""J constantly occupied in digging and searcl.ing for a temple which he had dreamt of as containing treasure, a i l which had the power ot rendering itself visible or invisible," and says, " all good people were in consternation on account of certain T0 ;
magic, are supposed able to change themselves into tigers, or other wild beasts, and thus, without duuger of detection, can commit
nodturnal spoils.” — Asiatic Researches, vi. 173.
+ Asiatic Researches, iii. 345.
heavens.
tiie dewa loka, or six
65
term *for a mountain; and Nasa its rpm.W . .•
elephant.” ° ° Ua Slgnifies botb a fountain snake and a wild
The following account of the Cobra-copile kings refers verv nrnR v i .
the introduction of Budhism, and the opposition made bv tl l with
prevalent in these hill regions. At the present dav tl . ^ ? ° the °rlgmal °l),lite idolatry,
by certain tribes called Nagas, who are the relics of ^
has been accomplished among the savage .inhabitants of tl . ° ™ th® tlgrf; but much
by the mild doctrine of the Budha. ^
copile snakes, or Naga kings, called Choolo-dewa and Maha-dewr"8 * “’e kl"Sly
“These two kingly snakes had found a precious stone in their haunts, and a consequent alterea tton ensued be ween them each saying against the other, -it is mine, it is mine ■ but big unable to force * one from the other, they began to make war with their great hosts of snakes, and these
“ ““I"!. a 3 Unna GaUe’ SltUate at Wannia’ Which is t0 the south of Naga Dwipa, the
Thus it seems intimated by the history on which this legend rests, that the throne or seat of power is the jewel which had been buried below the tree Kiri-naga-rooka, which.is on the isle Minni-na-a Dewa-mne leavmg the same to the charge of the deity called Saman-dewa-raja, for the purpose of offering and making supplication there by the divine snakes, that they might thereby obtain the bhss of the Budha faith. In these expressions is clearly intimated the part which Saman-dewa was supposed to have had, in drawing off the minds of those ancient idolaters of Ceylon from their older superstition, the worship of the serpent, to the faith of the Budha. These fragments of history are useful as being the only traces of a state of things buried in oblivion, and as describing the chief Naga deities by characters which we recognise in all our ancient romances. Thus the Nagas are held to be equal in power and other felicities to superior deities. They are capable of being transformed into divers si, apes at their pleasure at all times, excepting in four cases, namely, in rest by sleep, falling to death, eating food, or enjoying the carnal pleasure. They have mighty power even so far as to destroy the country, by breathing forth venomous fumes, rain, fire, and winds. They are gifted with long life, all happiness, and celestial blisS; and the divine snakes, called Mani-okkeke, who live
in the river Calany, and who invited the Budha for the third time, have also the same power and happiness.
The fourth god, called Wiroe-wenne, directs the South, and is, together with his attendants, of a golden hue ; he is chief of the Asuras or demons. These beings are not the rebel Asuras, but the beneficent demons, acting in conformity with the other servants of Sekkraia, and the inferior classes of Jugandere.
“ The duties of these four divinities are, the protection of their chief Sekkraia from the attack of his enemy, the god Wepetyiette-asura-enderea, who is as powerful as Sekkraia, and resides below the abyss of the sea, and in the world of Asura Loka.”
The doctrine of the Budha says, that the demons, when nature produced the sun, moon, and stars, were human beings, but, on account of their horrible sins, they fell from the state of felicity. If they commit greater sins, they suffer greater punishments, and condemned men are reckoned by them among the demons ; while, on the contrary, the demons wrho die, and are born as men, and commit no more sin, can
K
66
THE DEWA LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
arrive at the state of heaven and felicity.* * * § These demons obey their chief, Wiroe-wenne ; they go to make war against the enemy of Sekkraia, and they eat the flesh of the dead.f Although, according to the command of the Budha, they are entitled to no honours, as being enemies to the human race, yet the Singalese show them honours, and make offerings, because they fear that demons can visit human beings with sickness ; and therefore they, in cases of sickness, invoke them, and make offerings of money, also of boiled and unboiled meats, and cause the throat, arms, legs, and body of the sick to be tied by the Bali conjurors, with necklaces or threads (as amulets) dyed yellow with saffron water.
All persons who observe the five commandments of the Budha, transmigrate after death to this region where a body is ready, either of more exalted or degraded condition, according to their past deeds, into which they are instanter born again. And from hence the four assistant gods send forth their writers, on or about the new moon, to inspect into the conduct and actions of men, and to record the good or evil which they may do. Eight days after the new moon, being the first quarter, they send out their sons to make a similar report. Eight days afterwards, or about the full moon, the four gods walk the earth in person, and complete their report, which they give to the god Sekkraia in his audience or supreme council, consisting of himself, as president, and thirty -two inferior gods, yet higher in rank than the four assistant gods and* other inferior deities. Thus these gods are informed of the actions of men, and the supreme council rejoice when the number of virtuous men in the world exceed the dishonest ; but, when the wicked prevail, they sorrow in the highest degree, and these things arc fully described in the Palee book Dewadootesastre.t
In this statement we see the character of the tribunal, through the agency of which the judgment and award of the retributive scheme of the metempsychosis is conducted. Its declarations teach us that man, ere he can arrive at Nirwana, must die several times, and appear many times in the sixth Dewa Loka, to be born again into the world ; until he, having enjoyed in the eleven heavens below Brahma Loka, a foretaste of felicity, at last arrives at the Zian of the five triumphing heavens, the true triumph of repose to the wandering soul, which, tossed from change to change, § and dreading the frightful threatenings of the Asura torments, after once arriving in these heavens, there enjoys in full lustre all possible joy for ever, as transmigration takes place no more.
On the contrary, when men die in the commission of sin, they are born in the hell as irrational animals ; but if they did any good in their former life, they are released, after an immense period, from their condemned state ; they are again born into the human world, and may arrive at the felicity of the heavens by ceasing to commit sin.
• In this singular passage, we have the demonstration of all beings, divine as well as human, being subject to the laws of transmi- gration, which are operative on all, according to a scale of moral deeds. This faith, then, is a complete test of a code of moral enactments and motives, applied to the regulation and government of man ; an experiment which renders the study of Budliisiu an important and curious subject for the philosopher.
t In this portion of Budhist doctrine we see the admission of demons also into the scheme of Gaudma, and the chief perplexities and entanglements of its agencies and traditions may, perhaps, hereafter be explained by a judicious examination of those deities and customs borrowed from Kappooism, such as the hill-gods, serpent, or Naga worship, and demons, contrasted with the primitive Budhist faith ; our limited range of knowledge thus far allows little more than the production of fragments, and detached portions of this ancient doctrine.
+ This transcript is a parallelism to the account of the festival at the palol tree. A judgment follows immediately after death, which is pronounced by an inferior god of the sixth Dewa Loka, called Yame-raja, who apportions to the deud the stage of existence on which they shall enter. The wicked sink to hell unheard, which hell is concealed under the abyss of the earth, and under the infernal water, where winds commonly blow stronger than the fiercest hurricane on earth.
§ See the myth of Cupid and Psyche in Apuleius.
IDJEWA. L OKA.
the dew a loka, or six heavens.
67
description of the plates of
THE SIX DEWA LOKA/
Winch, with the Jugandere, make the Seven Regions.
THE FIRST HEAVEN, CALLED “ TJATURUM-MAHARAKE YE.”— PLATE VI.
As the character of these heavens has been fully discussed in the preceding pages, the plates will be better understood by referring to them, and to the legends attached to their character. Each figure is represented s.ttmgona minny phalange, or throne, with his attendants ; the Eastern Dewa, is described at page 55, of a wlnte or silver hue, his attendants are playing on the drum. The god of the South, the azure, or blue, on the same page; the god of the ruddy or coral colour, connected with the Naga, or Cobra-copile snakes, on page 63 ; the yellow, or golden, who is attended by the Yakshe, or genii of the region Jugandere Parkwette, is described at page 65.
THE SECOND HEAVBN, CALLED “ THE TAVATEINZA.” — PLATE VI.
The first figure, beginning from the left of the plate, represents Sekkraia, with an attendant holding a chowry, or tail of the yak , which, in Palee, is called tzameri, and its hairy tail, semera. The centre compartment, and those on each side of it, show Sekkraia, with his four assistant gods, in the scene of the transmigration, prepared to hear the report of his messengers, sent to go through the earth and report on the actions of mankind (page 57) ; lie holds a vessel, to partake of the chink of the sacred tree ; he is seated on the minny phalange, or seat of the Budha. In the next part he is represented under the sacred tree (page 58), and on the stone, or talismanic seat, which sympathetically denotes the well-being or vices of mankind. From half of his person being buried in the seat,f a favourable report of the virtuous actions of mankind is indicated. The supernatural properties of this charmed seat remind the reader of the various rings of charmed stones presented by magicians (page 58), acting as preservatives, and
• Analysis of Arabian account of the Seven Heavens. — “ Of the seven heavens they say its stones are pearls and jacinths; the walls of its buildings enriched with gold and silver ; and that the trunks of all its trees are of gold ; among which the most remarkable is the tree called Tuba, or the tree of happiness ; also of the river of life ( Sale’s Koran , 127), and of springs and fountains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, their earth of camphor, their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron,” &c. &c., in all which descriptive sketches, the Arabian prophet has accurately copied from the details of Oriental doctrine.
t The splendid temple, built by the Khalif Omar, at Jerusalem, is termed in the Mussulman law El Harem, or the temple, which word signifies “ the place consecrated by the peculiar presence of the divinity.” The Moslem faith acknowledges but two temples , that of Mecca, and that of Jerusalem ; both are called A1 Harem. In Showing, therefore, that the tenets of Islamism have taken the legend of Sekkraia, and of the foot-print of the Budha, and literally applied them to Mohammed, and the A1 Harem of Jerusalem, the strongest testimony is furnished of the manner in which the Arabian doctrine has made use of the Oriental doctrines of Budhism. In the relation of the celebrated night journey of the prophet, we are informed that “the prophet, after leaving El Borak (the celestial beast) at the gate of the temple of Jerusalem, came to offer up his prayer upon El Sahhara (Jacob’s stone, as the Moslems term it, which the Khalif Mervan built an additional aisle to inclose), with the other prophets and angels, who, having saluted him (Mohammed) respectfully, yielded to him the place of honour. At the moment when the prophet stood upon El Sahhara , the rock, sensible of the happiness of bearing the holy burden, depressed itself, and becoming like soft wax, received the print of his sacred foot upon the upper part. The believers, after having touched the print, sanctify themselves by passing the hand over the face and beard.” — Ali Beys Account if the l cm pic of Jerusalem.
68
THE DEWA LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
indicative of fidelity, or of the continuance in existence of some being whose life is attached to the charm : these and all the fables of stone talismans are portions of legends traceable to the agate seats, or talisman ic thrones of Eastern gods; and it is not improbable, from the extraordinary value set on the Yu stone, that the seat was of that kind of agatized stone.
THE THIRD HEAVEN, CALLED “ YAME,” PRESIDED OVER BY SOO-YAMI-RAJA. — PLATE VII.
He adjudges the wicked, and sentences them to the various hells, according to the nature of their crimes. Two attendants are playing on the drum, ten thousand of whom are said to have been present at the birth of Gaudma, in honour of his assumption of the Budhaship. The very curious banner suspended from the pole, with eight metallic points, and ending in a ball, is described in the great procession of the god Sekkraia, as emitting an agreeable murmur, and the dagobahs of the Budha always have a bell suspended near, that the worshipper may strike upon it, to acquaint this Nat god with his act of piety in making an offering, whereby he hopes to propitiate his favour. Yame-raja is a deity greatly dreaded, and performs the same functions in the Budha doctrine as the deity of Patala, and the Minos and Rhadamanthus of the Greek mythology. We may recognise, in the suspended banner, the description of the suspended strings of metallic knobs which were hung near the oracle of Jupiter Ammon, and which formed one mode of augury, for it was deemed propitious when these metallic knobs were agitated by a stream of wind, so as to emit an agreeable tinkling. As most oracles were also figured to be situate over an Omphalie, or central cavity of the earth, and to receive the augury from a supernatural afflatus, the coincidence becomes very clear, as to the position of these heavens over the rock Maha-meru Parkwette, or world stone.
THE FOURTH HEAVEN, CALLED “ TOISITE,” RULED BY THE GOD SUNTO-SITE, PLATE VII,
<
is the residence of every candidate for Budha ; and here now abides the future Budha Maitri, until the expiration of the Biulha-verouse, or Gaudma’s prophecied supremacy of 5000 years, when he is to be born intb the world. Of the Budha-verouse, 2369 years had expired in 1827, so that 2631 years remain for its continuance ; after which, the Budha Maitri will enter on his government. After the era of Maitri, this Calpe will end, and the universe will be destroyed by fire.
The first part appears to exhibit the god Maitri, awaiting the expiration of the period assigned for his abode in the heavens ; a portion of the presents given on the birth of the Budha, and ten thousand raja kings of this heaven making offers of displaying fire-works, called chumana , each of which was three yodoons in height.
The second part refers to the following portion of the history of Gaudma : — When prince Rahoola was born to him, according to the Eastern mode of expression, the news made him cheerful as the god Sekkraia when returned from subduing his enemies, the rebel Asuras; Gaudma, as he was returning to his palace, met a female, who in a song represented to him all the good and ill to which a man is subject in life. This mystic song seems to have decided him on renouncing royalty, and becoming an ascetic; he rewards her with a golden chain, and returning pensively to his palace, which was shining as that of Sekkraia, some dancing-women came to divert him ; this appears to be represented in the plate.
IBKWA LOKA
I
70
THE DEW A LOKA, OR SIX HEAVENS.
or connexion with the world, and the existing essence ascends by regular and stated progressiohs to Nirwana. The attendants on the Maha-raja are represented with conch shells* These are thus noticed in the birth of the Budha: — “ Ten thousand Sekkraias offered to blow ten thousand conch shells (ehanks), all wreathed to the right, and each was one hundred and twenty cubits in length, and, when blown, the sound is succeeded by an unremitted and unslackened echo for the space of four months and two full-moon days.”
The time here specified seems again to infer the coincidence of the birth of Budha with the celebrated festival of the great tree of the Nat paradise ; and the legend of conch shells may also be traced in Indian fable, if we turn to Sancha-dwipa, or the island of shells, which is said to refer particularly to the large buccinum , or the conch shell of Sekkraia. The Red Sea, which abounds in shells of extraordinary size and beauty, was considered as part of the Sanchabdhi, and the natives, according to Strabo, wore large collars of shells for ornament and for amulets.
Thus also in the Puranas it is declared that the Dwipa had the appellation of Sancha, because its inhabitants lived in shells, or in cavernsf hollowed like them, and with entrances like their mouths. The idea of an actual habitation in* a shell was not new to the Greeks, who represent Cupids and also young Nereids as living ip shells; and their marine deities are the most imaginative beings of their captivating fables4
Thus we find agencies of evil propensity placed in the very firmament, on the borders of the sixth Dewa Loka ; hostile Asuras, who attack the region of Sekkraia, and his four guardian gods, from under- neath the Mienmo stone ; and also existing on the borders of the Brahma Loka, or highest heavens of the gods, in Wassawarty and his gods. Whether these two hostile classes perform any part in the trials of the metempsychosis may be learned when we obtain a more perfect knowledge of the doctrinal codes ; but the coincidence of their position on the confines of each state of separate existence, the Dewa Loka, and the Brahma Loka, as well as the character of hostility to the Budha, deserve our particular notice. Thus again it is stated — “ When the Jtfudha is born into the world, having overcome the many oppositions of Wassawarty-raja, or Anti-Budha, who is the chief of the six Kamelokes, and thousands of Bra hmas, he obtains his Budhaship.”
This extract manifestly alludes to Asuras, the Wassawarty chief or rebel Asura, and shows the view already taken of the wars of Sekkraia, and the crime of the Asura, in resisting the elevation of the Budha, to be a correct one. May not this fragment of history allude to the resistance of some partisans of the former
* The value attached to the chank shells appears in the following extract : — “ The minister said to me that he had a message to deliver from the king, and pointed to three chank shells which lay before him. The Budhists employ them for religious purposes. Ordinary ones are of little or no value ; but when nature produces a lusus, by inverting the usual order of the spiral convolutions of the shell, they are in great request, being valued, according to their size or beauty, at from one to two hundred pounds a-piece. One of the shells, exhibited by the minister, was of this description, and had been presented to the king by the Rajah of Zigor. Over and above its own supposed value, it was richly set with pearls and rubies. In Siam, no subject is allowed to be possessed of one of these shells. They are not employed in the common ceremonies of the Budhist worship, but upon solemn occasions only, wheu they are filled with water ; over which certain incantations being repeated, the element is considered holy, and thought to confer a blessing upon whomsoever it is sprinkled over. The object of exhibiting the shells upon the present occasion, was to point out the difference of them, and to request one of the precious ones from the governor-general for the king. — Craufurd’s Mission to Siam, 101.
t “ Sancha-sura dwelt in a palace, which was in a shell in the ocean, and his subjects are represented as cannibals, and even as demons.” — See Island of Suafcim, &c. Asiatic Researches, iii. 347.
\ May not the Budhist legends have furnished the prototype of the Tritons, the heralds of the ocean-god of the Greeks?
71
tiie dewa loka, or six heavens.
Budhism, which was sought to be reformed by Gaudma on his appearance in Ceylon ? Certainly, in the present system, it is erroneous still to make this portion of the heaven the abode of these Asuras as it narrates circumstantially their expulsion from it, for their double attempt on the person and exaltation of the Budha. It is curious to notice the manner in which these evil and rebellious deities are disposed of: rejected from their heavens, they still have a sacred tree, and a bon. or habitation, answering to the Dewa Loka which they have lost ; a tree, the roots of which descend from the heaven through the surface of the great central mount Mienmo to .the abyss beneath. It was from this abyss (in the history of Gaudma, we find) that, as the Budha leaned against the tree, a » ninny phalange rose for his throne; and through the same chasm, or central cavity, after a strong light, arose the Wassawarty Asura on his elephant, with his followers, to depose the Budha.
The irruption of the rebel Asuras from the central abyss, and the imagery of this portion of the Budha doctrine, may receive illustration from a consideration of the ideas entertained on the subject by the ancient world. By the phraseology of this passage the Wassawarty-raja of the sixth Dewa Loka and the Asuras of the abyss are blended together. Does it mean that the Asuras assist the gods of the sixth heaven in their opposition? This question none of the manuscripts or doctrinal books fully clear up.
It is very interesting to see how closely the imagery of the book of Job coincides, in many particulars, with the philosophy of the Budha doctrine. Wassawarty-raja, the chief angel or deity of the sixth Dewa Loka, is the enemy and opposer of the Budha, the chief divine personage ; and although Wassawarty is characterised as the Adversary , the Anti-Budhist , yet he appears before Sekkraia and the Budha, and has much in common with the evil agent of the book of Job, and this is most strikingly illustrated by the sixth
to the twelfth verse of the first chapter, as follows : — “ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou ? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job,” &c. Here the evil spirit is introduced into the Divine presence, as bearing the character of “ the accuser or adversary,” rather than of that rebellious spirit whose malignant nature had erected his kingdom in opposition to the Most High. Satan here accompanies the sons of God ; he listens to questions, and shows himself ready to obey commands. It may therefore be inferred, that the early opinions of the Jews, in regard to supernatural agency, did not exclude from the service of the Almighty the ministrations even of those less perfect spirits, whose office it was to convey to the bar of Heaven a record of human guilt, and to return thence with power and authority to punish it. Some traces of this simple theology may be found in the Old Testament much later than the age of Job. in the prophet Zechariah, where the accuser again appears ; and in the vision of the four chariots, the angel answered and said, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. And he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth; so they walked to and fro through the earth. And they said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” — Zech. i. 8, 9, 10, 11; vi. 5, 7, 8.
There is unquestionably no similitude between “the accuser” of Job and of Zechariah, and the master demon described by the Jews from the time of Ezra as the prince of hell ; and considering the
THE DEWA LOKA, Oil SIX HEAVENS.
7*2
book of Job as pointing to no species of idolatry but that of Sabcism (by the moon walking ill her brightness, and the sun in its shining), and the glory and worship of these two bright luminaries as the great corrupting cause therein exhibited, it is worthy of inquiry how far the doctrine of the two principles, the good and evil, may not be the most ancient and prevalent of doctrines, and, in fact, the primary universal doctrine of the East, of Shinar.
* The reader is referred for fuller information on the subject of these scriptnral quotations, as well as of the opinions held by the Jews on this point prior and subsequent to the time of Ezra, to the publication of Dr. Russell, on the Connexion of Sacred and Profane History — a work, which forms a very valuable completion to the labours of the learned Prideaux, and of Slmckford. The coincidence of so much of Budhist tradition with the primitive patriarchal faith, is the most interesting and important portion of this attempt to illustrate its true scope and meaning.
CHAPTER VI.
THE BRAHMA LOKA, OR SIXTEEN HEAVENS, AND NIRWANA.
" The empyrean, and grosser aether, with the zones of heaven, intelligent angels, and souls of men, together with the subordinate demons, and agents of Ormuzd, have their transcripts in the doctrine of the Magians, or Budhists of Magadha ; the region wherein we trace the Magi and Samaneans of antiquity. The Nirwana, or state of ultimate reward, in the system of the Budha, is laid in ' the empyrean, or sty in which light also the empyrean itself is worshipped by the Chinese as the element of supreme bliss.” — Essay on Pythagoras.
“ Wadd was supposed to be the heaven, and was worshipped under the form of a man, by the tribe of Calb, in Daumat al Jaudal.”— Sale's Koran , 25.
It has already been stated that in Budhism there are twenty-six heavens, or Loka ; and it is very material for the right understanding of the scheme of this religion, that the distribution and the operative energies and result of the various stages comprised within their circle should be fully investigated. To comprehend the whole system, it is desirable to take a general view of it, as hinging upon three points : Firstly, the world-stone of the central mount Mienmo, by which bon , or habitation, which is the atmosphere above the earth, the human world, or Kama Loka, becomes the ford or passage to Nirwana. This at once opens the key to its trials, changes, and transmigrations ; for the lowest stage of rational existence is by this one gift in prospect, namely, Nirwana, declared to be not only bearable, but a privilege beyond the bliss of any other worlds, however great their excellencies and enjoyments. The system, therefore, sets out from the darkness and uncertainties of life, of which the doctrine is full ; for a remedy, it points to an unchangeable state.
Secondly. The next stage is that of Jugandere Parkwette, the region occupying the first circle of atmosphere that encompasses the earth, comprising the tops of the highest mountains. That the mountains of the earth are of this class is proved, because the Budhist temple of Moellegirri-galle, on Adam’s Peak, is declared to be within this region ; their inhabitants are genii, giants, great birds, dragons, and snakes. All these beings are gifted with the power of transformation, and can exercise the privileges of the metempsychosis at will ; and as the deities of the Dewa Loka, their superiors, can create at a wish whatsoever they desire to have or enjoy, so these genii appear to hold the same rank, and to supply the incidents for Eastern fictions and the wonders of enchantment, as well as for the ascription of high mountains to divinities : such were the Ida-crowned goddess Cybele, and Olympian Jove ; for they, although ranked among the highest of gods, have tempers as capricious, revengeful, and malignant, as these inferior deities, or the fairies and genii of Africa. Their agency is very extensive, and in a \erj
L
74
TIIE BRAHMA LOKA HEAVENS, AND NIRWANA.
mysterious manner intermingled, with the whole of the six Dcwa Loka, as well as affecting the Asura Loka, or the abode of evil spirits beneath the waters of the central abyss. Thus the Meru stone, or centre of the world, is supposed to be on a cavity or navel of the earth, through which the evil Asuras ascend and descend at will to a bon or habitation in the air, which they possess for a limited period, and whence they carry on a constant war against Sekkraia, the chief god of the sixth Dcwa Loka.
Thirdly. The six Dewa Loka, or heavens, are entirely mansions applied to the progress of man to the state of the gods, to the progress of the metempsychosis, and to that of gods to be future Budhas' The genii, and other inhabitants of the Jugandere Parkwettc, are the servants of these Nat gods, and form a circle, connecting the abode of the Asuras in the lowest abyss with the Dewa Loka, where they once reiffned, and whence, as we have traced in the wars of the god Sekkraia, they were expelled.
Fourthly. The heavens Brahma Loka, the next link in the system of the universe, are from seven to nine. The god resides in the ninth heaven, or Brahma Ivuki, and is declared in the doctrine to be the great god Salian-pati Maha-brahma. He is the supreme of the whole system when a Budha is not in the calpe ; and although a Budha is sometimes wanting, yet the doctrine declares that a Maha-brahma, or superior to all gods, is always found.
Speaking generally, the doctrine divides these heavens into eight regions, called llupa Loka, or heavens of superior gods, and informs us that “ Winyanaspandaya, the principle that lives,” passes through these abodes, until, having enjoyed in the three Brahma Loka heavens, numbered 7 to 9, a foretaste of felicity with the Maha-brahma, it enters the eight heavens Arupa, 10 to 17, whence it arrives at the five triumphing heavens, 18 to 22, so named from their auspicious proximity to the region of final bliss; herein terminating their “degrees of regeneration,” and, as the lofty title imports, enjoying in full lustre all possible joy, it at length enters Nirwana , the gift and property of the llupa Loka heavens, 23 to 26.
The tenets of Budhism further teach, that on the approach of a final termination of the calpe by fire or flood, the last Zian, or triumphing heaven,* becomes a refuge to certain portions of Nat gods, and other beings, who are there saved from the grand catastrophe, and thus form the germs of a future world, or, as it is termed, “of the universe again arising into existence.” This most essential portion of a system, which sets out with excluding a Creator and governor, must be found in the heavens A ham n a-ch ahha-ta n a i, Winnya-nankya-tanai , Akenjya-tanai , and Newesanjya-tanai. These four tanai form the Zian, or four refuge heavens for souls of Nirwana.
In this remedial tenet of Budhism, which provides by this Zian for the lack of a creative god in the system, may likewise be noticed the correctness of denominating the system a circle, because a participation in this high privilege of Zian, or preservation, when the Sackwalle, or worlds, are destroyed, is extended only to the Zian of the four Arupa Loka, called also the Shoepu Loka, or golden heavens, and a Zian of the Asura Loka below the central abyss. Every world and system exhibited in the
* A curious passage in an authentic Budhist manuscript adverts to this Zian, in the Brahma Loka, as follows: — “One of so created worlds, called Magul Sackwalle is this world, which had been like unto a dark dungeon containing nothing, until it came to pass that Brahmas from the world above, called Awkassana Brahma Loka, which had nut been destroyed, having from time to time descended and continued to inhabit the air, through the power of flying, lighted on the earth," &c. &c. Awkassana is therefore pointed out as one of the Zians surviving the great catastrophe.
THE BRAHMA LOKA HEAVENS, AND NIRWANA. ?-
Sackwalle ; all the abodes of men, genii, Dewa, and Brahma r nl-o • i ,
Arupa and Asura endure throughout the catastrophe, and repeople Arising worlds^ ^ ^
The Palee doctrinal books speak of Nirwana as an exemption from old L f \ death ; and as being also the acquirement of all bliss. It is defined to be “ s ’ '°m ^
health, wherein, if the being, so benefited, be questioned what it means, one can ZwZ v ", ^
of suffermg, and the acqmrement of enjoyment gathered even from the contrast, ' Thus Gaudma ta uZ concerning Nrrwana. Agam, to quote the expressions used by the Budhists, - Gaudma is the only Z and pure god, who knows five laws, called Zizza, and who can bestow Nirwana, The bana, or sermons of the Budha, declare that whoever abstains from sila, the ten sins, in all successive transmigrations shall improve m vrrtue, until, at length, he becomes worthy of beholding a god, and of hearing his m-eat voice and thus he will obtam Nirwana; adding, that his votaries, so acquiring Nirwana, shall see other gods or teachers, ansmg after him ; alluding to the Maitri Budha, who, after the expiration of the five thousand years, allotted to Gaudma's doctrine, will assume the direction of the system. Now, all these expressions are clearly demonstrative of a continued vitality in the state of Nirwana. Even when the Budha bestows Nirwana, h.s votary hears his great voice, beholds the god, and accepts a state, which enables him to see the succession of other Budlias. Such is the clear import of the phrases used, which cannot leave us to doubt of the system possessing an ulterior state of reward, combined with positive vitality. It should likewise be kept steadily in view, that Budhist doctrine always treats life, in the stage of human existence, as a state of suffering and misfortune ; regarding it as a situation of painful probation, growing out of its changes, which can be escaped from in no other way than by the acquirement of the unchangeable state of Nirwana. Every expression of illusion, disappointment, and pain, is applied to life, and the opposite epithets of unruffled peace, repose, and profound tranquillity, ascribed to the envied rewards of Nirwana ; expressions carried even to the length of non-existence.
The Budlias are of two classes ; the Passi Budlias, who are those followers whose devotedness has spread the faith and doctrine of Gaudma through the East, and become renowned in the sacred books ; such was Sumada Tapasaio, for whose express residence a monastery was built by the god Sekkraia, and who was born in the heavens of glory, that is, was exalted as a Passi Budha to one of four heavens, or Zian ; which, according to their respective merits and dignities, are also possessed by those, who have attained to these highest privileges of the Budhist heavens from the priesthood and royal ranks There are also twenty-two Laotouras Budlias, whose histories are lost, all of whom are in Nirwana. These repose in the Mokse, or hall of glory, which Gaudma declares in his bana to be situate upon the top of the highest of the twenty-six heavens. The empyrean, or vivifying ether, is described as the giver of life to souls, the bestower, as well as the bon, or region, of Nirwana ; hence, in ancient doctrine, we find the heavens apostrophised as an active agent. In conformity with this view of the Budhist scheme, the Chinese worship the heavens, not generally as an element, but the bon, or Zian, which is Nirwana, and the giver of it, according to the subtleties of Budhist metaphysics. The motto to this chapter also shows that the Arabians had a similar idea of the heavens. No portion of Budhism is more misunderstood than the state of Nirwana, for, in the amplitude of imagery used in the doctrinal books to exhibit its peace and exemption from change, and to depict it as a contrast to the rigours and penances of the metempsychosis, the actual existence or vitality of the state seems to be lost sight of and denied ; but as it is implied throughout the philosophy of the metempsychosis, our view would be very imperfect without an attempt
7(>
THE BRAHMA LOKA HEAVENS, AND NIRWANA.
to clear up this point. The philosophy of the doctrine seems, amid all its subtle ratiocination, to abhor a vacuum, as in all the gifts flowing from the Budha, both vitality and choice are implied, so it may hold well enough here that the Budhas themselves are doctrinally considered to exist, and to continue to act according to the foregoing expressions. The doctrine of the heavens infers that the spiritual influences are constantly flowing down from the heavenly bodies; that the air (derived from the empyrean) is held to be the body, or medium, that conveys them down to the earth ; and while these forms flow continually forth from the ether, or empyrean, the abode of the Budha, he alone has the gift of Nirwana, which is the ultimate bliss proposed in his doctrine, and the great prize sought for, through life and in death, by his followers.
Although it would appear that the portion of the Brahma heavens, also of the Nirwana, is closely associated with the prosperity and bliss of the disciples of the Budha, yet, as the doctrine of the metempsychosis confines itself within the range of the earth, of the atmospheric region of .Tugandere which covers it, and of the six Dewa Loka heavens, so these subjects are the prototypes, which are carefully copied in the sacred buildings, and in the palaces, dress, and courtly etiquette, of the sovereigns who follow the Budhist faith. The sketches of the gods of the hills and of the Dewa Loka, however rude in design, supply many subjects of coincidence with the descriptive sketches of their doctrine, while the sixteen regions of the Brahma gods are treated with an oblivious and chilling neglect.
U
sackwale.
1
CHAPTER VII.
the sackwalle.— PLATE XXI.
“ fhe heavenly bod,eS are contmually at work for us, by their perpetual motion emitting a vital heat, which, clothing itself with an aerial vest, enters into the chambers of the deep, and there forms all that variety which, coming forth, we call the works of nature."
1 he Budhist doctrine of the earth and the celestial system is marked by a total ignorance of the real structure and situation of these bodies, but, as its votaries strictly adhere to the conformation which is given in the sacred books, it becomes necessary to explain it agreeably to the diagram which represents their ideas.
Its surface is that of an inclined plane, in the centre of which stands the centre pillar Maha-meru, or Mienmo. The immense bulk of Mount Mienmo is sustained on three rocks, as on three feet, which are carbuncles, each three thousand yodoons in height, which are consolidated to the sila-pathavy.*
Mount Mienmo, therefore, is the centre elevation of the inclined plane of this earth. “This king of mountains is encircled by seven chains of hills, as by so many belts, between which are seven rivers, called Sida. The height of the hill, or rock belts, and the depth of the rivers, decrease as they recede from Mount Mienmo. Thus the first, or highest Jugandere, is in height eighty-four thousand yodoons ; the sea of the same depth : the second, or Issedari, forty-two thousand ; the sea the same ; and so on in proportion.
“ The four different faces of the Mount Mienmo communicate their respective colours, not only to the seas lying opposite to them, but also to the islands and their inhabitants.
“The eastern face of Mienmo being silver, the eastern island and its inhabitants, its trees and rivers, with all the eastern sea, as far as the Tchiakrevatte, or outer boundary of the seven rock circles, are white like milk. The west of Mienmo and all the islands and seas on that side are green ; the northern are yellow or golden ; the southern a pale carbuncle.”
In the diagram (plate 21), the centre circle is the space occupied by Mienmo, and the seven concentric rings are the supposed chains of hills, between which are the seas ; the outer circle is the Tchiakrevatte, and the atmosphere, the region of the Jugandere, covers, as a vaulted cope, the whole of these divisions. This leads us to the first heaven, the path of the sun, the moon, and the planets, in the circle of the zodiacal signs. The subjoined accountf will furnish the Budhist idea of the four great
* See Asiatic Researches, i. 176- + The human world is formed into
four great continents, each of which is surrounded by five hundred islands; one standing in
78
THE SACICWALLE.
continents, as marked on the diagram by the four larger lines meeting in the centre ; also of the faces of the imagined inhabitants.
The eastern island, Poorwavidaiha, is shaped like the moon in her quarters.
The western island, Upiru-godhana, which is like the full moon, is not liable, like ours, to increase and diminution, but always lasts for five hundred years. The inhabitants differ from us in height and stature, being giants, but resemble us in commerce, agriculture, and arts.
The northern island, Oturookurodiwana, is square, and. has peculiar privileges. The inhabitants practise neither husbandry nor commerce, the tree padza-zebayn producing vestments, fruits, rice, and various viands* of most exquisite flavour on its leaves and branches. When the repast is finished, the remains disappear of themselves ; and such is its nature, that it extinguishes all sensation of hunger for seven days. They live a thousand years without suffering or sickness, or altering from the freshness of youth.f
The southern island is the abode of man, and the conditions and states of man are bestowed by Gaudma, according to the merit or demerit of men in a former life; but, though human existence as a state is deemed (for reasons hereafter mentioned when the metempsychosis is considered) a state of suffering, yet the southern island is regarded as by far the most desirable bon , or habitation, even beyond the longevity of the inhabitants of the northern, who enjoy a thousand years of constant happiness, solely because to this world only belongs a Budha, and to the beings of this world the power, by following his precepts, to acquire unchangeable bliss and a perpetual existence. This might be implied by the preference given to it over the northern island; for if annihilation, or non-existence, followed Nirwana in the southern world, the ceasing to exist, which then would follow the term of life of a thousand years of bliss, must be preferable to the same gift, obtained in this world, after an afflictive series of existences. It is therefore evident that the Nirwana awarded to the southern world is a superior gift to the state of non-existence, the portion of the northern, after the termination of their one thousand years of happiness.
Thus, in allusion to this doctrine, the earth is called the ford of Nirwana, and that one gift of Nirwana exceeds and outweighs all other privileges.
the eastern direction, called Poorwavidaiha ; one in the western direction, called Upiru-godhana ; one in the northern direction, called Oturookurodiwana ; and the other in the southern direction, called Tumboodweepor, where we live ; in which the whole four divisions of the world, known by Europeans, are included. The three former are between eight and nine thousand yodoons in circumference, and the latter alone was ten thousand yodoons of land; till three thousand thereof being destroyed by a flood, it is now reduced to seven thousand yodoons of land.
The natives of these four great divisions can have no correspondence with each other, on account of the great distance at which they are placed, and their features are said to differ from one another ; the faces of the people of the northern world are round, in the southern oval, in the eastern square, and in the western triangular ; the inhabitants of the northern are the happiest, for they live to the age of a thousand years. They worship Budha, and are never in want, for whatever they desire is presented to them of itself; and the others also have their respective qualities ; yet this quarter, wherein we live, is esteemed to be the holy, for the Budha is always born here ; consequently, this is the only place to procure merit by good deeds for future happiness.
* In Aladdin, we see the supplies of the padza-zebayn wrought into Arabian fiction.
+ This period of a thousand years alludes to the great festival of Sekkraia, occurring each thousand years, described in the Dewa Loka, itself a saturnalia of the gods, and the mysteries of the Cabiri, and the Dionysiac, and Bacchic rites, of which Alexander’s feasting and riotous voyage on the Indus was a cepy. The longevity and freshness of these beings remind us of the gifts of youth in Arabian tales.
THE SACKWALLE.
7B
A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGION OF BUDHA, AND THE OF THE WORLDS BY PERIODICAL SEASONS, WITHOUT A
CREATION AND DISSOLUTION FINAL BEGINNING OR END.
The universe is considered to be unlimitedly extensive, and to contain so many Saekwalles * that if one of them were filled to the brim with mustard seeds, and the same distributed at the rate of one seed to a Sackwalle, the mustard seeds would be consumed before all the Saekwalles should be supplied witli the same.
Of those Saekwalles our world is reputed to be the happiest, and is highly esteemed for its producing Budhas, which no other does, and consequently it has a name peculiar to itself, Magul, or happy Sackwalle.
It is, as other SackwaUes, encircled by a rocky wall, 3,610,350 yodoons in circumference, arranging itself with distinct worlds, one over the other, at a fixed distance of 42.000 yodoons, beginning from the bottom till the top, viz.
First the air,f next the water, and then the earth supported thereon, within which are situated the thirty-six great, and one hundred and twenty-eight subordinate hells, and the world of Nagas, or the divine snakes ; and on the surface of the earth is situated the human world, over which stand the six e v n of the Dewa Xjoka ^ods, one over the other. Above these are the sixteen heavens of Brahmas, after the same manner. Their happiness, age, and power, are greater by degrees as they are high one over the other. The uppermost heavens of Brahmas are indissoluble, but all the rest are dissolved and created by themselves at every periodical season, called culpa ; a culpa is divided into fourteen munoos, and each munoo is divided into two hundred and eighty-four yoogas, of which the present yooga, called cali-yooga, is the one hundred and twelfth yooga of the munoo wywaswatte, in the culpa swaita waraha ; which yooga is computed at 432, 000^ years, and again there is a quarterly dissolution to which the human world alone is subjected.
Budha is so rare that numerous culpas often pass without blessing the world with a Budha, but this present culpa, luckily producing five Budhas (of whom four are past and one is expected), is styled Maha Budha-culpa.
• A set of all kinds of worlds situated one over the other, within a circular rocky wall, called Chakrawarty.
t The universe, called Loga Loka, after it has been destroyed by fire, water, or wind, is again of itself restored to its ancient form ; which is not supposed to be spherical, but a circular plane, elevated somewhat in the centre. This earth is entirely surrounded by a chain of rock, called Tchiakrevatte, from the surface of the sea ; this rock extends each way up and down 82,000 juzana. The earth's diameter is 1,203,400 juzana, its circumference is three times its diameter; and its thickness 240,000 juzana ; the half of this depth is dust, the lower half a solid compact rock, called sila-pathavy. This immense body of dust and rock is sustained by a double thickness of water, and that again by twice its thickness of air, below which is supposed a vacuum. Besides this earth of ours there are, of the same form, 10,100,000 others, whicli mutually touch in three points, forming between them a similar number of equilateral spaces, which, on account of the sun's rays not reaching them, are filled with water intensely cold. — Asiatic Researches, vi. 175.
+ The following numbers instance their application in the Budhist scheme to their doctrine as well as philosophy ; the assankayu is described by 04 ciphers, for if this number 04 be used to divide a maha-kalpe, 00,211,200,000, the quotient is 940,800,000, which can be equally divided by 04, by 4, by 80, and by 32, all remarkable numbers in the mysterious calculations of the Budhists. If the numbers of antakalpas, 80, be multiplied by the number of Budhas, 5, it will give 400 ; and if 04, the number of ciphers in an assankaya, be multiplied by 5, it will give 320 ; these two numbers added together, make the quotient of 432,000, divided by 000, a period famous as the great Saros among the Chaldeans as well as the Indians; 432,000 representing the cali of the Bramius. It is certainly not enough that this number should be produced by means of certain divisions and multiplications, but it might be proved that these numbers are
80
THE SACKWALLE.
When the days of a culpa are completed, and the rain ceased, six more suns will be added to the present, making seven suns altogether ; they will alternately rise and set without making distinction of night, and shine with such mighty heat, till they have consumed to ashes the whole universe, including even the great rock Maha-meru ; when that is done the whole of the universe will be inundated, and in time become icy, and so remain.
When the Brahmas of the saved heavens see this ice, many of them have a desire to walk upon and taste it; and so continuing for some length of time, walking on and tasting it, they are transformed to males and females, and then the carnal desire is created in them, and from that moment they cease to be Brahmas, and remain upon the same in pairs, without being able to go back to their heavens* They are, nevertheless, well contented with their situation, and the ice proves to them delicate food, having a heavenly taste. They need not the light of a sun, for the illumination of their own bodies gives them ample light.
This is the origin of the human world, but in time the illumination of their own bodies subsiding, the necessity of a sun was felt, which was accordingly formed, as well as a moon ; thus the divine nature retained by them being diminished, and the ice consumed, the earth proved to be excellent food, having a delicate savour ; next to which they lived upon a certain creeping plantf produced by the earth, and then mushrooms ; so by degrees they lost all their miraculous and delicate food, the brightness of their bodies, and the great age they were possessed of, and other such things. They were then necessitated to build houses for their shelter, and to labour for their subsistence ; their work, however, was light and easy at first, as the planting of one single grain of suyanjata-ell (a kind of heavenly grain without husk) produced a harvest of such abundance, that many families might be supported by it for a year.
particularly marked in tlieir religion. The number 5 stands for the five Budhas, of whom one is to come ; the number 4 stands for the four Budhas who already have appeared, and also the four assankayas of the transmigrations of Gaudma, the fourth Budha ; 80 is the number of years of the last life of the same Budha ; for, according to the most authentic works, he was
|
Koomara, Prince, . |
Years. . 16 |
|
King .... |
. 13 |
|
Ascetic .... |
. 6 |
|
Budha .... |
. 45 |
|
80 |
32 represents his great qualities as well as his middling ones, which, added together, amount to 04, the number of ciphers of the assankaya. In short, the 4 assankayas , 100,000 maha-kalpas, and 32 great qualities of the Budha, compose mystically, if not arithmetically, the cali of the Bramins, of 432,000 years. Having lost their astronomical books, they have attempted, by a series of forced unintelligible calculations, to produce the numbers resulting from the astronomical experiments of their system, as they themselves have preserved nothing of the science excepting the numbers.
In the Sonnets of Petrarch, by the late Lord Charlemont, note 20 to sonnet 120, his lordship gives the following account of the sentiments of this celebrated poet, which exhibits a fac-simile agreement with these Budhist extracts ; it will likewise be seen, in the progress of this work, that Dante has similarly used the descriptive imagery of the places of torment in his Inferno . “ The Platonic
philosophy was fashionable in the days of Petrarch, and breathes its spirit of obscure refinement through all his writings. This philosophy taught that human souls were originally created equal in number with the stars, and were distributed through the expanse of heaven, each one adapted and appropriated to its peculiar star, where they existed in the enjoyment of happiness, and the blissful contemplation of the divine essence. It sometimes, however, happened, as a disease incident to these spirits, that some of them were fired with a longing desire for earthly habitations ; upon which they were immediately degraded from their high station, and sent down to animate mortal bodies, through a succession of which they transmigrated, until this criminal desire became purged away.” “ Petrarch here,” says the commentator, “ alludes to this opinion, and asks in what particular part of the heavens did the pre-existent spirit of Laura reside ?”
+ Probably the kusatana, or creeping grass, the grains of which were eaten by Gaudma, the instant before his assumption of the Budhaship.
THE SACKWALLE.
81
13y the diminution of the happiness of the human world, and the gradual increase of wickedness, mankind found the necessity of a ruler being elected, and accordingly an immense concourse of people assembling together, one among them was appointed to be their king ; he became immediately a mighty monarch, and, as he was elected by the universal consent of the people, he was called Malta - sammata, and is the first king of the human world in this culpa, who reigned many thousands of years. His posterity, as well as the posterity of the whole human race, losing their might, age, happiness, &c. have been by degrees brought to their present state ; and by their future increase of sins, this deterioration will go on until the world shall be reduced to an extremely mean state, when men shall live no longer than ten years, and their stature be reduced to a very diminutive size ; when a quarterly dissolution will take place, by which almost all the animals will perish, excepting those that will take shelter under the rocks and in caves, without being wetted even by a single drop of that dreadfully destructive element, which will continually fall in torrents for seven days, each drop of the size of neper a and palmeira trees, according to a previous notice given by a JDeweta .* Such as are wetted even by a single drop of this rain shall appear to each other as tigers and bears, and whatever they handle shall become destructive weapons : so they will assault each other till they all perish.
They that are saved under the rocks and in caves, on coming forth after the devastation, shall see this awful destruction of the world, and shall be greatly amended themselves, and renounce one sin, forbidden by one of the five commandments of the Budha ; their children shall renounce two sins ; their grandchildren three sins, and so on. Their longevity, size, and the productions of the soil, shall increase by degrees, and the world shall be totally free from sin and wickedness till its inhabitants increase so much in age and happiness as to think themselves immortal, and then they will relapse by degrees into depravity.
Except the worlds, &c., which are dissolved and created by themselves by periodical seasons, without any final beginning or end, all living things depend on two principles, koosula-lcarma and alcoosula-learmay or the merits of good deeds and bad deefds. A man by the merits of his good deeds may be born a god, and for bad deeds an ant ; and this is the case with all living things, including gods, &c. The heaven is not to yield its happiness for ever to any being, nor the hell its misery, but only so long as their good or evil deeds deserve. Thus the souls of all living things, in every Sackwalle,
'* There are three remote causes for the destruction of the world, luxury, anger, and ignorance ; from these, by the power of fate, arise the physical or proximate causes, namely, fire, water, and wind. The first two causes have been described, the third, by wind, seems to be the most universal and overwhelming ; the writings relate that a thousand years before such event, a certain Nat descends to this island ; his hair is dishevelled, his countenance mournful, and his garments black ; he passes every where through the public ways and streets, with doleful voice announcing the approaching disaster. In the same manner as the fowls of heaven, and the fish of the sea, by a certain natural instinct, have a foreboding of storms, so the Nat perceive the approach of a world's destruction.
When the world is destroyed by wind, the Nat having finished his warnings, a fine rain falls, but it is the last rain during that world. The wind begins to blow, and gradually increases ; at first it only raises sand and small stones, but at length it whirls about immense rocks, and the summits of mountains ; then shaking the whole earth, it dissipates this and the others, with all the habitations of the Nat, Rupa, and Arupa, and scatters them through the immense extent of the skies. — Asiatic Researches, vi. 242, 244.
Each world has sixty-four periods before the grand or final cataclysm ; out of sixty-four times, it is fifty-six times destroyed by fire, seven times by water, and once only by wind. The world which immediately preceded this was destroyed by fire.
Thus it appears that, in the great final catastrophe of wind, the whole universe is dashed in pieces, and scattered throughout the extent of space. This, therefore, being the most dreaded of all misfortunes, is the very catastrophe alluded to by the Celtic inhabitants of the countries bordering the Danube. When Alexander inquired of them what they most feared? their reply was, that the heavens would fall on their heads.” — See Arrian's Account, also Strabo.
M
82
THE SACKWALLE.
are liable to removal from one body to another, according to their respective merits. Men after death may be born again as any kind of animals, gods, men, devils, &c., and even so the beasts or other beings may exist again as men or gods according to their deserts.
Budha enacted three degrees of doctrine in 84,000 sections, one concerning gods, the second the clergy, and the third the laity. Besides numerous precepts which he enacted for the observation of the priests of the highest and higher orders, there are ten commandments, five of which are to be observed by the common disciples, eight by the opasekas, or holy priests, and the whole (ten) by the Sameneras,* or the priests of the lowest quality, viz.
TABLE I.
1. Thou shalt not kill.
2. Thou shalt not steal.
3. Thou shalt not commit fornication.
4. Thou shalt not say any manner of falsehood.
5. Thou shalt not drink any intoxicating liquor.
TABLE II.
In this, four of the five commandments are the same as in the first table, the third commandment only being altered ; for after thou shalt not commit fornication, this adds nor even admit a lustful desire, nor suffer the touch of a woman, and then come the three following.
6. Thou shalt not eat at an unpermitted hour.
7. Thou shalt abstain from dancing, singing, and playing music, nor shalt thou see them.
8. Thou shalt not use high and great seats.
%
TABLE III.
The eight foregoing.
9. Thou shalt abstain from the use of flowers and perfumes of all sorts.
10. Thou shalt not receive, use, or touch gold, silver, and coins of metal, or any other kind.
The five first commandments are called Prawnaghata, Adattie-duna , Kamamettya-chara , Moosa- tvada, and Soora-mcryue ; in. case any of these offences have been committed accidentally, or any way else, without having accomplished their respective qualities, they cannot have amounted to full crimes, consequently not arisen from a purpose of sinning.
I. Prawnaghata has five qualities.
1. A being or an animal.
2. The knowledge that it is so.
3. The desire of killing it.
4. Projecting means how to kill it.
5. The act of killing it.
• Samanean Bramina.
THE SACKWALLE.
83
* II. Adattie-duna has four qualities.
1. The knowledge that the property belongs to others.
2. The desire of stealing.
3. Projecting means to steal.
4. Committing the theft.
III. Kamamettya-chara has four qualities.
1. Any woman who is not a man’s own wife, or any man who is not a^woman’s own husband.
2. The lustful desire in man or woman.
3. The project used to commit jt.
4. The act of committing it.
IV. Moosawada has three qualities.
1. The knowledge of its being a falsehood.
2. The saying it.
3. Making the hearer believe it.
V. Soora-meryue has three qualities.
1. The knowledge that it is a spirituous liquor.
2. The drinking it.
3. Experiencing its intoxicating effect.
There are ten sins, three of which are committed by deeds, four by words, and three by mind, viz Three by deeds are, killing, stealing, and debauching.
Four by words are, lying, backbiting, talking to hurt another’s feelings, and idle talk.
Three by mind are, covetousness, envy, and false belief.
Q
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.— PLATES IX., X., XI., AND XII.
“ When the souls of the hero gods quitted their mortal tenements, they migrated into the sun, or the moon, or the planets, or the constellations, and from those lofty abodes they still, as Zopha Samin, or celestial speculators, beheld and regulated the affairs of the lower world. — Faber, iii. 351.
To the first Dctva Loka, the heaven Tjaturum-maharakeye, belong the sun, moon, and stars, which are as well the palaces of the gods, as the dividers of day from night, and of the seasons ; also the movers of good or evil fortune to men. This region extends in height from the summit of Jugandere to the top of the Mienmo stone or, rather, pillar. It also covers all the space from the centre Mienmo stone to the Chakkre-vatti, or seventh and outermost rock circle; thus forming the covering or atmosphere of the seven rock circles, and their seas, and the four great islands or worlds, of which our planet, the earth, is the southernmost, in fact, of the whole system of the Saekwalle.
There are eight planets, which will hereafter be described with their properties. It will be seen, by a reference to the plate of the Saekwalle, that the sun, moon, and planetary system, revolve round the Mienmo mount, or pillar, and that the earth also performs this movement. The stars are supposed to be constant in their motion, neither declining to the north nor to the south ; but the sun, moon, and planets, the Budhists conceive, as we do, to have a declination. The sun, in his progress, visits the twelve constellations, or twelve zodiacal signs, and in the space of a year returns to the same place in the heavens from which he set out. This same revolution, which by the sun is performed in one year, is performed by the moon in one month. There are three seasons, the hot, the rainy, and the cold ; and in order to distinguish these seasons, there are three roads in heaven, an inner, a middle, and an outer road. The inner road is nearest to Mienmo, and when the sun enters it, the rainy season commences ; and when he enters the outer road, the cold begins. By these three roads, which are distant from each other thirty-nine thousand and ninety-three juzana, that immense space between Mienmo and the Chakkre- vatti, or seventh circle of rock, is divided into four great zones ; the inner road corresponds with our summer solstice, or the tropic of Cancer ; the middle with our equinox, or the equator ; and the outer with our winter solstice, or the tropic of Capricorn. Besides these three roads, there are three paths, one above another, which supply the region for the sun’s progress, when nearer to or further from the earth. The highest of these paths, and the most remote from us, is that of the elephant. When the sun visits this path we experience heavy rain and great cold ; this path is therefore named after the elephant, which frequents cool and moist places.
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
85
For the production of rain, however, seven causes are assigned, partly physical, and partly moral.
1. The power of the Nagas, or serpents.
2. The power of Galoun, or large birds.
3. The power Sissa, signifying the moral obedience of men.
4. Sila, or obedience to the Budha.
5. 1 lie power of holy men. These are anchorets, mentioned as residing on Hemavunta, near the abode of the king of the elephants.
6. The condensation of the clouds.
7. Certain Nat who preside over showers, and who occasion rain whenever they go out of their houses to sport in the air.
When the sun is in the path of the goat, these Nat do not come forth on account of the great heat, so that there is then no rain. For this reason, in times of drought, the Birmans assemble with a drum and a long cable. Dividing themselves into two parties, with a vast shouting and noise, they drag the cable contrariwise, the one party endeavouring to get the better of the other ; and they think, by these means, to invite the Nat to come out of their houses, and to sport in the air. The thunder and lightning, often preceding rain, are the clashing and shining of the arms of these Nat in thpir mock-fights. As they acknowledge Nats presiding over rain, so there are others governing the winds and the clouds. — See
Asiatic Researches , vi. 194.
The middle is the path of the ox. When men act with rectitude, and obey the Budha laws, the sun moves in this path, which is highly salutary ; but when they violate the laws, the sun moves either in the upper or the lower path, with much injury both to the produce of the earth and the health ot the people. The lowest is the path of the goat, because that animal delights in dry and warm places ; when the sun therefore is in the goat’s path, it produces great heat and drought on the earth.
The sun’s motion is quicker than that of the moon, for, when he moves in the Mienmo, he advances one million juzana daily ; in the middle road two, and in £he outer three million juzana.
From these particulars may be inferred how imperfect and crude are the Budhist principles of the science of astronomy ; but another reason may be alleged for the very erroneous perceptions, which it exhibits throughout every part of its arrangement, namely, that as the very prosperity and wealth of the natural world, the fertility of its harvests, the duration of the universe, the physical state of man, his duration of life, and even his stature, are influenced and acted upon by the moral character of the disciples of the Budha, so also is the progress of the planetary bodies through the heavens, as well as the phenomena of the seasons, made to sustain the same doctrine, and to move and act conformably to the obedience paid by the Budha’s followers to his doctrine and example. In the rules laid down by the teachers of this faith, every possible influence, that can be strained to bear upon the influence and authority of the Budha, is most rigidly enforced.
A proof of their strict adherence to this system is supplied by the testimony of one ol the most enlightened of the Budhist priests in the island of Ceylon, the orthodoxy of whose opinions on any portion of the doctrine would be implicitly acknowledged. Upon a remark being made on the imperfection of their astronomic data, he (the high-priest, Karetotte (Enanse) replied:— “It is not permitted to deviate the breadth of a hand from what the great Budha, in his bana, has revealed : and, especially, not from his system, that the whole world is divided into four parts, and that the one part which we inhabit, called Damba-dewa, contains Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, while the other three
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
8(5
parts, called Pierwewedeeseye, Oetoeroe, Koeroedewa-inne, and Apperegodanaye, are unknown ; that the earth, with* all the surrounding waters, is a flat surface, and that the sun has its horizontal course over our heads.” This accords precisely with the delineation given in the Sackwalle plates. His inode of accounting for the course of the sun is given in his own words, as follows : — “ The earth, with all the surrounding waters, is of a flat form ; the sun, as aforesaid, has its horizontal course over our heads, and appears at six o’clock in the morning, from that part of the world which we call Apperegodanaye ; and it runs so over Damba-dewa , as far as the end of this part of the world, when it is twelve o’clock at noon ; and afterwards, till six o’clock in the evening, it advances as far as the end of the part, situated at the left, or west side, called Pierwewedeeseye. So that, at Pierwewedeeseye, it is then six o’clock in the morning, when, at Damba-dewa , it is twelve o’clock at noon ; and afterwards, twelve o’clock at noon, when the sun sets in the horizon of Damba-dewa ; and the sun thus follows its course in that way until the next morning at six o’clock, when naturally it ought to be twelve o’clock at noon, at A pperegodanaye."
The same personage promised to furnish the model of a Sackwalle, in relief, in clay, upon some planks, but afterwards evaded this promise in a way that betrayed a wish to escape from it. His plan was as follows : — “ To make a shape of wood, resembling a pointed sugar-loaf, for the large rock Maha-meru. Parkwette, with rocks surrounding it like hoops, and the waters or seas running between ; and then separate into four the great machine, or the said rocks, the height, breadth, and thickness, whereof are calculated at thousands of miles ; as well as the waters, which are said to be thousands of times more extensive than our greatest ocean. The parts of the circular rocks, standing above the waters, are but half of the whole body, the other half of the same shape, form, and size, lying under the water with the tops downwards .” His model is precisely conformable to the Sackwalle plates, which are inserted in the Calcutta edition of the Asiatic Researches, vii. 446.
THE SINGALESE YEAR.
The commencement of the Singalese year is calculated from the time that the sun enters the sign Aries, and the day that the sun enters each sign is the beginning of each month. These are called solar months ; there are no more than twelve of them ; but the Singalese have another sort, called lunar months, which they calculate from one new moon to another. Every four or five years there is a year of thirteen solar months, the last of which they call the superfluous or intercalary month.
The names of the solar months are : —
Meesa,
Warsaba,
Metoona,
Cattaka,
Sinha,
Cunny,
Toola,
Warchika,
Dahnoo,
Makar a,
Cumba,
Mena.
These are marked on the plates of the zodiacs.
And those of the lunar months are : — Bak,
Wasak,
Poson,
Esfala,
Nikiny,
Benara,
Was,
111,
Undoowak,
Doorooloo,
Nawan,
Madindina.
THE CHAKKRAI A, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
87
The names of the days of the week in high Singalese are Rawe,
Chandra,
Cooja,
Bmlha,
Sooroo,
Soockra,
Sany.
In common Singalese they are : — Erida,
Hamlooda,
Angaharoowada,
Budaha,
Booraha patinda,
Sicooradah,
Sanasooradali.
The Birman writings mention eight planets, namely, the sun, the moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and another, named Raliu, which is invisible. Deplorably defective as are the schemes exhibited in the Budhist writings, of the systems of the universe, and absurd as are the dreams whereon they delight to dwell in all their practices and festivals, there is reason to think that, formerly (alluding to the influences of heavenly agents), they were much better acquainted with that system. They have the six planets known to the ancients, and corresponding with the same number admitted by us, and also a seventh, and even an eighth. They divide the zodiac into twelve signs, of which only four differ, and that but slightly, from those of modern astronomy. Thus: —
Gemini, is a husband or wife ; Sagittarius, a bow ; Capricorn, a deer ; Aquarius, a waterpot.
Dr. Buchanan remarks, that from the Budhists having enriched their sphere with an eighth planet, an admirer of Oriental literature would here discover the Georgium Sidus, and strip the industrious Herschell of his recent honours ; but it seems more resembling an astrological sign, growing out of some fable connected with a lunar festival, and a desire to account imperfectly for the appearance of the moon in an eclipse.
The Abb£ Dubois, in his translation of the Panchatantra, or fables of Vishnu-karma, has the following tale of the sun, the moon, and the two giants, their enemies.
“ In former times, when the gods and the giants joined together to churn the ocean, and to extract the amrita drink which confers immortality, two giants, enemies of the gods, mingled with the assemblage by a stratagem, so as to be unperceived by any one, and also drank of the amrita, which rendered them immortal. The sun and the moon having discerned them, gave notice of it to the preserver god, \ ishnu. Irritated at the deceptive intrusion of these rebels, and at their fraud, he endeavoured to destroy them by means of his terrible chakkra ; but the attempt proved fruitless, as the amrita, which they had drunk, made them immortal. Vishnu, therefore, in some way to punish them, changed them into two planets, and these two giants were thus transformed, the one into the planet Raliu, and the other into the planet Ketu. From that time they have maintained an implacable hatred against the sun and the moon, the authors of their disgrace ; and, although far inferior to these planets, they never cease vexing them, and very frequently occasion them to experience the effects of their resentment, by darkening their splendour through the eclipses which they cause.”
The astronomy of the Budhists is chiefly to be consulted for its elucidation of the history and the faith of the sect. In these ancient memorials, are frequently discoverable affusions to migrations ot communities, and affinities existing in the rites and practices of countries the most remote from each other, and between which we could otherwise trace no sort of connexion. It is from these researches, aided by the valuable materials furnished by the industrious and learned Humboldt, that we may trace the striking analogies which subsist in the computation of time and zodiacal signs, between the 1 aitar
88
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
Budhists of Northern Asia, and the Azteck and Toltcck tribes of America; a question which will best follow the synoptic table of the four plates of the zodiac, numbered 9, 10, 11, 12. These zodiacs differ in their emblems, as will be seen in the subjoined arrangement, and they furnish thereby materials of value for comparison with other monuments. There cannot be a higher authority for the preservation of such documents, than that of M. Humboldt, who has so largely contributed to realize the advantages of the investigation which he recommends. Conjecture has been busily at work to establish the route by which the tribes of Asia and America have reciprocally contmunicated with each other; but the safest way to arrive at a conclusion is by comparing the existing materials of their knowledge, and especially their computations of time. These data have now acquired their due consideration, and are become highly useful to literature; not as in 1705, when a zodiac, sculptured on a block of marble, and still in the Vatican, being found at Rome, and reported by M. Bianchini to the French Academy, was thus estimated by the eloquent Fontenelle : — “ The monument,” says he, “ in which Bianchini sought explanations, belongs to the history of the folly of mankind, and the Academy has something better to do, than to waste its time in researches of this kind.” Of the same monument it is observed by the Baron Humboldt, that M. de Fontenelle should have remembered that astrological reveries are intimately connected with the first notions of astronomy, and that they were of service in throwing light on the ancient communications of nations with each other. It will be seen that the remarks and deductions made by Humboldt, with reference to Mexican astronomical data, are calculated to develop facts of particular interest and moment, as to a conformity in the signs used by the Budhist Tartars and the Mexican tribes ; facts which belong to the existing knowledge and practice of the Budhist communities of the East.
The four zodiacs, which are represented in plates, 9, 10, 11, 12, do not concur in giving precisely the same signs. Whether the alterations are indicative of a difference in antiquity, or to what other cause they should be attributed, it would be impossible to determine; while they are important, as furnishing a variety of examples, to establish the general conformity of the system of the Budhists with that of the southern hemisphere. Their accordance and disagreement will appear at one view in the following table —
Zodiac. — Plate 9.
]. The Ram.
2. The Bull.
3. Female, with instrument resembling a guitar.
4. The Crab.
5. The Lion.
6. A Female, with fruit.
7. The Balance.
8. A Water Rat.
9. An Archer.
10. Makaree, a Sea Monster.
11. The Pot.
12. Two Fish, crossed on each
other.
Zodiac . — Plate 10.
1. The Goat.
2. The Bull.
3. Two Figures, with musical instruments.
4. The Crab.
5. The Lion.
6. Female, in a boat with three flags, holding fruit.
7- The Balance.
8. A Scorpion.
9. A Centaur.
10. Makara, a large Fish.
11. A Figure crowned, holding a pot, or vase.
12. Two Fish, reversed in pa- rallel lines.
Zodiac. — Plate 11.
1. The Goat, resembling the Tartarian Goat.
2. The Bull.
3. Two Figures, with instru- ments, as in plate 10.
4. The Crab.
5. The Lion.
6. Female, in a boat, as in plate 10.
7> The Balance.
8. A Scorpion.
9. Centaur, as in plate 10.
10. The Makaree, a Sea Mon- ster.
11. A Figure, with a pot, as in plate 10.
12. Two Fish, reversed in pa- rallel lines.
Zodiac. — Plate 12.
1. The Goat, with a bell sus- pended at its neck.
2. The Bull.
3. Two Figures, without any musical instruments.
4. The Crab.
5. The Lion.
6. A Female, holding a crim- son flower.
7. The Scales only.
8. A Scorpion.
9. A Bow only.
10. Makara, a large Fish.
11. The Pot.
12. Two Fish, reversed in pa- rallel lines. ,
*
Leo Cancer
Cafiruc/ryiud %AtjUariuj
the chakkraia, and the four zodiacs.
89
/flie centre of the zodiac (plate 9) exhibits ornaments only.
That °f' the Z°diaC (l)kte 10) has sustaining a plant, inscribed Rawsi-dolata.
The zodiac (plate 11) exhibits the sun vvitli its radiated beams.
The zodiac (plate 12) lias a male and female, named Payay and Ritta; the female is depicted as presenting a flower.
From the above comparative table it will be found, that though most of the signs are clearly indicative of the same meaning, yet the zodiacs concur in an exact conformity in only three of them, namely, the second, the fourth, the fifth, or the Bull, the Crab, and the Lion ; three asterisms which are found in every astronomical system of the East. The following description is given from an original Budhist manuscript, and precisely applies to the zodiac of plate 10
“ 1 he following are the twelve signs of the zodiac, which are fully explained in the astronomical books, called Warahamihira and Daiwatnecahmedeenuwa.
The sign Aries is in the shape of a goat, and of red colour ; this sign is the house of Mars, and also a very fit place for Apollo, and unfit for Saturn.
“ Taurus is in the shape of a bull, and of white colour ; this sign is the house of Venus, and is also a very fit place for Luna.
“ Gemini is in the shape of two persons, man and woman, and of green colour ; this sign is a fit place for Mercury.
“ Cancer is in the shape of a Crab, and of a colour between white and red ; this sign is a fit place for Luna, and very fit for Jupiter, and unfit for Mars.
“ Leo is in the shape of a lion, and of a smoke colour ; this sign is a fit place for Apollo.
“ Virgo is in the shape of a woman, in a ship, holding in one of her hands a bundle of spikes of paddy, called hal, and in her other hand a lamp ; and of a colour between white and yellow. This sign is a fit place for Mercury, and unfit for Venus.
“ Libra is in the shape of a pair of scales, and of a variegated colour ; this sign is the house of Venus, and a very fit place for Saturn, and unfit for Apollo.
“ Scorpio is in the shape of a scorpion, and of black colour ; this sign is a fit place for Mars, and unfit for Luna.
“ Sagittarius is in the shape of a bow, and of the colour of gold ; this sign is the house of Jupiter.
“ Capricorn is in the shape of a shark, and of a colour between blue and black ; this sign is the house of Saturn, and a very fit place for Mars, and unfit for Jupiter.
“ Aquarius is in the shape of a pot, and of a colour between blue and yellow ; this sign is the single house of Saturn.
“ Pisces is in the shape of two fish, and of a colour between red and black ; this sign is the house of Jupiter, and a very fit place for Venus, and unfit for Mercury.”
These zodiacal representations may be very usefully compared with the account which is given by Dr. Buchanan, in his particulars of the astronomy of the Birmans. The omissions which he laments in the accounts which he obtained from Captain Symes are most fortunately supplied by these zodiacs, and the Nakshastra diagram now first given. It seems very probable that it may he found that the Budhists made use of two calculations, the one grounded upon the lunar zodiac of twenty-seven mansions, and a planetary system of nine figures, representing, as Sir William Jones observes, the sun, moon, and planets,
N
90
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
with the dragon’s head, or ascending node and tail, or descending node, described by the signs of Hahu and Ketu * These representations are clearly attachable to the Kappooism, or astrological practices of the pagan inhabitants, who practised the serpent or naga worship, and also invocations to demons, and will be treated of in reference to it. This belief M. de Humboldt considers to be anterior to the solar zodiac, which he justly regards as indicating an advanced stage of knowledge, and to have been derived from the far more ancient and original lunar zodiac existing in higher Asia, and thence communicated to the regions of South America.
The zodiacs of plates 9, 10, 11, 12, clearly indicate that the Budhists were acquainted with a solar zodiac, and as remarked in the Asiatic Researches , vi., 20-1, with signs represented analogous to ours. That these signs are named from the Arab and Greek schemes is manifest from the names now affixed, although Sir William Jones is doubtless correct in ascribing the original derivation to the Chaldeans.
The Budhist writings have a solar year also of three hundred and sixty -five days, commencing on the 18th of April, or with the sign of Aries, the Ram. Their common year, however, is lunar, and by this year are regulated their holy days and festivals. It is composed of twelve months, which alternately consist of thirty and twenty-nine days, and, to make it agree with their solar year, they add an intercalary moon every third year. This contrivance, however, could not make the lunar and solar years coincide, and therefore constant alterations are necessary to make the festivals occur at the proper seasons. Minderagee Praw, the late emperor of Birmah, vainly endeavoured, throughout his reign, to correct these errors ; his efforts alienated the Rhahaans, and were likely to have caused him great trouble ; and so little progress had he made, that, at Rangoon, they celebrated a grand festival a month earlier than was done at Ammerapura.
The intercalation of times affords a most striking resemblance, which deserves our attention. In the Bali or stellar astrology, wherein we may trace the faith of those countries now exclusively Budhist, is one Bali, or scheme of incantation, exclusively calculated to amend what they deem to be an injury of the stars ; and precisely the same notion is exhibited in the following passages in M. Humboldt’s pages. — “ The ancient Egyptians had a lunar and solar computation of time, and the same dislike to any innovation as the modern Budhists, who probably proceed upon the same data as originally guided their calculations ; for they obliged a monarch to swear, on his accession to royalty, never to permit an intercalation to be employed during his reign. As both the Budhist and Mexican writings consider such a period as exhibiting a blank or void,f within which space every unlucky mortal, who has the misfortune to be born into the world, loses the celestial agent of his existence, we may easily conceive the groundwork laid in such a belief for the creation of popular discontent and disquiet on the question.
The civil year of the Azteck Mexicans was a solar year of three hundred and sixty-five days, a
* It will be manifest from the following passage, how strongly Sir W. Jones’s opinion, that the nine Budhist signs, given in the Asiatic Researches , vi., are a planetary system, and not a zodiac, is sustained by Humboldt's remarks on a similar computation in the Mexican scheme. — “ The Mexicans formed a series of nine signs, called the lords or masters of the night ; we may be astonished at finding a series of nine terms in a calendar, that makes use only of the numbers 5, 13, 18, 20, and 52. We may even be tempted to look for some analogy between the nine lords of the night of the Mexicans, and the nine astrological signs of several nations of Asia, who join to the seven visible planets two invisible Aragons, to which they attribute eclipses : but, without doubt, it is only the facility with which the nine lords of the night divide themselves forty times into three hundred and sixty days, that has given the preference to the number nine.’ — Researches concerning the Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America, by M. de Humboldt, i. 315. t See these blanks among the asterisins in the table of the Nekates, plate 17-
jifiusa
0 oV 'GXP 1/5 Virutj
Irric.
tv Sun.
75 0
B r as holy cO 2P
■uootf' <jp vrfsuoy rnurmijr Q 4\^* ViTrFT,(f
91
the chakkraia, and^the four zodiacs.
reckoning of the sun, named TonalpohuaUi ; and a lunar year, called Metzlapoln.alli, a reckoning of the jnoon ; derived from the twenty solemn festivals celebrated during the course of a civil year, in the teocallis, or houses of the gods.
Neither the Mexicans nor the Peruvians were acquainted with the small period of seven days, nor are the Japanese at this moment ; while it is in use among the Chinese, who seem also to be aborigines of the elevated plain of Tartary, but who have long had intimate communications with Hindustan and Tibet.
The Mexicans had five periods of five days (half decads) ; months of twenty days; civil years of eighteen months, 01 three hundred and sixty days, to which they added five intercalary days, called nementemi, or voids ; indictions of thirteen years ; xiuhmolpilli (or ligature of years), half centuries of fifty-two years ; and (cehuehue tilitzli, or old age) centuries of one hundred and four years. The hieroglyphic of the half century is indicative of the word, a bundle of reeds tied by a ribbon ; the century, the term of life, lhe children born during the intercalary days were regarded as unfortunate, nemo-quichtli ; “ unhappy men or women, in order,” as the Mexican writers state, “ that these very names should call to their remembrance, in every event of life, how little they ought to trust to their stars.” It is a valuable fact, that amid all their errors we yet may find the traces of a perfect system ; thus the ritual, or lunar year, had twenty half lunations, of thirteen days, or two hundred and sixty days, and this contains fifty-two half decads, or small portions of five days. In the divisions of the moon’s periods they found their favourite numbers 5, 13, 20, and 52. A cycle of 52 years contained 1,460 small periods of 13 days; and if to these we add 13 intercalary days, we shall have 1,461 small periods ; a number which accidentally coincides with the number of years constituting the Sothaic period.
The analogy between the denominations of the Mexican days and the signs of the Tibetian, Chinese, Tartarian, and Mongol zodiacs, is striking in the eight hieroglyphics called atl, cipactli, ocelotl, tochtli, cohuatl, quanhtli, azomatli, and itzcuintli. Atl, water, is often indicated by the sign of water denoting Aquarius ; cipactli is a sea-monster, bearing a strong resemblance to Capricorn, which many nations of Asia call sea-monster; thus it also appears in the annexed zodiac (plates 9, 10, 11, and 12), as makara, the fabulous fish, celebrated for his exploits, and represented, from the most remote antiquity, as a sea-monster with the head of an antelope. The tiger, the hare, the female ape, the dog, the serpent, and the bird, are asterisms that bear the same names in the Tartar and Tibetian zodiacs. The Mexican ape, ozomatli, answers to the heou of the Chinese, to the petchi of the Mantchous, and to the prehou of the people of Tibet, three names that denote the same animal. Procyon appears to be the ape Hanuman, of the Hindu mythology ; and the position of this star corresponds very well with the place of the ape in the Tartar zodiac, between the Crab. Apes are found also in the sky of the Arabians: they are stars in the constellation of the great dog, called El Ivurid, in the catalogue of Kaswini. I enter into these details respecting the sign ozomatli, the ape, because an animal of the torrid zone, placed among the constellations of the Mongol, Mandchou, Azteck, and Tolteck nations, is a very important point, not only in the history of astronomy, but also in that of the migration of nations.*
The coincidences with Bianchini’s zodiac, supplied from the pages of M. Humboldt, will establish the connexion existing in these data of early science. This ancient zodiac, made known in the
N 2
Humboldt's Researches, i. 342.
92
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
beginning of the last century, proves that there existed in the East solar zodiacs, in which are found the Tartarian asterisms of the Horse, the Dog, the Hare, the Dragon, and the Bird, arranged so that the Dog answers to the Bull, and not to the Ram, of the Greek zodiac, while the Dog and the Hare are separated not by four, but only by two signs.
This monument exhibits, in five consecutive zones, the figures of the planets, the decani, the asterisms of the Greek zodiac repeated twice, and the signs of another zodiac, which has the greatest analogy with that of the Budhist Tartars. According to the observation of M. Visconti, the style of the figures representing the planets evidently proves that it was sculptured in the time of the Caesars. In this mutilated monument we recognise, among the signs of the interior zone, a Horse, a Crab, a Serpent, a Dog, a Hare, two Birds, and two Quadrupeds, one with a long tail, and the other with goat’s horns. When we recollect that the zodiac which contains a Dog, a Hare, and an Ape, belongs exclusively to Eastern Asia, and that it has probably passed thence into America, we are surprised to see that it was known at Rome in the first ages of our era. The astrologers, or Chaldeans, established in Greece and in Italy, had, no doubt, communication with those of Asia ; and these communications must have become more frequent and extensive, in proportion as astrology was more in vogue among the people, and at the court of the Cssars. Of eight signs which are recognizable in the planisphere of Bianchini, there is only one, the Crab, which does not belong to the Budhist or Tartar zodiac.
The reader is referred to the pages of the Asiatic Researches , volumes 2, 3, 9, and 13, for the exposition of the Indian scheme of astronomy, in most points resembling that of the Budhist writings. The pertinacity of the latter, in adhering closely to the curious and antiquated descriptions of their sacred books, has necessarily led to the encouragement of Indian and European professors of astronomy at the different courts, for the purpose of rectifying their defective and embarrassing systems of computing time. Thus most of the Budhist courts, especially the Birman, have introduced, as a part of their retinue, Indian Bramins and astrologers, who frame the almanacs upon the improved systems of calculation, giving the true time, and also adroitly intermeddling with the state, by determining lucky and unlucky days and other contingencies. In China, where the same defect exists, the remedy has been applied by means of individuals sent from Europe, highly scientific persons of the Roman Catholic faith, who have availed themselves of their ostensible calling as almanac-makers and astronomers, to carry on the views of the Propaganda Society for the Diffusion of the Christian Faith. The volumes 6, 7, and 8, of the Asiatic Researches , may be very profitably examined for many particulars elucidatory of the Budhist astronomical scheme, as may also the elaborate work of M. Creuzer, on the Religions oj Antiquity , which has been translated from the German into French by J. D. Guigniaut.
It has been shown how essentially the Budhist system builds itself upon a close and intimate union of the earth and its inhabitants with the Dewa Loka heavens, to both of which the atmospherical region of Jugandere becomes a boundary and a link. It is the scene of enchantment and magical arts, and it is also the region wherein are placed the sun, the moon, and the inferior planets, as well as the stars ; hence the intimate tie and association between the incantations and magic arts of the East and the celestial orbs. These heavenly bodies are all appropriated to different periods of the lunations, and calculated upon the twenty-seven Nekates, or lunar mansions. These mansions are placed upon the outer ridge of the rock-circles, already described in the Sackwalle. The Chackrawarty, or Chakkraia ring, according to the following Singalese doctrine, is named the Sarewasanharanam Chakkraia, and is in the
the chakkraia, and the four zodiacs.
93
form.of the globe ; the centre is fixed on the Maha-meru, 84,000 juzana in height. This Maha-meru 15 divided into eight quarters —
The 1st. quarter whence the sun rises is the East.
^10 2c*- South East.
The 3d. South.
The 4th. South West
The 5th. West.
The 6th North West.
The 7th. North.
The 8th North East.
Beyond the Maha-meru, are lying round about seven Parkwettes, or circles of rocks of a lesser size, called Jugandere, Ecsadari, Karwike, Sudessana, Newendara, WJnetaka, and Asswekara, which gradually decrease in height to the Maha-meru ; on the top of the first of which, Jugandere Parkwette, are formed the twelve signs which the sun and planets preside in, as the twelve divisions in the Chakkraia represent.
1 he whole machinery of the planetary system, as far as refers to the solar zodiac, requires a separate illustration, as it exhibits a scheme of nine planets deduced from a lunar zodiac of twenty-seven signs. There is little question that most of the signs of the lunar mansions, or Nekates, may be found among the sixty-eight Birman constellations, given by Dr. Buchanan. It would not, indeed, be matter of surprise, were we to trace an identity among people professing the same faith, and drawing their doctrinal and scientific data from the same sources, as the Birmans and Singalese avowedly do. It is presumed that the plates of the nine planets will serve to show that Sir William Jones is right in referring the nine figures to a planetary, and not to a zodiacal scheme; the comparative analysis of the American and Tartar signs presents a much more important subject, and establishes many striking coincidences between the distant regions to which they belong.
The calculations of time for the year, also the enumeration of the nine planets, and of the months, differ from the regular computation, and are expressly the parts of the system which belong to the more ancient faith of the inhabitants of Ceylon ; a system upon which was constructed the system of Bali worship, or planetary influence, which, together with the rites of devils, or rather demons and serpent- worship, still operates in a very extensive and powerful manner upon the inhabitants, not only of Ceylon, but of various parts of Asia, and also of Africa.
The year consists of 365 days, 31 minutes, and 15 seconds.
1 hour (JO minutes.
1 minute 60 seconds.
15 days one division, namely pakse; 2 pakses 1 month ; 2 months 1 irtoo ; 3 irtoos 1 ayene ; 2 ayenes 1 year ; 20 years 1 winsetia ; 3 winsetias 1 sestisanvvatsera.
1.728.000 years make one creta-yug.
1.296.000 treta-yug.
864,000 dwapere-yug.
432,000* cali-yug, or one eternal.
• " On looking into the Singalese books we find several striking resemblances between the astronomical system of the Budhists and that of the Bramins; for instance, we see the number 432 followed by any number of ciphers, which, among the Indians, is the result of certain combinations in the movements of the heavenly bodies ; combinations which agree almost exactly with the calculations founded on Newton’s system ; but the number 432, among the Budhists, is no longer the result of astronomical combinations, but of arithmetical ones, arranged expressly to obtain it.” — M. Joinville, on the Astronomy oj the Budhists, Asiatic Researches, viii. 402.
<)4
THE CIIAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
Brah me 20 years. Wisnoe 20 years. Jesware 20 years.
60 years.
The nine planets are the Sun, Moon, Mercurius, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rawhoe, and Kehatoe.
The Names of the Months.
Mooherrem
Satfer
Rabeal AnveJ Rabeal Auher Joomadil Anvel Joomadil Auher Rajeb .
Saban Ram elan Sanwal Zilg-adoo Zilg-hadge
December.
January.
February.
March.
April.
May.
June.
July.
August.
September.
October.
November.
The Names of the Days of the Week.
|
Aditye |
Sunday. |
|
Homa |
Monday. |
|
Angare . |
Tuesday. |
|
Budha |
Wednesday. |
|
Brahaspety |
Thursday. |
|
Hookooroo |
Friday. |
|
Hoonekirroo |
Saturday. |
The following is an account of the figures of the nine planets, which appear in the books called
Nawaggraha-Suntiya, or Bali-sloke, Warahamihira, and Daiwatneca. These astronomical books were brought to the island of Ceylon from the country Damba-dewa, and are expressly calculated for the Bali. The figures of the planets are represented with slight deviations in the plates 14 and 19-
Jupiter : this planet is of the male sex ; he is the proprietor of the two signs, Sagittarius and Pisces, and chief over the point between the east and north, called in Singalese Issawna. The colour of his body is like gold ; he has a crown on his head, and a full pot in his hand ; he moves mounted on the back of a lion, and his body is nine hundred yodoons high.
The Sun is of the male sex ; he is proprietor of the sign Leo, and chief over the east. His body is
of copper colour; he has a crown on his head, and a siriwesseya in his hand; he moves mounted on a
horse, is six lacs of yodoons high, and is a bad planet.
Venus is of the female sex; she is the proprietor of the signs Taurus and Libra, and chief over the point between the east and the south. Her body is white ; she has a crown on her head, holds in her hand a chamerra, and moves mounted on the back of a bull ; she is twelve lacs of yodoons high, and a
good planet.
Mars is of the male sex, he is the proprietor of the signs Aries and Scorpio, and chief over the south. His body is red ; he has a crown on his head, and an unkussa in his hand ; he moves mounted on the back of a peacock, is nine hundred yodoons high, and a bad planet.
Rahu is of the male sex ; he has no sign, and is chief over the point between the south and west. The colour of his body is like fire ; he holds in his hand a weapon of the shape of a fish, moves mounted on the back of an ass, is thirty-six lacs of yodoons high, and a bad planet.
Saturn, who is neither male nor female, is the proprietor of the signs Capricorn and Aquarius, and chief over the west. His body is black ; he has a crown on his head, and holds a mandewatte in his hand ; he moves mounted on the back of a crow or raven, is three thousand yodoons high, and a bad planet.
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
95
'Flie Moon is of the female sex ; she is proprietor of the sign Cancer, and chief over the point between the west and north. Her body is white, she has a crown on her head, and holds a riband in her hand ; she moves mounted on the back of an elephant, is fifteen hundred yodoons high, and a good planet.
The planet Budha or Mercurius is neither male nor female; he is the proprietor of the signs Gemini and Virgo, and chief over the north. His body is blue ; lie has a crown on his head, and holds a chank shell in his hand ; he moves mounted on the back of a buffalo, is eight hundred yodoons high, and a good planet.
Kehettu is of the male sex, has no signs, and is chief over the centre of the world. His body is of a smoke colour ; his face is like that of a man having a crown on his head. The shape of his body resembles that of a Cobra de Capello. He holds in his right hand a chain called Japemawlawe, and a book in the left ; he moves mounted on a cloud, is no less than one killa of yodoons high, and a bad planet.
According to the horoscope of a man, when he becomes sick by means of the ill effects of planets, these shapes are made of mud as a sacrifice, and held before the patient, while certain formula are repeated for the cure of such complaints.
THE CHAKKRAIA.— PLATE XX.
As the Chakkraia exhibits the twenty-seven lunar mansions beginning from the east, wherein is the zodiacal sign of Meesa the goat, it follows that the great centre line, forming two Ayanas, or two six months, which divides the scheme, is from north to south. The eastern side of the line, called
Oettray-anaya, comprises from the beginning of January to the end of June. The western side, called
%
Dhaksinay-anaya, comprises July to the end of December, through which the stars travel.
In the vicinity of the Ayanas are three divisions of time, each consisting of four months, called Gimhana, or 16th of March to 16th July; Washana, or 16th July to 15th November; and Haimanta, or 16th November to 15th March : beyond which are six Irtoos or Wasanta, April and May ; Griesma, June and July ; Waroesa, August and September; Sarat, October and November; Haimanta, December and January ; and Sieiraya, February and March : and as mentioned in the books, Rajee-matandah, and Jati-tatteedie, or the speech of the Isriens, or ancient sages, or wise men, all these astrological signs, comprising the twelve signs, exist throughout the heaven, which is thirty-six lacs, and 10,350 juzana in extent.
The Budhist Nekates, or lunar mansions around the Chakkraia, in plate 20, are twenty-seven in number, and these mansions have each four squares, or houses, answering to the phases or changes of the moon ; consequently the original number of twenty-seven mansions, multiplied by 4, gives 108, which will be found to correspond precisely with the number of houses or squares of the Chakkraia circle ; the tabular notation of the Chakkraia demonstrates the calculation of each lull moon to be nearly two Nekates and a quarter distant from that preceding it, and we shall thus trace around its rim the duration, contiguity, and progress of each lunation, in connexion with the tfionths and zodiacal signs.
Meese, Maisa , the goat, includes Aswida, Berene, and one of the blanks ot Ketty.
9G
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
Orsembe, Wrasaba, the Bull, includes the three remaining blanks of Ketty and Rchcne, arfd two blanks from Moewasirisa.
Mittoene, Mietuna, the Pair, includes the two remaining blanks of Moewasirisa and Ade, and three blanks from Poonawasaya.
Kateke, Katakatja , the Crab, includes the one remaining blank of Poonawasaya, Poese and Aslissa.
Sinlia, the Lion, includes the Mawneket, Poewapala, and one blank from Oettrapala.
Kannie, the Virgin, comprises the three remaining blanks of Oettrapala and Hataya, and two blanks from Sitaya.
Toela, Toola, the Scale, comprises the two remaining blanks of Sitaya and Sa, and three blanks from Wisa.
Ocrchika, the Scorpion, comprises the one remaining blank of Wisa and Anoere, and Dete.
Danoe, Dhanoe , the Bow, comprises Moele, Poewasale, and one blank from Oettrasale.
Makere, Makara, the Deer, comprises the three remaining blanks of Oettrasale and Soene, and two blanks from Dewetaya.
Coembe, Koomba, the Pot, comprises the two remaining blanks of Dewetaya and Siewase, and three blanks from Poewapoetoepaya.
Miene, Meina, the Fish, comprises the one remaining blank from Poewapoetoepaya and Oettre- poetoepaya, and Raewatteya.
These are the twenty-seven Nekates, and their respective twenty-seven blank spaces, or celestial rooms, which, in the circle, comprehend the whole of the twelve signs, and refer to the nine planets.
To this Chakkraia appertain also three months, called, Surya-masaya, signifying the removing of the sun from one sign to another, month by month ; Chandra-masaya, signifying the expiring of the summer or dark time, and beginning the new moon ; and Sawana-masava, signifying the change of the full moon, and the commencing of the dark time. Each of these Surya, Chandra, and Sawana months has thirty days. Moreover the Chandra-masaya, or month, has two different, Amawasa-poyas, but of which, the one expiring of the moon is the natural, and the continuing of the moon is decrease or the unnatural.* The Sawana-masaya has two Pasaloswaka Pooyas, or full moon days, of which the full moon is natural, and that which is not the entire full is the unnatural Pasaloswaka.
It is remarked by M. Humboldt, that the twelve animals are used to denote the twelve moons of the year, the twelve hours of the day and night, and the twelve celestial signs ; but all these divisions into twelve parts, marked by different names, are in the east of Asia only abstract or imaginary divisions. They serve to recal to mind the motion of the sun in the ecliptic; but the real starry zodiac, as M. Bailly justly observes, and as is confirmed by the more recent researches of Sir William Jones and Mr. Colebrooke, consists of the twenty-eight lunar mansions.
It is true, the sun is said to enter into the Twins or the Scorpion ; but the Chinese, the Hindfis, and the Tartars, as well as the Budhists of Ceylon, class the stars only according to the system of the Nekates and Xakshastras. The division of the zodiac into twenty-seven or twenty-eight parts, known from Yemen
• This expression is used in the Budhist writings, and seems to intimate that the sun and moon, although they appear round to us, are by no means spheres. — Asiatic Researches, vi. 191. Also on the moon’s giving no light when in conjunction, page 192 ; the san^ thing is stated on the subject of the planets.
THE CIIAKKUAIA, AND THE FOUU ZODIACS. !)7
to Hie plains of Turfan and of Cochin-china, belongs ,,.,.11 .,
. • , „ _ ’ 0ngs’ as wel1 as the small portion of seven days, to the
most ancient monuments of astronomy ; and the particulars which have been already stated of Mexican
tune show that, among the nations which have turned their attention to the starry vault, the lunar zodiac dtvtded into twenty-seven or twenty-eight mansions, is more ancient than the zodiac in twelve parts which, from being at first only a zodiac of full moons, is become a solar zodiac '
Besides the real division of the ecliptic, which is a zone of the starry heaven, there still exist, and especially m eastern As, a, divisions of the time which the sun employs in returning nearly to the same stars, or to the same point of the horizon. The signs of the ideal zodiac, the complete revolution of which
forms a year, arc easily transferred to the constellations themselves ; and hence, the division of time becomes a division of the sphere.
M. Gama admits, that the Mexicans intercalated only twenty-five days every cycle of a hundred and four years, or twelve days and a half at the end of each cycle of fifty-two years. The intercalation of twenty-five days ,n a hundred and four years, says M. La Place, supposes a more exact duration of the tropical years than that of Hipparchus, and what is very remarkable, almost equal to that of the astronomers of Almamon. When we consider the difficulty of attaining so exact a determination, we are led to believe, that it is not the work of the Mexicans, and that it has reached them from the old continent ; but from what people, and by what means was it received ? Why, if it was transmitted to them from the north of Asia, are their divisions of time so different from those which have been used in that part of the world? In our present state of knowledge we must not flatter ourselves that we can solve these questions; but even not admitting the intercalation of twelve days and a half in a cycle, and not granting to the Mexicans the knowledge of the ancient Persian year of three hundred and sixty-five days, we shall find in the hieroglyphics of the days, and in the employment of the periodical series, irrefragable testimony of an ancient communication with eastern Asia.— Humboldts Researches , i. 393.
The twenty-seven Nekates, or signs of the stars, have, as a presiding director, Pattinee-dewa ; her legend lias been given in the chapter which treats the guardian gods who belong to the region Jugandere. The station of the Dewa-Pattinee is evidenced from her ruling the twenty-seven lunar mansions of the Chakkraia : she is represented as holding in the left hand a rabbit* and in the right a parrot.
The mischievous and supernatural powers of this Dewa may be fitly compared to the Trows or Drows of Scandinavia, and the mischievous tricks and transformations of our witches, among which we ulso most commonly observe the disguise of a cut or a rabbit.
O
98
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE FOUR ZODIACS.
Figure
1. Assudu, 4 arms
2. B arena, with elephant’s head .
3. Cuity, heifer's head, and 10 arms
4. Rehenna, Cobra-copile head
Plate
15
15
16 1G
■}
16
18
18
18
18
17
5. Muwasirusa, a snake's head and 4 arms, the right holding \ a human head, and the left the chakkra • j
G. Ada, head of wild beast holding a sword
7. Punuwasa, cat's head holding a golden cord .
8. Pusa, an antelope’s head
9. Aslisa, a cat’s head
10. Manakat, a leopard’s head, and 6 arms
1 1 . Puwapal, a hog’s head holding up a human head, and
a bow .
12. Uttrapal as Cuity, heifer's head • -17
13. Hata, heifer’s head • • *17
14. Sita, head of the tiger, or ocelot, and holding a bell . 17
Thus far the Xekates proceed from left to right ; they now reform their circle by retracing their course from right to left, thus : —
15. Seith, a blue bull’s head, arms as Nekate, No. 5, and ) jy
tusks,* ranks in the under line of • )
1G. Wisaha, head of tiger, 6 arms bearing a bow, hatchet, ^ sword, and club • • • • j
17. Anura, a deer’s or antelope’s head • -17
18. Deta, the same, holding a large ring . • -17
19. Mula, a demon holding a buccinum, or conch-whirled jg
shell
20. Puwasula, a demon with bow
21. Uttrahula, as 12
22. Suwana, a demon holding a flower-pot
17
rled|
18
18
18
16
16
23. Denata, a female, 4 arms, one of which holds a lotus
24. Siyah-wasa, a horse's head, and 10 arms
25. Puwaputapali, holding the magic ring, or circle, and a 'j
sword, with an amethyst ear-ring, probably a talis- L j (j manic one, as the Pattinee’s • • J
26. Uttrapulupah, head as No. 12, holding a bow and an
arrow, represented on the Nekate, No. 5 . j
27. Rewaty,+ an elephant’s head, bearing two instruments i _
of music ■ • • • )
28. These two blanks are also referred to in Bali, pi. 17, nnd at p- 91 .
|
The Hieroglyphic. |
• Zodiacal Sign. |
|
. A cow. . Tiger, or ocelot. . Peacock. . . Tortoise. |
The Goat. The Bull. |
|
. . . Bull. |
|
|
A cow. 'i t A white horse. r Elephant. S Cobra-copile. j A large fish. . . . A hog. f J |
The Twins. The Crab. The Lion. |
|
. . A peacock. 'I . Large white bird. > White elephant. J |
The Virgin. |
|
^ A human figure, with tiger s 'j "l teeth. y . . A white elephant. j |
The Balance. |
|
A raven. "v ( A large white bird, one of the l_ 1 Jugandere-dewa’s. J |
The Scorpion. |
|
A raven. 1 |
The Bow. |
|
A lion. ) . A bull. 1 . An ocelot, or tiger. ( Makaree, or the sea-monster. -5 The Copaetl of the Mexican t zodiac. . A white elephant. |
The Deer. The Pot. |
|
Makaree, or sea-monster. |
|
|
. A long snake. |
The Fish. |
|
. . . Two fishes. |
The following table of coincidences in the signs of the twenty-seven Nekates with the zodiacs shows the great probability, that the solar zodiac took its origin from the lunar zodiac ; and that the twelve signs of the former were chosen in a great measure among the twenty-seven lunar mansions.
• This curious figure tallies with tlie promise made by the Budha, that those of his followers who consecrate his images shall be born into the heavens, and be made like a golden image with tigers’ teeth. May not each Nekate be a separate mansion in Budlm's doctrine for the metempsychosis ?
t The position of this Nekate is evidently the Ilemavunta chain of hills, where the King of the White Elephant is placed, which b alike designated by its position in Aquarius. Rewaty also is the same as Airawaty, Irrawady, signifying aqueous ; and also symbolically the elephant. — See the description of the elephant’s path in the account of the planets.
|
K - m\ *. J L - * <\ \ ’ t' y-^ |
J : % : \ |
|
fwA L y-' / j J |
y ------ ■ |
\
r
the chakkraia, and the four zodiacs.
99
|
Among the Mindft twenty-seven Nakshas- tras, lunar houses, are the |
The plates of the Budlmt Nekates, or lunar houses, as described in their order, ac- cording to the Singalese year, com- mencing with Meesa, the Goat, and an- swering to their signs. |
The zodiacal signs of the Greeks. |
|
Rat. Antelope. Arrow, bow. Tail of the lion. Beam of a pair of scales. Serpent. Horse. Goat. Ape. Eagle. Dog’s tail. Fish. |
Nekate 24, 25, the Pot Cumba. Nekate 22, 23, Makere, the Deer. Nekate 19, 20, 21, the Bow. Nekate 10, 11, 12, the Lion. Nekate 15, 16, the Balance. Nekate 13, 14, the Virgin. Nekate, 17, 18, Scorpio. Nekate 8, 9, the Crab. Nekate 6, 7, the Pair. Nekate 4, 5, the Bull. Nekate 1, 2, 3, the Goat. Nekate 26, 27, the Fish. |
Rat. Aquarius. Water. Ox. Capricorn. Sea-monster, &c. Tiger. Sagittarius. Lion. Dragon. Balance. Serpent. Virgin. Horse. Sheep. Crab. Ape. Twins. Bird. Bull. Dog. Ram. Hog. Fish. |
On an examination of the different symbols of the lunar mansions, or Nekates, of the plates 15, 16, 17, and 18, it will be found that they are reducible from twenty to fifteen original symbols, as several of the signs are repeated twice or more, thus —
No. 1. Assuda resembles No. 27-
2. The Elephant.
3. The Heifer accompanies the Nekates 12, 13, 21, and 26.
4. The Cobra-copile.
5. A Snake also.
6. A Wild Beast.
7- A Cat, also 9.
8. An Antelope resembles 17 and 18.
10. An Ocelot or Leopard, like 14 and 16.
11. A Hog.
15. A Bulk
19, 20, 22. Demons.
23. A Female.
24. A Horse.
25. Pattinee.
Without recurring to the hieroglyphics, water, and sea-monster, according with Aquarius and Capricorn, the six signs of the Tartar zodiac, found in the Mexican calendar, are sufficient to render it extremely probable that the people of the two continents drew their astrological ideas from a common source. Nations which have never had any intercourse with each other may make equal divisions of the ecliptic into twenty-seven or twenty-eight parts ; nations, either of shepherds or hunters, may denote the constellations and lunar days by the names of the animals which are the constant object of their affections or their fears. The sky of the Nomade tribes will be peopled with dogs, stags, bulls, and wolves, without its being at all conclusive that these tribes have formerly made part of the same people. But the asses and the tigers, which figure among the hieroglyphics of the days, and in the Mexican tradition of the four ages or destruction of the sun, do not inhabit the northern part of New Spain and the north-west coast of America. Consequently the signs Ozomatli and Ocelotl render it singularly probable that the
o 2
100
THE CHAKKRAIA, AND THE TOUR ZODIACS.
zodiacs of the Toltecks, the Aztecks, the Mongols, the Tibetians, and many other nations now separated by a vast extent of country, originated in one and the same point of the ancient continent.
These are facts which more immediately concern the history and the migrations of nations, and which appear not to have been hitherto examined ; whence it seems extremely probable that further researches will establish the opinion of M. Humboldt, that a great part of the names by which the Mexicans denoted the twenty days of their month are those of a zodiac in use from the remotest antiquity among the nations of eastern Asia.
The table which he has given exhibits, 1st, the Mexican hieroglyphical names ; 2dly, the Tartarian, Japanese, and Tibetian, names of the twelve signs of the zodiac; and, 3dly, the names of the Nakshastras, or lunar houses, of the calendar of the Hindus. Such are his observations, which, with the following, from the same master-mind, cannot be too attentively considered. The division of the ecliptic into twenty-seven or twenty-eight lunar houses is probably more ancient than the division into twelve parts, which relate to the annual motion of the sun. Phenomena, repeated every lunation in the same order, lix the attention of men much more strongly than changes of position, the cycle of which is finished only in the space of a year. As the moon is placed, in each lunation, near the same stars, it appears natural that particular names should be given to the twenty -seven or twenty-eight constellations, through which she passes in a synodical revolution. The names of these constellations have by degrees been given to the lunar days themselves, and this apparent connexion between the sign and the day is become the principal basis of the chimerical calculations of astrology.
On an attentive examination of the names which the Nakshastras, or lunar houses, bear in Hindustan, we recognise in them not only all the names of the Tartar and Tibetian zodiacs, but also those of several constellations which are identical with the signs of the Greek zodiac.*
The following remarks will explain the Hindu representation given in the second volume of the Asiatic Researches , which takes no notice whatever of the various combinations whereby are represented, as in the plates here given, the Nekates of the Lunar zodiac, as well as the solar zodiacal signs which are derived from them. The twelve months bear patronymic names, derived from the twenty-seven constellations, or lunar mansions, called Nakshastras ; which is the real meaning of the Guranas, when, in symbolic language, they speak of twelve genii of the months, born of twelve celestial nymphs, the progeny of the god Soma, or Tchandra, by twenty-seven females.
The lunar month is composed of thirty days of twenty-four hours, personified as so many nymphs. It is also divided into two periods of fifteen days each, which are often reckoned for months of fifteen days. The first is the new moon Amava ; the Other the full moon Poumima, or rather the increase Pourva-paksha, or the decrease Apara-paksha. Each has, properly speaking, fourteen days, as the day of the new moon and that of the full moon are not counted. The seven days of the week bear the names of the seven planets.
When we thus trace that the gods which preside over the sun, the moon, & c. are calendary and astronomical beings ; that they preside at the same moment over time and space, and in conjunction with the heavens and the earth, with the stars and the elements, with animals, men, &c. we cannot hesitate to suppose that, in the highest spheres, the seven or fourteen Menous, the seven Richis, the ten Maharichis,
* Researches concerning the Institutions and Monuments of the Ancient Inhabitants of America, i. 347-
the chakkraia, and the four zodiacs.
101
named also Pradjapatis, should be viewed as analagous beings, and chiefly as constellations of superior rank, to which have been attached the calculations of a transcendental chronology, whether of metaphysical conceptions, moral, or purely poetic ; and perhaps also of events and facts, and historic personages : but most commonly the construction or form alone is historical ; the ground-work being framed on the most ancient symbols of Sabeism, or rather of primitive Pantheism.
In treating of the Bali, or system of stellar influences, these Nekates will be seen to be most intimately interwoven with the belief of magical arts, and the scrupulous fears which are entertained by the disciples of Budha upon even the most trivial actions and occurrences of their lives as connected with a view of their operative power. *
While every effort has been made to bring together into one view the discordant fragments of the Budhist writings on astronomy, and to exhibit their analogies with the astronomical data of other countries, the author deeply laments that the sketch still seems to be so imperfect ; nevertheless, no labour has been spared, and if the materials exhibited should excite attention, and induce an abler pen to take up the subject, he shall experience the highest gratification.
CHAPTER IX.
THE HELLS.
Before me Things create were none, save* Things Eternal, and eternal I endure.
We are come
Where I have told thee we shall see the souls To misery doom'd, who intellectual good Have lost.
Carey’s Dante, Canto iii.
Wisdom supreme ! how wonderful the art W hich thou dost manifest in heaven, in earth.
And in the evil world, how just a meed Allotting by thy virtue unto all !
Carey’s Dante, Canto xix.
1 «r subject which next m succession arises to the pen is unpleasing and distasteful; its representations are disagreeable and even revolting, but it is a part of Budhism too material to be expunged or passed by; and, moreover, its admission into the belief of every age and clime confirms the fundamental truth of man s consciousness of a fall and deflection from a state of innocence to wickedness
the Bui?6* rre : ,beCOmeS ^ Chi6f S°UrCe Wh6nCe ^ g*her the views and character of e Budl ist morals, as the doctrine of the hells and their varied and horrible torments are in feet the
sfronghoid of the metempsychosis, and form by their threatenings the only coercive portion of the
Budhist scheme. Composed, as I have before ventured to suggest, of two portions of feUh, it exhil it
a universe without a moral governor, director, or creator; the Budha and all the gods performing no
o .er function than that of exhortation and preaching, and holding up the metempsychosis and punish
, I LI The 1 “ mitated ^ ^ (Dam^> — » - moral oLLnora. eondTt of mankind. The scheme, as ,s testified by one who has had the best opportunity of examining it • is
TLlt , I T Tr T°ralS °f the m°St eXemplary kind’ SUCh as — a blush of shame in many a Christian, who feels h.s higher privileges, while he considers the inferiority of his practice; buIZ
over the heart, or restraint on the p^lilTThTu oh t forbids” f natio”s- visit Burma],. The system of religion here has no power
to say, there is not a si„gle Birman in the connUy who if he hml ” ma"y ^ *» h«U> ^ ^ood, yet I presun, e
either. Though the religion i„culcates benevolence tenderness f ^ tvithout danger of detection, would hesitate to do
love of pleasure, and attachment to worldly objects' yet it is destine T" 'nJUr,<?S’ “nd ‘°Ve °f f,,omies-th»uS1' forbids sensuality,
votanes. In short, ,he Birman system of religion is like an alabaster i m ^ ! f°rmer' " *° SUbdue thc in
Besides bemg destitute of life, it provides no atonement for sin. Here • ki, Th “f beaUt'f“1 “U its I’arts> but destitute of life, the world." — Jud son's Narrative, 96. “ "r ^ dU°‘ the g°Spi;1 ,riumPhs 0VM thin and every other religion in’
THE HELLS.
103
system is absolutely powerless to enforce or fasten its dictates upon the conscience, or to renovate the heart, and the result is described in strong but faithful colours by Mr. Judson.
lhe word hell, * here used, denominative of the mansion of condemned demons and mortals, does not impoit a place of eternal woe, as it is understood by us; but merely an abode of purgatorial penances, more or less severe, and of longer or shorter duration, as the crimes of the individuals may seem to require. Gaudma’s precepts and doctrine treat these terrible scenes, sad as they are, rather as correctives f than as immutable, since it is declared of the demons that none are so lost but that by good deeds, and repenting of evil, they may by degrees arrive at the being born into the manepeoloke or earth, whence by transmigrations they may arrive in the Brahma Loka, and attain Nirwana ; and also no god is so exalted (while short of Nirwana-pooraya), that he may not commit sins so as to fall into the lowest hells. The system comprises all in a circle, and, as the adage expresses it, meets in extremes.
I he hells approximate to the heavens, and the centre of the whole system of the universe is of adamantine rock, termed the Mienmo, or the mountain of vision, the Maha-meru or great world stone, the base of the earth, which, as its supporter, spans over primaeval ether, bearing up not merely earth, but air, and skies. Beneath this vast arch lie the hells, or Asura mansions, wherein are the demonstrations of the incorruptible ether, the same as in the empyrean above the Brahma Loka, or highest heavens ; for the
• Hell, as a term, is a Saxon word, derived from hillan or helan, to hide, or from hoi l, a cavern, and though now scarcely ever used but for the place of torment, anciently denoted the concealed or unseen place of the dead in general ; as is manifest from the version of Psalms, xlix. 1-1 — lvi. 16 — lxxxviii. 9 — lxxxix. 44, in King Henry VIII. 's great bible, which is retained in our liturgy; and so it ought to be understood in other parts of that translation. It nearly corresponds with Hades, the invisible place ; and with the Hebrew Sheol, the invisible state of the dead, “ the place and state of those who are out of the way, and to be sought for from shaal to ask, require, seek.
t “ The form of oath administered is not only a curiosity in itself, but strikingly illustrative of the religious opinions and character of the people, and therefore I shall transcribe it from the translation of Captain Lowe. It is as follows: — “ I, who have been brought here as an evidence in this matter, do now, in presence of the divine Phrah-Phutt'hi-rop (Budha), declare that I am wholly unprejudiced against either party, and uninfluenced in any way by the opinions or advice of others, and that no prospects of pecuniary advantage, or of advance- ment to office, have been held out to me ; I also declare that I have not received any bribe on this occasion. If what I have now spoken be false, or if in my further averments I should colour or pervert the truth, so as to lead the judgment of others astray, may the three holy existences, viz., Budha, lhe Bali (personified), and the priests, before whom I now stand, together with the glorious Dewatas (demi-gods) of the twenty-two ^firmaments,* punish me. If I have not seen, yet shall say that I have seen; if I shall say that I know that which I do not know ; then may I be thus punished. Should innumerable descents of the deity happen for the regeneration and salvation of mankind, may my erring and migrating soul be found beyond the pale of their mercy. Wherever I go, may I be encompassed with dangers, and not escape from them, whether arising from murderers, robbers, spirits of the earth, of the woods, of water, or of air, or from all the divinities who adore Budha, or from the gods of the four elements, and all other spirits ! May blood flow out of every pore of my body, that my crime may be made manifest to the world ; may all or any of these evils overtake me within three days, or may I never stir from the spot on which I now stand, or may the natsani, or lash of the sky (lightning) cut me in two, so that I may be exposed to the derision of the people ! Or if I should be walking abroad, may I be torn in pieces by either of the four supernaturally endowed lions, or destroyed by venomous herbs or poisonous snakes ! If in the waters of the rivers or ocean, may supernatural crocodiles or great Ashes devour me, or may the winds and waves overwhelm me; or may the dread of such evils keep me, during life, a prisoner at home, estranged from every pleasure; or may I be afflicted by the intolerable oppressions of my superiors, or may a plague cause my death ; after which, may I be precipitated into hell, there to go through innumerable stages of torture, amongst which, may I be condemned to carry water over the flaming regions iu open wicker-baskets to assuage the heat felt by Than-Wetsuwan, when lie enters the infernal hall of justice ; and thereafter may I fall into the lowest pit of hell : or if these miseries should not ensue, may I after death migrate into the body of a slave, and suffer all the hardships and pain attending the worse state of such a being, during a period of years measured by the sand of four seas ; or may I animate the body of an animal, or beust, during five hundred generations, or be born an hermaphrodite five hundred times, or endure in the body of a deaf, dumb, houseless beggar, every species of disease during the same number of generations, and then may I be hurried to Narak, or hell, and there be crucified by Plma-Yain, one of the kings of hell V'—Crawfurd's Mission to Siam, 392.
• Gods of the Dewa and Brahma Loka.
104
THE HELLS.
Budha's doctrine mentions the Zian of the Asura Loka, which survives the catastrophe of the world in the same manner as the Zian of Nirwana; and further establishes it by passages in the part referring to the hell Awichiya, wherein rebels to the Budha, if unrepentant, shall be punished for ever, beyond the duration of this world, and throughout the next succeeding system or Budhas. In conformity with this passage, the doctrine declares that those who acquire the gift of Zian shall see other teachers (new Budhas) arise. The metempsychosis then is the probation for gods as for men, and fire (the element which purifies every thing) the agent, as none of the punishments are without this primary element*
The hell of the Budha implies the same thing as the Tartarus of the Grecian poets, but is not, like it, shut and barred in by adamantine gates, which neither gods nor men can open. It is in fact a probationary state, refining by fire, whence the penitent may transmigrate into the system of the Dewa Loka, through the Hades. Thus also the Greeks and the Egyptians held a system of doctrine in perfect accordance with that of Budhism ; they had a Hades or Orcus distinct from the place of punishment ; the former in the central parts of the earth’s hollow sphere (the abode of Wapawaitei-raja, the refractory Asura demon, a character apart from Wepetziethe-asura, or the hellish demon as he is termed), a very different abode from the Tartarus, a place below the abyss, under the hellish waters. These two divisions , m Budhist, Egyptian, and Grecian doctrine, formed in fact one region under the earth, divided from it, and rendered invisible to our eyes by the shell or crust of the terraqueous globe.
The place of the dead then, in Budha doctrine, is either in the* bliss of Nirwana, in the empyrean or Zian, or in the starry sphere, the abode of gods, the Brahma Loka, progressing to the Zian ; or in Hades,
the Dewa Loka, as often as the favourable transmigration occurs; or in the hells, as a purifying and retributive process.
We find a feature of this retributive system in the sublime dr ama of Prometheus Chained, which Potter thus translates : —
“ Expect no pause, no respite, till some god Conies to relieve thy pains, willing to pass The dreary realms of ever-during night.
The dark descent of Erebus profound.”
“ The scholiast explains this passage by saying, that whoever should attempt to succour Prometheus, and deliver him from his pain, should himself he sent to tire shades of Orcus, and the dark abyss of Tartarus. The words are very remarkable; for want of a better explication of them, we must take up with this.” (Potter’s Eschylus, 4to. note, p. 639.) The learned translator in this quotation seems puzzled
with *thTi,U5' !D a dTma TP°Sed Clearly °" the SranJinavian doctrine< as historic tradition, we may trace a conformity
with th» tenet, wh.ch rnns throughout this kindred system with the spirit of Budhism. contorm.ty
“ Ghost. My hour is almost come.
When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames Must render up myself.
I am thy father’s spirit. Doom d for a certain time to walk the night. And for the day confin'd to fast in fires; rill the foul crimes done in my, days of nature, Are burnt and purg’d away.”
THE HELLS.
105
to clear up this passage, considering it a transcript of ancient doctrine from the East. I should deem the crime of Prometheus against Jupiter to be contumacy, such as is committed by the impious (Asiatic Researches, vi. 218), whose doom to the most terrible of hells is made eternal, unless (as Mercury endeavours to persuade Prometheus to do) they repent and acknowledge their superior; then the deliver- ance takes place, on which this passage turns, conformably to the following extract from a lludhist manuscript of doctrine lhe devils who die, and are born again as men, and commit no more sin, can (by transmigration) arrive at the state of felicity” (Nirwana), the change offered to Prometheus if he will yield to the will or decree of Jupiter.
Immediately after death the judgment is pronounced by Yaine-raja, the god of the heaven Wasse- warty-raja, upon such mortal beings, as, having enthralled their souls by a mixture of good and evil, yet entertain a hope to come into the Brahma Loka ; but the thoroughly wicked go to the hell unheard, and even without approaching the tribunal of the judge.
Before the gate of each great hell sit the judges who condemn the guilty according to the weight of their evil deeds. These judges are selected from the Nat Asura ; but their office does not exclude either them or their assistants from enjoying the pleasures of their happy companions. These judges have no occasion to examine into crimes of a very atrocious nature; the weight of these sink the perpetrators at once into hell.
The worshippers of Budha, when bestowing alms, or performing other good deeds, commonly use the action of pouring forth a little water on the ground, as emblematical of their wishing to partake of the merit of good actions with other beings ; and criminals who, during life, performed this ceremony, the judge will raise up, assuage their fears, and exempt from the torments of hell, unless they have been guilty of great crimes. To those who neglect this performance, he will, with a horrible countenance, declare that they have done no good actions ; the criminal all trembling will not dare to offer any excuse, and the demons will snatch him away to punishment.*
It is declared that there are four states of misery : — 1st. That of animals, whether they live in the water, or on the earth, or fly in the air ; the state of all animals inferior to man is a state of misery.
The 2nd miserable state is, that of the beings called Preitta, who, as wandering spirits in woods and deserts, are wasted by hunger and nakedness, and pass the whole duration of a world in howling and groans. In a future life those come into this state, who give no daily provisions to the priests, f who do not supply them with clothing, corrupt their manners, or offer violence to their persons, who give abusive language to the observers of the laws, &c.
3rd. The Assurighe, the same miserable species, residing in woods and on the desert coasts of the sea.
* See Asiatic Researches, vi. 218.
t It is very curious to contrast the threatening doctrine of this dreadful punishment for all who in any degree neglect the sacerdotal class with the following practice. The Rhahans, or sacerdotal class, are required by the doctrine to eat that food which is procured by the labour and motion of the muscles of the feet. Every morning, as soon as the Rhahans can distinguish the veins on their hands, they issue from their convent, each with his sabeit under his arm. They spread themselves along the streets and villages, and as they pass along, stop a little at the different doors, but without saying a word. Whatever is proffered is put into the sabeit, and the Rhahnn goes on silent, and without returning thanks, nor does he ever solicit. So delicate are they in this particular, that it is sinful for a Rhahanon such occasions to cough, or make any signal, by which he might be supposed to put the laity in mind of their duty. Asiatic Researches, vi. 284.
P
106
THE HELLS.
Those are subject to this punishment, who, in their quarrels, strike with sticks or destructive weapons. The duration of these three Ape is not fixed, but depends on the lot of the evil actions.
The 4th, Niria, is properly the infernal regions, and is placed beneath the depths of the earth in the midst of the great rock Sila-pathavy.
In the lesser hells, which are called by one common name, Ussautrek, are punished those who do not honour their parents, the magistrates, and old age ; who take wine and inebriating liquors ; who corrupt wells ; who destroy highways ; who are fraudulent and deceitful ; who speak angrily and roughly ; who use personal violence ; who pay little attention to the words of pious men ; who afflict others ; who propagate scandal ; who chain, bind, or fetter, their fellow-creatures ; who admit forbidden things into their words, actions, or desires; and who do not solace the sick. All these will be punished, propor- tionably to the atrocity of the deed and the frequency of its repetition; and they will suffer also in another hell, compared in shape to a kettle of molten brass, where they are three thousand years in descending to the bottom, and three thousand years in ascending.
To this horrible state are condemned the sensual, the corrupters of the wives, sons, or daughters, of others ; or those who, during the course of their lives, neglect to observe the holy days, and to give alms, or who pass their time in feasting, drunkenness, or lascivious enjoyments.
The very highest of the beings may, on account of bad actions, sink into the infernal regions, or on account of good ones be raised to a higher rank ; but it is only on earth that Nirwana, the most perfect of states, can be obtained. To arrive at Nirwana, a person must see a Budha, and hearken to his discourses and evidences, and it is only in the human world that Budhas arise ; consequently the earth is called the ford of Nirwana, the pass and the ascent to Nirwana.
The Budhist doctrine declares, that “ the hell is concealed under the abyss of the earth, and is under the hellish water, and there the winds blow stronger than ever a hurricane can do upon earth.”
A very curious and interesting examination and comparison arises from the close conformity with Budhist doctrines which may be traced throughout the whole extent of Dante’s highly figurative vision of the Inferno , as far as concerns the punishments. Thus the following extract from Carey’s translation of this sublime poet, parallels the tempest which rages in the pandemonium of the Budhist doctrine :
“ Into a place I came
Where light was absent all. Bellowing there groan’d A noise, as of a sea in tempest torn By warring winds. The stormy blast of hell With restless fury drives the spirits on,
WThirl’d round and dash'd amain with sore annoy.”
Caret) s Dante, Canto v. 29.
The Budhist doctrine teaches that there are eight large hells, and the following are the crimes which doom their unhappy inmates to such terrible inflictions.
1. The hell Sanga-waya (plate 26), for cruelty, quarrelsome drunkenness, dishonesty in thought, word, or deed, or lasciviousness.
2. Kale-soottraya (plate 26), for those who ridicule or contemn their parents, the magistrates, the Rhahans, old men, or the studious of the law, or who entrap fish or animals with nets and snares.
THE HELLS.
107
* 3. Sanga-hattaya (plate 26)* for sellers of oxen, swine, goats, or such animals, or hunters by profession, warlike kings, ministers or governors who oppress the people.
4. ltaura-waya (plate 26), for those who do not mutually assist their neighbours, but deceive them, who kill animals, and are drunkards and indecent.
5. Maha-raurawaya (plate 27), f for those who are guilty of fraud, violence, theft; unjust and bribed magistrates; officers, who, after acquiring an enemy’s country, destroy the inhabitants; those who use unjust weights and measures, and unjust appropriates of other men’s goods.
6. Taw-paya (plate 27). Killers of hogs, deer, or such animals, or those who make arms, bum towns or villages, or kill men by poison or incantations, or animals by nets or gins.
7. Puttaw-paya (plate 27)4 The Deitti, or infidels hereafter named.
8. Awe-cheya (plate 27). Parricides, matricides, and such as have the heavy lot.
Each of these large hells has, towards the four cardinal points, four gates leading to as many smaller hells, which again have appertaining to them what is usually called Oessidderane-kaddie, making together a hundred and twenty-eight lesser hells, besides the eight chief regions of punishment.
The enclosures to these places of penal woe, as well to the small as the larger ones, are said to be square, and made of iron, § the walls being thirty-six miles thick , and the ground and roof also of the same thickness.
* The twenty-sixth canto of the Inferno shows the eighth gulf, wherein are punished the evil counsellors.
“As the peasant.
Upon some cliff reclined, beneath him sees Fire-flies innumerous spangling o’er the vale,
Vineyard, or tilth, where his day-labour lies ;
With flames so numberless throughout its space Shone the eighth chasm, apparent, when the depth
Was to my view exposed." Dante, Canto xxvi. 276.
+ “ ' Within these rocks,' he thus began,
‘ Are three close circles in gradation placed,
As those which now thou leavest. Each one is full Of spirits accursed.
Of all malicious act abhorr’d in heaven.
The end is injury ; and all such end Either by fraud or force works others’ woe.
Dissimulation, witchcraft, flatteries.
Theft, falsehood, simony, all who seduce To lust, or set their honesty at yawn,
With such vile scum as these.
But in another path
The usurer walks ; and Nature in herself And in her follower thus he sets at nought.
Placing elsewhere his hope.’ " Dante, Canto xi. 118.
+ “ Amidst the graves were scatter’d flames,
Wherewith intensely all throughout they burn’d,
That iron for no craft there hotter needs.
The arch-heretics are here, accompanied
By every sect their followers.1’ Dante, Canto ix. 116.
§ “ The minarets already
There, certes, in the valley I descry.
108
THE HELLS.
As to the condemned, the torments in the chief hells are more severe, and in the smaller oneS less so ; but in the eighth, Awichiya, they are the greatest and most dreadful, as they ought to be, and they are inflicted by the chief demon, the god Wassreusenne, with his followers, upon the condemned, with tools or instruments for the purpose, namely, bills, sledge-hammers, bone-breakers, hammers, pincers, spits, and so forth, whereby the skin is pulled off from head to foot, and melted lead is poured upon them.
The various punishments which are inflicted are also particularly applied by the Greek and Italian poets to the same class of crimes. Their character is explained from the twofold source of an original Budhist manuscript, and from Dr. Buchanan’s statement in the Asiatic Researches , vi.
Of the eight hells, called in Singalese Attamaha-narakawdi —
The hell called Sajewaya is the place of the damned, where they are cut in pieces by several sorts of weapons, and brought to life again.* Here they will be torn to pieces by glowing hot irons, and then exposed to intense cold ; after a time their limbs will again unite, and again be torn asunder and exposed to the cold ;f and this alternation of misery will endure for five hundred infernal years. — Asiatic Researches, vi. 220.
The hell called Calla-soottraya is the place where the damned are hewn with red-hot axes. On a bed of fire they will be extended, and, like so many trunks of trees, with burning iron saws and hooks they will be cut into eight or ten pieces, for one thousand infernal years.
The hell called Sangahataya is the place where the damned are squeezed with red-hot iron rocks,);
Gleaming vermilion, as if they from fire Had issued. He replied : ‘ Eternal fire,
That inward burns, shows them with ruddy flame Illumed, as in this nether hell thou seest.
We came within the fosses deep, that moat This region comfortless. The walls appear’d
As they were framed of iron/” Dante, Canto viii. 68.
* “ If, in one band
Collected, stood the people all, who e’er Pour'd on Apulia's happy soil their blood ;
A spectacle like this
Were but a thing of nought, to the hideous sight Of the ninth chasm.
A fiend is here behind, shivering again Each of this crowd, for first our gashes close
Ere we repose before him.” Dante, Canto xxviii.
t I come
To take you to the other shore across,
Into eternal darkness, there to dwell
In fiercest heat and ice.” Dante, Canto iii.
<l The bitter change
Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
Their soft ethereal warmth.” Milton, Par. Lost, Book ii. 601 .
“ The delighted spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice.” Shakspeare, Measure for Measure
X “ The prodigal and avaricious—
Even as a billow, on Charybdis rising,
Against encountering billow dashing breaks ;
THE HELLS.
100
which roll from the four sides of the hell. They will be ground between four burning mountains for two thousand years.
The hell called Raury waya, is the place where the damned are tormented by the flame having entered into their body through the nine openings of the body. They will have their hearts consumed by fire
entering their mouths, &c. for four thousand years.
#
The hell called Maha-raurawaya is the place where the damned undergo great misery, tears red as blood and hot as fire proceeding from their eyes. Fire and smoke will enter their bodies by the eyes, mouth, and other openings, and waste them away for eight thousand years.
The hell called Taw-paya is the place where the damned are tormented by being fixed on red-hot iron pins, which are fastened to the red-hot iron floor, without allowing them to stir. They will be tumbled down headlong from a lofty burning mountain, then being transfixed on an iron spit, they will be cut and torn by the demons with swords and spears for sixteen thousand years.
The hell called Prataw-paya is the place where the damned are tormented as aforesaid by dragging and by removing, that is to say, they are placed on the red-hot iron rocks, and being unable to stand on them, they fall down headlong on the red-hot iron floor, from which protrude red-hot iron spikes as large as palmeira logs. They will be first fixed with their heads downwards, and then transfixed with red-hot spits as large as palm-trees.*
The hell called Maha-awicliiya is the place of the damned, who are burnt constantly by the fire which proceeds in an immense quantity from every side of that hell, by which fire the extent of a hundred yodoons of the hell is filled up. They will be punished for a whole world in the most terrible of all hells, the pavement of which, nine juzana in thickness, is of red-hot iron, and emits the most horrible smoke, and the most piercing flame.
The duration of punishment is not immutable, nor even for a fixed period, but depends upon the lot of bad actions : of this class four lots are heavy and three are light. The evil deeds which after death produce the heavy lot, are chiefly five : —
1. Matricide.
2. Parricide.
3. Slaying a Rhahan.
Such is the dance this wretched race must lead, Whom more than elsewhere numerous here I found. From one side and the other, with loud voice.
Both roll’d on weights, by main force of their breasts, Then smote together."
• “ I saw the livid stone, throughout the sides,
And in its bottom full of apertures.
All equal in their width, and circular each.
From out the mouth Of every one emerged a sinner’s foot.
And of the legs high upward as the calf.
The rest beneath was hid. On either foot
The soles were burning. &c. As flame,
Feeding on unctuous matter, glides along The surface, scarcely touching where it moves,
So here from heel to point glided the flames
Dante, Canto vii. 22.
Dante , Canto xix. 14.
110
TIIE HELLS.
4. Striking a god. Thus Devadat,* * * § the name by which the Rhahans call Jesus Christ, incurred the heavy lot by throwing a stone at Gaudma .—Asiatic Researches , vi. 268.
5. Those who excite dissensions among the Rhahans.
These suffer for the duration of one world the punishment of fire in the great hells.
The lot of the impious persons called Deitti is even more severe ; these are^ they w ho have discredited the evidences of Gaudma or of some former Budha ; who deny Nirwana,f or the transmigration* of men into animals, or into superior being's, according to the merit of their actions ; who teach that there is no merit in bestowing alms, or performing the works commanded by the Budha ;§ or who adore the Nat gods || of the woods and mountains. All such persons, if they persist in their infidelity and irreligion, will be tormented, not for the duration of one world, but to all eternity. After the world is destroyed, they will pass to other places, or be eternally punished in the air.
The doctrine contained in this passage on the punishments of the Deitti, compared with the contents of the Kammuva, or book of ordination for admission into the priesthood, and combined with the personal attributes of the Budha, throws a strong light upon the history of this faith, by showing its changes, and the vast importance attached to their repression. The Budha is uniformly declared to have assumed that rank by his own free will, omniscience, and power; a tenet, indeed, which the ambitious and crafty among this sect have not been backward to avail themselves of. Almost within our present era a case in point may be adduced, in the founder of the reigning dynasty of Burmah, now of about seventy years standing. Alaoung, or Alaoung Praw, was of low extraction, a native of the district of Montzaboo, on the upper branch of the Irrawady, at the period when the superior forces of the Pegu monarchy defeated his countrymen, subjugated the capital, dragged the king into captivity, and fixed the
* To any one who is desirous of tracing the aptitude of eastern teachers to seize any imagery in any faith which may be deemed beneficial for the protection of their own ritual and the exclusion of any new doctrine, the legend of Devadat, in La Loubere’s Siam, will be very interesting : it has every character of being arranged by the priests after the arrival and settlement of the Portuguese, and is calculated to neutralize the effects of the splendid services and ritual of the Romish Church, established in great magnificence by them in India. — La Loubere’s Siam, 1663, p. 148, where he is called Tlievetat.
+ This alludes to the heretical doctrine, that all living beings had their beginning in their mother’s womb, and will have their end death ; and that there is no other N invan a but this death. This heresy pronounces Nirwana to be absolute deatli and annihilation, which the doctrine declares altogether to be false ; using a singularly strong term — “ It is easy with your nails, or with megnap, to take a thorn out of your feet or hands, but it is very difficult to pluck forth from the minds of men the doctrines of false gods or teachers.”
X The notion here condemned, that after death men are not changed into animals, and that animals on being slain are not changed into men, but that after death men are always born men, and animals born animals, impugns altogether the doctrine of the metempsychosis, and, in fact, subverts Budhism ; but as this doctrine, so introduced and followed in opposition to the metempsychosis, was anterior to Gaudma, because he is declared to have fought with these teachers in the kingdom Saultie, near the Manche, it seems to manifest the metempsychosis to be the older of the two doctrines, which had, however, in time been attacked by other teachers, herein described, who had been generally followed ; and Gaudma Budha appeared as a teacher or reformer, bringing them back again to its tenets. The account states, that Gaudma attained the superiority, and the ringleader of the false gods was so ashamed, that tying a pot about his neck, he threw himself into the river, and was drowned. The Karayns, however, the agriculturists of Burmah, a rude tribe, still profess these tenets, such as they were probably held before the appearance of Gaudma.
§ That all things have neither beginning nor end, but are governed by fate (Damata), denying the lot of good and evil deeds, which, according to the law of Gaudma, is the efficient cause of all the good and evil that happen to human beings. This again is reprobated, as Gaudma teaches all good and evil to result from the moral acts of man.
|| “ W ho believe that the cause of all the good and evil which happen in the world is a certain superior Nat of the woods, who, on this account, ought to be worshipped. The jet of this heresy seems to consist in the dispossessing the Budhas of their supremacy, to confer it on the gods of the Jugandere, or the region of enchantment on Mount Mienmo. The servants of the gods of Dewa Loka, who, in fact, in becoming Zian (a claim we have just found so strongly interdicted), from their active and powerful intercourse with this world and with man, occupy the largest portion of the notice of the common votaries of Gaudma.” — Asiatic Researches, vi. 265.
'S*>*iS&8
THE HELLS.
Ill
title of slaves to the Peguans upon the whole population of Ava. In this extremity the daring adventurer raised ins standard against the Peguans, and finding himself at the head of an enraged people he boldly denominated himself a Budha (for such his title of Alaoung Fraw implies), and so skilfully did he avail himself of the religious feeling excited, as to elevate his country to the pinnacle of greatness. In this spirit he seems to have dedicated his own image or idol at rrome— a figure of extraordinary richness and great value, which was held as a palladium in the pagoda, and esteemed so sacred, that on the approach of the British forces it was* borne in solemn procession around the city. To consider the former pretenders to the Budhaship as similar ambitious personages will materially assist us in the appreciation of the following particulars.
“ Whoever is admitted into the priesthood can by no means be permitted to extol himself as a saint, as a person endowed with any preternatural gifts, such as the gifts called Meipo, or Zian ; neither is it lawful for him to declare himself a hermit, or a person that loves solitude. The priest who, prompted bij ambition , falsely and impudently pretends to have obtained the extraordinary gifts of Meipo or Zian, or to have arrived at Nirwana, is no longer a priest of the divine order : to what can he be compared ? In the same manner as a palm-tree cut through the middle can never be rejoined so as to live ; in such manner shall this ambitious priest be unworthy of being esteemed as belonging to the sacred order ; wherefore, O young priest, through the whole of your life avoid such criminal excess. The young priest
shall answer — Very right, my lord, I have heard all that even till now you have said.” Asiatic
Researches, vi. 289-
Nothing can more strongly show the dangers attendant on the claims of supernatural gifts, such as qualified ambitious spirits to become Budhas, a state opened to all in the original doctrine, than the severe penalties denounced in the future state against all such persons, who are denominated Deitti, or impious ; and also the solemn renunciation required of every individual who enters the priesthood, of pretending to any supernatural gift, such as the gift of Zian (which means the privilege of Brahma Loka, exemption from the metempsychosis, and the prospect of Nirwana), the gift of ]\Ieipo, or the power of a state of abstract devotion, whereby the hermit becomes a Rabat, and acquires the power of walking in the air, or of working miracles. These important regulations and severe denunciations in the Kammuva show clearly that each innovator assumed the privileges of a Budha, or of omniscience, as well as of Muni, or teacher.
It seems extremely probable, from these and a variety of other passages, that the doctrines and metaphysics of Budhism will supply the data for its history; and the coincidence existing in the ordinances of the sacerdotal class, and the rigour of the infernal punishments, is very important in this view. Moreover, in the award of the duration of such punishment beyond a calpe, it establishes the long sought for fact of a certain principle lurking in the system that extends itself beyond each new creation ; and thus the Nirwana, or Zian, of the triumph or glory heavens, and the empyrean of the Budhas, had a permanent duration. In the punishment of the Deitti we see the verification of a similar privilege in the Asura Loka, or abodes of torment.
CHAPTER X.
THE BALI.
His head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes ;
With burnish’d neck of verdant gold, erect Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass Floated redundant : pleasing was his shape.
And lovely; never since of serpent kind Lovelier, not those that in Illyria changed Hermione and Cadmus; or the god In Epidaurus; lior to which transform’d Ammonian Jove, or Capitoline was seen,
He, with Olympias, this with her who bore Scipio, the height of Rome.
Paradise Lost, Book ix.
Every one conversant with Oriental subjects must have traced at the roots of almost all the systems of Eastern idolatry a certain vein of ideas referable to another species of worship, originating in fear, and paid to powers superior to man, beings malignant in their nature, and exercising their faculties to afflict and terrify the human race. The belief in and fear of devils or demons, and of dragons, serpents, and other wild chimeras, is interwoven in fact with the whole circle of pagan idolatry ; it so entwines itself with the predominant faith, and takes such powerful hold of the imagination, that no new system of doctrine, however improved in its practice, or elevated in its precepts, can chase the doubt and fear of the charmed delusion from the mind. To no system of faitli can we appeal for stronger evidence of this truth than to Budhism, for its history and doctrine alike demonstrate that each Budha endeavoured by every possible means to effect the expulsion of the Naga idolatry, which existed in Ceylon anterior to his appearance; and that, notwithstanding all the hints of both force and persuasion, incidentally scattered throughout the legends and doctrine of Gaudma, the propitiation of demons, and the belief in the divine power of the serpent god, were too closely linked with the springs of human motives to be overcome by another system, which, whatever might be its pretensions, was still of the serpent brood. Thus the magicians of pt produced their serpents, but Aaron’s rod swallowed them up ; a cheering testimony to the world that the divine power inherent in the belief in the true God is the only remedy for these delusions.
* The Agatho-demon, and Cneph, the good genius of Egypt, were serpents, and the Cobra-copile, the ornamental frieze of the finest temples, similarly adorns the throne of doctrine or power on which the Budha sits. In Budha belief the caves of the high mountains of the Imaus are the abodes of snakes and dragons, who are genii and enchanters, and Egypt has to the present day possessed her race of Psylli, or charmers of serpents, and her snake-god, Haridi.
THE BALI.
113
The object of Kappooism, 01 the demon worship of Ceylon, is not the same principle of evil as we denominate “ Satan, the great foe of God and man.”* This point has been illustrated in the article on the metempsychosis : the distinction is important for a right understanding of the nature of this idolatry and its operation on the natives. The idolatry of Kappooism, in common with that of every land, is in fact the demonology of antiquity. But as these beings are represented in the doctrine as often receiving and executing the commands of the Budha, and they are moreover associated with the Budha scheme by being constituted the servant* of the gods of the Dewa Loka, and thereby attached to the metempsychosis, the notions of a Singalese as to the demons would be of an essentially different character. 1 lie ascendancy of this faith is equally opposed to virtue and goodness ; but it is the character of the- idolatry which is here sought to be developed. The reverence of demons is most extensively prevalent in Ceylon : it has temples, established deities, and a direct worship, part of which is recognised by the Budha faith, and a portion also forbidden. In the association of the gods of the hills with the Budha we trace the admission of the primitive demon idolatry of Ceylon into his system. The exclusion of these characters from all worship, and the prohibition forbidding priests to be attached to the Dewales, clearly define the line marked out, and also the character of Budhism. In fact, the Budha himself aspires not to the property of a god, as we understand the word : he is denominated a teacher, a worker of miracles, who is to be served by attendance on his bana, and reverence of his doctrine. As he is identified with his priests, so the demon-worship was altered by the Budha to a mere service by such persons being forbidden, and the service of the Dewales and their gods thereby converted into another mode of respect which is also directed not to be even the species of honour paid to the inferior gods of the Dewa Loka. To render even this tribute of homage a tacit admission of the Budha’s superiority, Kandi-kumara is described in the doctrine to have received the gift of healing from the Budha, who thereby declares himself to be the source of his power. The link between these beings and the demons to whom offerings are made will be shown in that portion of the subject.
That the Naga or snake-worship, anciently predominated throughout Ceylon, seems established from the fact, that there exists no legend of the Budha which does not exhibit him as converting the Cobra- copile snakes, also the Nagas ; sometimes as preaching to two Cobra-copile sovereigns called Koota-dara and Mako-dara ; at other times Gaudma is represented as visiting Calany,f at the express invitation of a
• This line of remark is also the view of the learned Calmel on the same point.
+ The Budha proceeded to the devil, who was on Naijan-ginne, in the palace of Nangewenodenneye, where, hovering in the air. he produced a thick darkness over the whole earth, and so terrified the devils that they all retired, and he thereby obtained an opportunity of treading on the earth, and ascending his seat of power, the minny phalange, which came of itself, and fire issued from the four corners, which still more frightened the devils; but he comforted them, and provided a wood, called Jak-girri, for their abode, and by buna edified the gods, who were assembled at Naijan-ginni, and liberated them from hell, and giving to Samana-dewa a handful of his hair, pointed out this island for the habitation of men. He afterwards proceeded to Oerroe-wedda-nuwe, whereupon Samana-dewa enclosed the hair in a chest with precious stones, and kept the same at Naijan-ginni.
Five years afterwards he came forth from the pagod Talewanni, and put an end to the battle of the Naga kings, by names Koota-dara and Mako-dara, on account of the seat of precious stones, and edified them by his doctrine, whose suite (Koota-dara’s at Waddoe-nagalle, and Mako-dara's at Calany) were converted by him; after which both the snakes, saying that if either of them had retained the seat a contest would have arisen, offered-it to the Budha, with offerings of meat produced by their power, and of which having eaten, he ascended the seat. lie delivered the palol-tree, which had been borne by the god Samana, and the said seat, which were both used in his service, to the god Wiebesana, in order that, by worshipping the same, salvation might be obtained, and afterwards he returned to the pagoda.
In the eighth year he came again at the request of the snake Mannier-keyeram, and having partaken of the meat brought by the
U
116
TIIE BALI.
in the hopes* or fears of their followers; or survived in the humble and unobserved daily habits and usages of ordinary life. These are as light planks floating at random on the ocean, relics of the shipwreck which has engulphed the vessel, and they often retain some slight token or mark whereby the original fabric may be conjectured.
In the very first step we shall find the planetary system brought in contact with the demons, and sidereal influences as all-powerful and influential on the health and sickness of man.
Planet influence is styled Bal-lee-ah, which may bear an affinity with Baal.f v
* Legends of former doctrine are often embodied in the strains of poetry and romance. For an elaborate treatise on this point, Warton’s History of English Poetry may be consulted with great profit and pleasure ; the following are a few extracts from the numerous points presented — “ The Gog and Magog are placed amid the Caucasus, and are represented to have built a wall from the Caspian to the Black Sea. In Merlin’s prophecy, Stonehenge is said to be built by stones conveyed by giants from the furthest parts of Africa. An eagle is also said to have spoken at the building of the walls of the city of Paladnr, now Shaftesbury. Thus dragons are a sure test of Orientalism, and our romances abound with them, drawn from this source. M. Mallet, in his erudite Inquiry into the Genius and Antiquities of the Northern Nations, states the universality of their belief of the powers of magicians, witches, spirits, and genii, concealed under the earth and in the waters. The walls of the Goths running winding around their castles they often called by a name which signified serpents or dragons. The Pagan founders of cities and castles practised judicial astrology, and laid the first stone under a lucky position of the heavens, and also the presiding gods resided in rocks and caves; hence perhaps arose the practice of writing on rocks, which is Asiatic, while Runic inscriptions are found even in Tartary.” Nor may we be far from the truth when we ascribe the magnificent hall of Odin, and the triumphant feasting and inebriety of its sacred banquets, to the eastern doctrine of the sacred tree and its inebriating festival of four months in the Taveteinza heaven.
t May not the planet worship of Palestine have been the same as what prevails in Ceylon, and is distinguished from devil worship? And may not the images burnt by David and his men (see 2nd Samuel, v. 25), have been executed in relievo on frames, to propitiate the planetary powers of Baalim, as the Singalese construct them preparatory to their offerings and dances? Baal it should seem was a personification of the animating power of nature, as Jaggernauth is? Has the Singalese Bal-lee-ah, meaning “planetary power," the same origin with the great solar idol of antiquity? It appears almost probable, that the worship of the visible heavens by the Phenicians bore a strong resemblance to the system which prevails to this day among the Singalese ; though the same hands are engaged as in demon worship, the system appears to be different. Now, “ supposing the worship similar, the Philistines might make an extraordinary effort at propitiation to secure the defeat of a man of David’s power; and their images not being of metal, but of materials like those I have described, on leaving them behind, the}' might be easily consumed. As the 84th Psalm is considered as written first after this defeat of the Phibstines, it has struck me whether David, in setting fire to their instruments of worship, did not display the utmost contempt of their adoration of the sun, in particular, as the source of fire ; and that from an emblem of the material sun, his superior theology led him to extol Jehovah, under the character of a sun as well as a shield.” — Callaway s Illustrations of Scripture.
That the sun, moon, and planets, were the Baalim which the ancient Hebrews adored there can be little doubt. Of Mnnusseh it is said, that he built the high places of Baal, that he worshipped all the host of heaven and served them;" but it is singular that the word Baal is used in reference to the true God, a proof that the Deity was often worshipped by the Israelites under the form and figure of an idol. Thus Hosea— “ And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt cullme Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali, for 1 will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall be no more remembered by their name.” The sun is the greatest object in the visible heaven, and the leader or prince of all the inferior stars or Baalim. Whether the magnificent solar god be represented as giving life to the whole animal creation, or only as animating and destroying flies; whether he clothes the hills and valleys with abundance, or gives existence to a destructive serpent ; he is still the same acknowledged sovereign of that mighty host which has received in all nations the first and warmest adoration of ignorant fallen man Russell, ii. 363.
In the vision of Ezekiel we see the full particulars of the zodiacal symbolizations. The Baalim, in their imagery, combined with the idolatries of Egypt and Phenicia the adoration of the solar light. Such was the then bold exhibition made to the prophet of “ the forms of creeping things and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about ;” of the second vision of “ the woman weeping for Tammuz ;” and the third vision of " five-and-twenty men with their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the east ; and they worshipped the sun towards the east.” — Ezekiel, viii. 8—16.
I shall subjoin one more reference in elucidation of the idolatrous practices traceable among the Hebrews, and which the Bali strikingly illustrate. So early as the days of Moses, it was found requisite to threaten with the severest punishment all who should betake themselves to the consulting of the spirits in Sheol or IIades.-“ There shall not be found among you any one that usetk divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer , or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer f that is, one who consulteth the dead.
Now the whole narration of the witch of Endor, and the apparition coming up out of the earth, is in perfect conformity with a great number of Budhist narratives of appearances from the same region, appropriated as the abode of spirits after death.
THE BALI.
117
•The Bali are usually figures in relief, sometimes as large as the human form, representing the planets, whose influence is to be propitiated or averted ; they are neatly formed with clay on a frame of split bamboo, and when painted have an imposing appearance, particularly when lighted up at night by lamps, and also by flambeaus of the branches of cocoa-nut trees. Such frames may be frequently seen, especially in time of sickness, with the worshippers and dancers before them, accompanied by chanting, and the beating of tom-toms : the largest usually are eighteen feet by twelve. After the ceremonies are over, the frame is partly broken up, or left to be destroyed by the weather, or in any other way.
The following details of the Bali were given at Galle, December 2, 1817, on the examination of Kali Singarkaregay Gerrensoe, second Vidahn of the tom-tom Beaterero or Berewaya, and one of the chief performers in their invocations. The questions and answers on this occasion are here literally translated : —
Question. How many kinds of Bali ?
Answer. There are nine kinds of Bali that belong to the nine planets, as follows — (plate 28.)
1. For the planet Sun, or Irru, Santi-Mangale Bali.
2. For the planet Venus, or Sikura, Giwe-Mangale Bali.
3. For the planet Mars, or Angaharu, Kale-mortoo Bali.
4. For the planet Eclipse, or Raliu, Assoere-Girray-rakse Bali.
5. For the planet Saturn, or Henahura, Dasse-Crodie Bali.
6. For the planet Moon, or Kandu, Some-Mangale Bali.
7. For the planet Mercury, or Budha, Saroewe-roepe Bali.
8. For the planet Jupiter, or Braspaty, Abeye-Kaleane Bali.
9. For the planet Ketu, Krisne-rakse Bali.
Q. What are the sicknesses which each Bali cures ?
A. After ascertaining in what planet the sick person was born, then make the Bali belonging to the
planet. /c
Q. What Bali have you for those persons whose planet was not written down at their irt i — (> ee
two blank Nekates, plate 29-)
A. For such, there is a Bali called Caroemadie Patie Mangale.
Q. Besides the above-named are there no other Bah ?
A. I have been told there are, but do not know them-I only learned those above to earn my bread by making them.
Q. How many figures does each Bali contain ?
A There are'six figures in the first Bali (the nine planets are made in every Bah), and go round i . and also a separate four figures to each, called -Maha-dmawe, Kale-tjakre, Allootre , Tjandre-asteke ; in the middle is the figure of a woman called Unme-yoge-nave ; in two s.des 2 called ; on
the sides of the two feet, 2, called Saraswatie ; and under the feet another, called Maha-kant, n What som?s do you sing before each Bali?
! r. ,2.^ HhJL fourteen «*, «.*.«.« «»<***• f
Slh, t, 6th, S, for -he «, * f * «» » « , » <>« »'"• » • ‘ '
besides these Mi songs, we use nine song, for the nine firm... for ever, lor.
Q. What offerings do you make to each Bali ?
118
THE BALI.
A. There are not different offerings for each, but a similar offering to every one of them, which
consists of: Two cocoa-nut flowers in two pots ; boiled rice ; seven sorts of vegetable curry ; one roasted
hupper ; a cocoa-nut ; lime ; a sort of leaves called Tolle-boo-hirrese ; raw rice ; also on a small chair, covered with a white cloth, stand two areka-nut flowers, some red flowers, betel-nuts, and white sandal- wood.
Q. Who are the people that sing and prepare the Bali ?
A. There are only two castes — Berewaya and Olia. *
Q. Who are the people who dance the devil’s dances ?
A. I am not able to tell , as the Kappoerales will know it.
Q. What are the four deities who act as priests to the four deities — and who worship the four deities?
A. This also I am not able to say, but the Kappoerales will know it.
Q. For what sicknesses, or what reasons, are the devil dances ?
A. The Kappoerales are the people who make them.
Q. Do they dance the devil dances for the same purposes as they make the Bali ?
A. This also the Kappoerales will know — I am not acquainted with the devil dances.
The following colours are used by the Singalese to paint their Balis —
Goeroegale — Seemcal — a kind of cabock stone-red paint.
Kahamalia — Mangelman— a kind of clay-yellow paint.
Makoolugal — Weleman — a kind of stone-white paint.
LTttucatu-angura — Chiretta-carry — cocoa-nut shell charcoal-black paint.
Erremudoo-colle-mulle-murke, Erythrina Indica (see Ainslie , page 208), a kind of vegetable-green paint.
The figures of the nine planets, which accompany these charms, are nearly similar to those contained in the plates 14 and 19, which are evidently the Bali. The fourteenth plate, in fact, is named from a Bali, Nawaggraha-yaw. The only variation is Jupiter or Braspaty, having the lion, instead of being mounted on a man. The details and qualities are as follows : — (See plate 28.)
1. The planet Sun, adorned with a royal crown, holding in one hand an excellent fan, his body of a gold complexion, mounted on a horse, and arrived from the East, bestows blessings on mankind.
2. The planet Mercury, dwelling on a tree called carandagahu, in a corner, which is denominated Agny-conna, between the South and East, adorned with a crown, holding in the right hand a chank, is of white complexion, mounted on an ox, and protects the sick.
3. The planet Mars, of red complexion, dwelling in the East, decorated with a royal crown, holding a gold spear in the right hand, with much joy, and mounted on a peacock, continually blesses.
4. The planet Rahu (Eclipse), of white complexion, dwelling in a cave called Neritta-canna, between the South and West, with the head of a serpent, holding a fish, and mounted on horseback, protects the sick.
5. The planet Saturn, of blue complexion, dwelling in the West, with three bunches of hair on the head, holding a warlike instrument, called parra-wallalla,* and the left leg lame and short, mounted on a crow, continually blesses.
The warlike weapon or chakkra invented by Wisme-karma.
HmJuupal/'
Sir urn
Ttferruriut
jRiu/a/ijj i 1
Jiffiret
WUM/ri-
Jtiuu/u/
JLfnaJturcc
THE BALI.
119
6. The planet Moon, of white complexion, dwelling in a corner, called Wajabbawa, between the West and North, crowned, holding a belt in the right hand, mounted on a white elephant, protects mankind, and preserves them in long life.
7. The planet Venus, of white complexion, residing in the North, crowned, and holding in her right hand a musical instrument of shell, called hackgedia, mounted on a buffalo, protects all mankind.
8. The planet Jupiter, of gold complexion, dwelling in the corner called Issana-canna, between the North and East, holding in the right hand a pot containing flowers, and mounted on a man, constantly blesses mankind.
9. The planet Ivehettu, dwelling at Mallawy-deessey, of white complexion, with human head, and a body recently altered into the shape of a serpent, protects and blesses mankind.
Every Bali is accompanied by four figures, called Maha-dasawe, Kale-tjakre, Allootre, and Tjandere-asteke. As there are four gods of healing, each of whom is associated with the magic and Ophite portion of the system, and also four classes of beings superior to man, invested with the unlimited powers of the metempsychosis in the region of Jugandere, so there are four rulers of the Bali, named as above. Their attributes, as represented in plate 13, may serve in some shape to throw a light on their association ; they, moreover, suggest the most striking analogy between the conventional signs of the East, and those of the Southern hemisphere. In the Bali we recognise the fragments of the ancient idolatry, intermixing itself with the tenets of Budhism, and retaining to the present day its strong hold on the minds of the natives ; more especially as connecting itself with the planetary system, incantations, and the magic ceremonies performed for the heavenly host and demons.
The hieroglyphic of the Day is a circle divided into four parts, determined by the rising of the sun, its setting, and its two passages across the meridian. May it not, therefore, probably be one part of the meaning of these forms, as rulers of the day, to indicate the place of the sun, or house wherein he is to be consulted for the horoscope, when the Bali are performed in the day-time?
Maha-dasawe (plate 13), seems to hold a cane, and by the sign of the elephant, or the emblem of the rainy path, in the zodiac, indicates the harvest.
Tjandre-asteke has the sign of the rabbit, precisely answering to the Mexican deity.
Kale-tjakre I should consider the cavern deity of Jakre-girre forest, the giant demon god, whose residence in the sphere of the planets is marked by the faces of the radiated back-ground, also by the Cobra-copiles on his head.
Allootre appertains to the same regions, and is invested with the same planetary back-ground, and his hieroglyphic sign is the garuda, or monstrous fatidical bird of Jugandere; he bears on his head the symbol of a house, or square, such as is attributed to the Mexican deity.*1 These lour figures, associated with the magic region of Jugandere, and representatives of its four classes of gifted inhabitants, are,
* The hieroglyphic of the day was a circle divided into four parts; each Mexican month of twenty days was divided into four small periods of five days ; the days of the week owe their origin to the number of the planets. M. Builly affirms, that by a law of the Inca Pachacutec, the people were to work not seven but eight consecutive days, and rest the ninth. Humboldts Researches, 18-3.
The most ancient division of the zodiac, says Albategne, is that into four parts. W e also know, from the notions which Sigucnca derived from the works of Ixtlilxochitl, that the four folds of the serpent, and the four asterisms which belong to them, indicate the fonr seasons, the four elements, and the four cardinal points. Earth was dedicated to the rabbit, and water to the cane, and Fepejol othi.
THE BALI.
120
without doubt, the Nat gods of the woods and mountains, whose service had become so universal, tfhd so deeply rooted, as to call for denunciations of the severest and most terrible of the eternal punishments against all its followers.
The character of the Bali, namely, that they consist of magical ceremonies to the demons, as well us invocations to the planetary bodies, is fully shown in the foregoing extracts, as well as their universality and influence over every class of society, and in every imaginable contingency. This deeply fixed and operative principle is not a vulgar or common persuasion, originating in weakness or ignorance, for its practice and persuasion control the monarch as well as the meanest of his slaves. How wholly are the concerns of life thereby withdrawn from the wholesome exercise of judgment and intellectual government, and subjected to a power, identified with, and as fickle and mutable as the elements !
The outlines of the Bali, and their scope and meaning, are quite unknown, excepting that they consist of idolatrous practices and invocations; yet something may be traced of their elements by endeavouring to compare the personal character of the figures with what has already been ascertained of the gods of the superior regions. These curious illustrations of magical incantations are all to be traced in unison with symbols and emblems, which show that their region is in the Jugandere, and their chief agents are its enchanters, giants, and fatidical genii ; or in the Asura Loka of the demons. The path of the sun, moon, and planets being also connected with the ceremonies, they bind in one chain the planetary system, both as to the solar and lunar system, as well as the Nekates, the Jugandere region being in four divisions : — 1 st. Koombandeo, the cavern deities, and those of trees and woods ; 2d. Yaksa or Gaksa^ the giants ; 3d. The fatidical birds, the Garuda, Simorg, &c. ; 4th. The dragons, Cobra-copiles, and snakes — the centre form of each Bali serves to denote to which class the Bali more especially belongs.
The figure, Nawctggraha-mangale Bali (plate 28), contains nine planets.
The planet Jupiter is to be erected, or painted on the top, on the right side, and under that the planets Saturn, Moon, and Venus; on the left, the planets Eclipse (llalm), Mercury, and Mars, and also the ninth planet Kehettu ; the planet Sun in the centre mounted on a horse.
This figure, thus prepared, will cure any disease occasioned by any of the said nine planets. The offerings to this Bali are nine pots containing flowers, nine lamps, nine different sorts of flowers, nine sorts of smell (perfumes), nine sorts of curry, and nine cush, or chillies,* and a sacrifice of nine animals.
When this figure is thus invoked with the personage called Si rria-han tu iva, wife of Wisme, painted in its centre, j- it will cure all these maladies: deafness, dumbness, blindness, itch, dropsy, cramp, inflammation of joints, and other disorders which arise from the craft of devils. The figure is to be invoked in a house, i to be erected with four doors towards the East, four fowls to be tied round, after
one of the divinities who dwelt in caverns, and the goddess of the harvest, accompany the diurnal signs of the rabbit and the cane. — Humboldt, i. 373.
I lie Mexicans employ for the cycle of years the four following sign3, Tochtli, a rabbit or hare ; Acatl, a cane; Tecpatl, a flint or silex ; Calli, a house.
• Chulies, flambeaus, formed of the branches of the cocoa-nut tree.
+ I his person is the wife of Wisme, the chief god of the Hills, described among the gods of healing, and residing on Adam’s Peak, in the region of Jugandere. '*
+ A frame: (See the description of the erection of the frame-work and moulds in the foregoing pages.)
Tiyvy- yojr numpGuy*
THE BALI.
121
the performance of magic. The maker of this figure, covering himself with a red cloth, shall offer a sacrifice, and when the ceremony is thus performed, it will cure such diseases as may have been caused by devils.
The ceremonies above-mentioned were witnessed by the Rev. Mr. Fox, during his residence in Ceylon, in which island he fulfilled the duties of a faithful missionary for many years with exemplary zeal. They are so well described in his narrative, that I shall quote it without alteration, merely premising that the sacrifice of the cock is precisely the same as the dying act of Socrates, already quoted from Plato’s Pheedo.
“ The Nagas are the lower order of the gods : they are supposed to give the power to some men to blight all the fruit they look at, and this they call aes-wasa, or eye-poison. I knew a native, of whom his countrymen said, that if he looked on a tree it would wither: they told me that the Naga-raja, or king-serpent, was on him. Of the demons I can say little more than what I have been eye-witness of, and being at that time but imperfectly acquainted with the language, I could not learn all I wished to know. Travelling a little after midnight on foot, with only one native, who served me as a <mide I heard the sound of tom-toms in the jungle; I ordered my guide to lead me to the place ; he durst not refuse, but he seemed much afraid, though I then knew not why. We came at length to a temporary hut (which they call a maduwa), adorned in front with cocoa-nut leaves, and about sixty lamps, made of coarse clay ; I saw some shadows of men, but they disappeared, and on my approach I saw only the kappooa dancing before the place with hollow bangles on his arms, filled with stones, or some metallic substance, to make a jingle; in his hands he held two vessels filled with perfumes, in which mastic seemed to predominate ; these in appearance somewhat resembled the hour-glass. He was singing something in Malabar (which I could not then understand), in a tone higher than is common with European voices. My presence did not interrupt him, and my attendant could use no language I was acquainted with ; I therefore entered into the maduwa to learn all I could from observation. Opposite to the front of the maduwa was a clay image of a yaksa, or demon, on a frame ; before the image lay a sick man, near his feet was a wicker basket ; this I lifted up, and underneath it was a black fowl, which had been made blacker by soot, or some black ingredient. This I afterwards understood was to be slaughtered at the dawn of day, and its blood sprinkled on the image ; this is a very common, service for the sick, and is usually performed before a new house is occupied, lest the demons should injure the inhabitants : the same ceremony is usually observed after the birth of an infant, and a charm engraven on a thin plate of lead is given : — this is deemed a secure defence against yaksas.”
“ The man who acts the part of the devil is dressed in a garment of dried grass or rushes, which reaches to the ground ; his arms and feet are concealed ; a white country -cloth covers his shoulders ; round his head, and tied under his chin, are two or three cotton handkerchiefs; the face is frightful ; the mouth and nose are black ; two large teeth project far beyond the lips ; a row of coarse shells is bound over the eyes ; on the head is a red cap, which reaches four or five feet in height, and is surmounted with a plume of feathers.
“ The natives believe in the existence of a supreme god, who is great and good, but indifferent to the affairs of men. It is their concern to secure the favour, and avert the displeasure of certain malignant spirits, whom they imagine to be constantly attendant on their persons, and to be the authors of all their evils. They place great confidence in their greegrees, or amulets, and have sacred groves, trees, and huts.
k
122
THE BALI.
They occasionally strew fruits about their towns, or spread mats by the public paths, as offerings to the invisible spirits. They sometimes make prayers on the graves of their fathers, or under their sacred trees.” — Missionary Register for 1820, 135, 165.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXIX.
In Santi-mangale Bali, the house of the Sun, as Irru or Hiru, occupies the centre compartment at the top. He is seated cross-legged on a white horse, holding *a sword. That Hiru, the Sun, and Budha, are identically the same, may be seen in Faber's Illustration , ii. 208. As Sakia, he is described by the Japanese as riding on a white horse, and the temple of the Budha is also called the temple of the White Horse;* he is also the sword god of the Scythians, under the form of Kanda-kumara.f The centre figure seems by the Cobra-copile to refer to the subterranean portion of the earth, also marked by the cave in the upper part of the figure. The eight planets surround the form, together with Sriea-kanta, the wife of Wisme-karma, to whose charge Ceylon was confided.
The Saraswatie has doubtless allusion to the riches and treasures of the regions of the Hemavunta, where the Nat king of the Elephants and the Nagas reside.
The figure of the centre frame stands on a hog : the only instance of its appearance as an asterism is found, according to M. Humboldt, in a Tartarian zodiac, and it corresponds with the sign of the fishes of the Greek sphere. In the planisphere of the temple of Tentyra, a figure holding a hog in its hand is seen twice near the same sign.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXX.
e
In the second Bali, the figure in the middle is called Siewe, and in the four corners are four figures called Yama-hinne, Kala-hinne , JYay-hinne, and Murtoa-hinne.
In this Bali the Sun, with his sword-emblem, has the bird hieroglyphic, which probably refers to the Garuda portion of the Jugandere. The four hinn&s again recal the fourfold hieroglyphics of this class, referring to the hours of the day, the seasons, and the elements, as well as Yam, or Yame, the god of the third Dewa Loka, and the judge of those who aspire to transmigrate into the Brahma Loka.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXI.
In the third Bali, the figure in the centre is called Dewa-rupa; upon its head is one called Makere- terrene, and above it another called Maha-braluna: and beneath the middle figure stands one called Maha-kantawe.
The centre house or sign, at the top of the plate, is the god Maha-brahma, of the ninth Brahma- kuki heaven, the supreme of the system next to the Budha. Maha-brahma holds in each hand the crown of flowers and chettra, which in propitious seasons the gods shower down on the earth, and is
* On Hemavunta, the Imaus of the ancients, and the Himmaleh of the moderns, at the Zaddan mount resides Zadda, the king of both Elephants and Horses, whose powers are similar to those of the genii of these regions of inexhaustible riches. Respecting the sign of the horse, Mr. Faber observes — “ From the colour of the horse of Woden or Budha, as it is still emblazoned in the arms of Saxony, I conclude that in the west as well as in the east it was thought to be white. A similar inference may be drawn from the stupendous representation of the same mystic animal in the English Vale of the White Horse " — Faber on Pagan Idolatry, ii. 358.
+ Kanda-kumara is a god of the hills, the third in the series, and residing at Katrigane, whose history has been given, delineating the worship of the sword, with very peculiar ceremonies. — See also Faber, ii. 427.
/
1 Sanle JUfangcdU Balt .
'
*
>
.11
THE BALI.
123
accompanied on either hand by the sun and the moon. The centre Makere-terrene, the sea-monster, answering to the Mexican Cipactli, an hieroglyphic of the same sign, is the zodiacal sign of Capricorn, a symbol, considered by M. Humboldt as proving an important connexion between the schemes of the Asiatic and American calendars. The sign of Makere is defined to be in the Dewa Loka; the first heaven, called the Tjaturum-maha-raja (Zadu-maha of Dr. Buchanan, Asiatic Researches , vi. 7), being the path of the sun, moon, and planets, as well as embracing the region Jugandere, seemingly indicating that the region of the Bali is there situated.,
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXII.
In the fourth Bali, the figure in the middle, called Asura-su re-yak sa, has upon his head Istrie-rupa, and under his feet two Asuras. The Bali therefore is manifestly laid in the Asura Loka, and the centre, a demon giant, or yaksa, has the emblems of the elephant and snakes of the Jugandere. The house above the centre has the Sun, or Irru, as in the first Bali, with the eight planets, and the two squares below the centre is occupied by the two Asuras.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXIII.
Dhasa-crodi, the figure in the centre, has a demoniac face, ten hands, with ten musical instruments of shells called hackgeddie, tied to their wrists, and one hand holding a branch of jambu tree, a hand holding a compass, a hand holding a spear, another holding a bow, another holding a ring, four right hands each holding a serpent, and the other a sword ; the neck decorated with a chain strung with ornaments in the shape of human heads : he is dressed in tigers’ skins, mounted on an ox, and the nine planets are erected or painted round the said figure as follows : — The planet Sun on the top, with Jupiter and Mars on each side; in the south the three planets Venus, the Moon, and Saturn; and on the left side the planets Mercury, Eclipse (Rahu), and the ninth planet Kehetta.
This figure is invoked by patients who are influenced by the planet Saturn ; the disorders to which a person governed by that planet is liable are — head-ache, heat in the whole body, insanity, lameness, pain in the joints, swelled body, fainting. A sacrifice of fowls, and an offering of vegetable curry-milk with jaggery, are made to the figure on a raised place. After the Ballia is thus invoked, it is taken towards the east, where it is fixed on a high place.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXIV.
In the sixth Bali the centre figure is called Sriea-kanta-rupa ; above this figure is another named Dewa- rupa ; in the four corners are the four hinn£s of the second Bali.
The centre house of the Sun and Moon are again the heaven of the Dewa Loka, the Tjaturum-maha- raja, wherein lie the courses or paths of these planets. The centre figure represents the wife of Wisme- karma, the god of healing, who is here associated with the white horse of Budha.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXV.
The middle figure is called Dewa-rupa, and in the four corners are the four lnnnes. In this singular Bali, the horse is only shown in part, being the upper portion of the back ; lrru, or the Sun, is in the usual position. The centre compartment contair s the same figure of the consort of YVisme-karma, the declared
u 2
124
THE BALI.
favourite of the god Sekkraia, and also chosen by him, with the express approval of the Budha Gaudma, at the peripd of his death, for the tutelary protector of Ceylon ; hence we see in part the reason of her appearance so constantly in Bali, or invocations for gifts and protection.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVI.
The middle figure is called Singe-wali-rupa ; over its head Makere-terrene, and in the two sides two Dewa-rupa. The planet Sicura, or Venus, is joined with Irru, the Sun, in the upper central compartment ; the horse again appears half sunk below the horizon. The centre compartment is in the usual Dewa region, and the Makere, or Capricorn zodiacal sign. It is impossible to look at the bearded figure which occupies the centre frame without being reminded of the following interesting passage of Humboldt : — “ It was in the time of the Tolteck monarchy, or in ages anterior to it, that the Mexican Budha, Quetzalcohuatl, appeared ; a white man, bearded , and accompanied by other strangers, who wore black garments in the form of cassocks. Till the sixteenth century, the people wore these dresses of Quetzalcohuatl to disguise themselves on festivals. He ordained sacrifices of flowers and fruits, and stopped his ears when he was spoken to of war. It is no doubt interesting to treasure up the most minute circumstances relative to the life of this mysterious personage, who, belonging to the heroic times, was probably anterior to the Toltecks.” — Humboldt's Researches , ii. 249.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVII.
The middle figure is Krisne-yaksa, on each side a Wisnoe-rupa.
In the centre compartment at the top, Irru, on the horse, is in a different attitude, and of a brown or earthy, instead of the usual yellow or golden colour. The centre figure refers to the yaksa-ludaia, or the second region of Jugandere, the abode of the giants. The emblems are the same as mark the Pattinee-dewa, who governs the Nekates, and in the Mexican signs the rabbit (which here is given to a yaksa giant of the caves of the Hemavunta mountains), accompanies “ Tepeyellotli, one of the divinities who dwell in caverns.” — Humboldts Researches , i. 373. He stands on the white horse of Budha, which is represented in part, and in a different way from the former figures.
EXPLANATION OF PLATE XXXVIII.
The Caroenadie-ratie-mangale does not belong to the nine planets : the centre figure is Dewa-rupa, and in the four corners are the four hinn&s.
The question put to the Berewaya, or astrologer — “ What Bali have you for those persons whose names are not written down at their birth ?” does not imply the supposition of an omission being made, but refers to the intercalary period, and to those who may be born during the complementary days, whereby they are deprived of the necessary sign for the asterism. This interpretation is clearly the import of the above phrase, of not belonging to the nine planets, which a mere negligence of recording the date would not justify, as the planet in astrological law would operate as clearly upon its subject without his cognizance of its ruling ascendant as with it. In fact, many of the most striking incidents of this nature in Eastern narratives are written to the very point of a malignant or sinister aspect being concealed from its object, who is nevertheless made wonderfully to fulfil the augury ; for such persons this Bali becomes a channel of invoking the planets. In the Mexican year, as well
OTASA CROIDR
■:
37
r
Budukoo I I Karu/u
.
JV‘°W, Xanoeriadu Hah ^Uayujak
\Kl *
THE BALI.
125
as in the Egyptian, the five complementary days, the epagomena, were denoted by the name of Nemontami, or voids. The children born during them were regarded as unfortunate ; and were called Nemoquichtli, or Nencihuatl, unhappy men or women; in order, as it is stated by the Mexican writers, that these very names should call to their remembrance, in every event of life, how little they ought to trust to their stars ."—Humboldts Researches , i. 287. The centre house of Irru, the Sun, is exhibited with the mere outline of the back of the white horse ; the centre exhibits the Ratie- mangale, or divinity of the earth, associated with the Naga region of the Jugandere, as appears on the first Bali, and the hog, and the first Dewa heavens of Tjaturum-maha-raja. The character of the emblems attached to these figures, their singular varieties, and the position of the planets, no doubt indicate the modes of their application.
The ignorance of European scholars respecting the contents of the astrological works of the Orientals causes the author the more to regret that such imperfect hints as the preceding are all that can be put together; they are merely offered as proofs that these schemes are not a jumble of fictions, or the inventions of jugglers. Whatever there may be of idle reverie in the fantasies of astrology, we should reflect, that to these ideal objects we owe much of ancient astronomy, and that Sabeism, or planetary worship, is the most attractive of all idolatrous schemes. It is fair to conclude, that the mass of emblems which these incantations exhibit contain a body of astronomical calculations on different juxta-positions of the planets. A further acquaintance with the literature of the Singalese, guided by the valuable clue to their astrological books, may fill up the void which at present unfortunately exists in the astrological system.
CHAPTER XI
THE DEMONS.
Others, apart, sat on a hill retired.
In thoughts more elevate, and reason’d high Of providence, fore- know ledge, will, and fate.
Fix’d fate, free will, fore-knowledge absolute,
And found no end, in wandering mazes lost.
Of good and evil, much they argued then.
Of happiness and final misery,
Passion and apathy, and glory and shame.
Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.
Milton's Paradise Lost.
In the scheme of Budhism there are to be found traces of beings superior to man, to whom are ascribed a rule and dominion over the planets, while the latter are also considered as having an influence on the destiny of man. That these demons are invested with the faculty of surpassing the powers of nature, is manifested from the actions ascribed to them; such as looking through the regions of the different elements, using the air as a medium of passing from region to region, and, in fact, exercising the powers of the elements. These beings, therefore, are the great agents of magic, and although, in the Budhist doctrine, they do not preside over the elements, they appear to be endowed with the faculty or power of using them at will to fulfil their desires. They pervade the elements of earth, air, fire, and water,* and severally direct their properties to the benefit or affliction of man.
When the human race are visited by diseases and sickness, they are ascribed to the demons, or such as have already been described in the account of the hill gods and the Bali. These cannot be ejected but by charms and incantations.
*“In the system of Zoroaster, as there are good demons, so are there those of darkness and immateriality. These consist of evil demons, and they are six in number. The first of these inhabit the regions more immediately sublunary ; the second, the regions nearer to the earth, dark, stormy, and full of vapours; the third are those malignant and unclean spirits that range the earth; the fourth inhabit the depths of the waters, and agitate with storms and whirlwinds the gloomy abyss of the ocean ; the fifth are subterraneous, and delight in caverns and charnel-vaults ; these excite earthquakes and all other internal convulsions in the bowels of the harassed globe ; the sixth, lucifugous, and hardly sensible of animation, or capable of motion, roam through the profundities of darkness, and hold their reign, as it were, in the very centre and bosom of chaos. All these obey Ahriman as their supreme lord and captain." — Russell's Connexion , ii. 278.
the demons.
127
fn the aCC0UntS of Pythag0ras we are able t0 g“«>er the scope and doctrine of demon worship in his time; SmCe P°rphyr-V inf0™S us that the Pythagoreans cured diseases of the mind and body by songs and incantations, affirming that Pythagoras directed certain diseases, which lie attributed to demons, to be cured partly by incantations, partly by magical hymns, and partly by music. This sort of cure was therefore conducted in the East, at that remote period, on much the same principle as at the present day “ U W3S the UniverSal belief of the Orientals,” says the learned Mosheim, •< that certain sounds and words, for the most part barbarous, were highly grateful, and that others were equally disagreeable to those spirits. Hence, on some occasions, the magicians composed the sacred songs of the words which were believed to be agreeable to the demons; or, if for the purpose of their expulsion, in strains which they deemed that the demon would hear with horror. From the same persuasion, they suspended from the neck of a sick person an amulet, so framed as to become influential for ejecting the demon *
In Ceylon, the demon faith is an established system. The boundary line between worship and offering seems to the mind very slender, and to the Christian, as far as concerns the heart, it is indeed a nonentity, as every valuable quality, which designates the service of a rational creature, is as much wanting to the one as to the other. In the view of the scheme, however, it becomes very material, as identifying the class of doctrine, because demon worship, upon the basis of “ the two principles,” wherein the one is characterised as beneficent, and the opposite one as malignant, is the primitive demon scheme, prevalent throughout the pagan world in the earliest ages, and antecedent to the knowledge of “ a grand Adversary to God and Man.” The demon service of Ceylon still retains this character; it has its favourite gods, and pays them homage and veneration ;f it feeds their servants, and induces long and tedious pilgrimages to their sacred high places ; such are the hills celebrated for their abode, as well as the chief spots of the Dewales, { which are shown in the legends of Wisme-karma, Kumara, Sarnana-dewa, and Wiebesene. Every misfortune and disease has its presiding demon, and monsters are represented, with terrifying forms, inflicting torments upon the human race ; and yet these beings are, in some respect, made servants to the Budha. Such tenets are grafted upon the same stock that furnished the brilliant conceptions of the Greeks, and mixed with legends, which it would leave the subject imperfect not to touch slightly upon.
There are a great number of circumstances recorded in pagan writers, corroborative of events,
• For the groundwork of these remarks, see the excellent article on Magic, in the Encyclopcedia Britannica, whence many of these ideas were taken.
t “ The Kappoerales, though by no means respectable for rank or learning, possess unbounded influence over the lower classes of Singalese. They are devoted to the study of astrology, and the people have recourse to them on every emergency. They announce the planet under which the child is born, and the baneful or genial influence it possesses. The Singalese, who are attached to this system, invariably step aside, when passing a Dewale, to make their profound obeisance to the image which represents the presiding demon of the spot, and to deposit an offering according to their ability, without which they would be tormented by apprehension of some calamity befalling them." — Hanvard’s Narrative, preface, li.
| The Dewales of Ceylon are perfectly like the thatched houses for the demon worship of Africa. On an island, at the mouth of the Rio Pongas, is a small town, named Debora, inhabited by the people of the Bagoe nation. In this town Mr. Bickersteth met with more marks than usual of superstition. There were houses for the worship of the devil, or of departed spirits, as is customary in the native towns, and several images of devils, to which they offer sacrifices Besides these, there were greegrees, or superstitious charms, on every house. The house of spirits, or devil’s house, which is found in every town, consists of a small hut, three or four feet high, raised on posts and thatched with straw, far meaner than the poorest hovel. Beneath this roof is a nest of termites, or large ants ; or there are sticks set upright. On the top of the nest, or sticks, are placed stones ; and there are generally by the side a broken plate, and a broken jug or bottle. ° Before these houses, the blood of bulls, goats, or cocks, is sprinkled; and a libation of palm wine is poured out, and an offering of fruits or rice occasionally made.
12S
THE DEMONS.
manifestly transcending the powers of nature ; nor can we otherwise deal with them than by denying, in the outset, the veracity of every such narrative, or of admitting a postulating which is held by many well-regulated and reflecting minds, that as there are testimonies of the highest order of the existence of a class of beings superior to man, so also are there recorded instances of their intercourse with man. AVe have no authoritative statement that the marked visits, so delivered down, are the only ones ; and in the former ages of the world, evil visitations, as well as good, may have been a part of the permissions of superior wisdom. The prevalence of the belief gains credence for the strongly attested cases ; such, for instance, may be deemed the embassy sent by Crcesus to the famed oracles of Greece, and the mode whereby he determined to try their claim to supernatural power, recorded by Herodotus (Clio -IT); and also the discomfiture and destruction of the army of Brennus, the Gaul, before Athens. Whatever might be the origin of the spirits of the air, as here recorded, both these and the oracles, so celebrated, fell into contempt and disuse in the reign of Tiberius, for which, among others, we have the testimony of Plutarch in the following remarkable narrative, to which he attaches much credit, and endeavours thereby to account for the fact of the cessation of oracles in his time, by supposing that the demons, who conducted those oracles, though longer lived than men, were then dead. — “ In the time of Tiberius (in whose reign Christ was crucified), some persons, embarking from Asia for Italy, towards the evening, sailed ) tie Echinades (five little islands in the Ionian sea), where, being becalmed, they heard from thence a loud voice calling one Thamus, an Egyptian mariner, among them, and after the third time, commanding him, when he came to the Palodes, to declare that the Greek Pan was dead. With the advice of his company he resolved, that if they had a quick gale when they came to the Palodes, he would pass by silently ; but if they should find themselves becalmed there, he would then perform what the voice had commanded. But when the ship arrived there, there was neither any breeze of wind, nor any agitation of water. Whereupon Thamus, looking out of the stern toward the Palodes, pronounced these words with a loud voice — ‘ The great Pan is dead,’ which he had no sooner done, than he was answered by a chorus of many voices, making a great howling and lamentation, not without a mixture of admiration.” Plutarch says that Tiberius took pains to ascertain the fact, and inquired among his learned men who this Pan could be. Whether this story be true or not, in the name Pan, and the aerial demon’s application to an Egyptian mariner alone, of all the crew, there seems to be a marked allusion to the celebiated inscription on the temple of Neith, or the Goddess of Wisdom, at Sais, in Egypt. Hales Chi analogy, xi. 766.
Although Budhism favours, in many portions of its doctrine, the tenet which considers the demon gods to have been, in process of their existence, the soids of men exalted for exemplary conduct to the heavens, and therein, as gods of the Dewa Loka, presiding over and directing the affairs of men, yet this belief, which recals to our minds the great union of Sabeism and demon idolatry, is not developed to an) extent in modern Budhism. Its ancient dogmas probably partook more copiously of this refined speculation,* which seems warranted by the clearer views and accordance with patriarchal events, which
* The following remark on this subject is so beautiful, that it deserves to have a place in every comment on this curious point of history. — “As the awful history of the deluge is written in the sphere, and since each star was thought to be animated by an intelligence, whose mortal body had once lived upon earth, we may easily perceive whence all the follies of judicial astrology have originated.
“Astronomy, blended with hero worship, certainly originated at Babylon, agreeably to the very just remark of Herodotus, that the Egyptians received it from the Babylonians; this was the primeval centre whence it avus carried to all parts of the world. Faber , i. 3y-
THE DEMONS.
129
characterise the earlier chapters of its theological history. The Budha doctrine is deemed by Sir. Faber to be a more consistent one than the Braminical scheme, as it displays more distinctly the character of materialism, and therein is uniform in its views. That it cannot be sustained in its claims seems to be however, by its votaries (no mean reasoners), when pushed hardly upon the thesis of its reasonings. Its doctrine ascribes the state of the devils, or demons,* to the falling off of the race of men from their original felicity ; and also teaches that devils, who die and are born again (namely, who are involved in the pains of the transmigration)* may, by perseverance, attain to the felicity that is the highest state of Nil* wan a. Now, as the offenders who are most severely punished, and most harshly accused in the Budha s doctrine, namely, the deitti, or impious men, who deny his supremacy, are nevertheless declared capable of repentance, and thereby, in a certain time, of meliorating their condition, and again of entering into the probationary stages, it is clear that every being, however degraded, revolves in a prescribed circle, and is progressing or retrograding. There can be no pause in the rotary scheme of revolving events. While this tenet holds good of the doctrine of Budhism, there is much of magic mixed up with it, the growth of another and older system, and its intermixture is strongly stamped with different qualities : thus the inhabitants of a region often referred to, named Jugandere, do not appear ostensibly to progress onward to the regions of the Brahma Loka, or to drop down into the regions of humanity. They are demons, as far as malignity and the power of inflicting disease and calamity can merit the term ; and they seem to be permitted to exercise at will these odious qualities, without apparently being thereby in danger of forfeiture of their station and great power.
There can be no stronger proof offered that the doctrine of the Gaudma Budha is a reforming scheme, which was obliged to bend to circumstances, and to incorporate parts of other systems, than to present a list of the various demons. The Budha books and doctrine seemingly display marks of at least three essentially different doctrines. The Nirwana of the Budha, and the Asura I, oka, or eternal Zian, seem anterior to Gaudma. The serpent and demon gods also represent the ancient primitive idolatry ; and the metempsychosis, the scope of Gaudma’s scheme, concocts together these relics and fragments of extraneous principles.
The classes of the demons alone are six in number — 1st. the infernal demons in torments; 2nd. the demons also in punishment, “ who die and are born again,” which inferentially excludes the former from this privilege ; 3rd. the demons which follow the Wassawarty-raja or rebel chief of the Dewa Loka, but are also among the Asuras, as their appearance testifies, with their leader rising from the abyss or the centre stone, in open hostility against the Budha; 4th. the Asuras under Wiebesana, who assist Sekkraia against his enemy, the Asura-raja of the Asura Loka or hells. These Asura inhabit the Dewa Loka, and attend the judge of mortals after death, to inflict the punishments awarded. The doctrine affirms, however, that such sad office interferes not with their enjoying the same felicity as their divine companions. 5th. The divine snakes and magic giants, evidently a portion of the idolatrous faith
• They say that the devils, when nature produced sun, moon, and stars, were human beings, who, on account of their horrible sins^ fell from the state of felicity ; but their having been gods, or fallen angels, or their having been created, or having existed from eternity, is denied ; and they say further that devils, who commit deeper sins than those which they suffer for already, are condemned to greater torments ,■ and that even condemned men are reckoned amongst the infernal demons. On the contrary, the devils, who die, and are born again as men, and commit no more sin, can come to the state of felicity ; and, consequently, angels are found, who are superior and inferior in rank, in proportion to the sins committed by, but not imputed to, them.
130
THE DEMONS.
of Ceylon, which the Budha Gaudma sought to reform ; for his history represents his descent on Ceylon as being accomplished only through their fright occasioned by his miracles, and his banishing or placing them in the sphere of the elements in the Jugandere mountains and caves. 6th. The devils of the island, the subjects of the Bali, or magical incantations and songs, and of the following details. They arc curious transcripts of the principal actions of the demons, which are historically recorded by the followers of the Budha, and form the only faithful sources whence we can deduce the actual tone and character of their influence.
EXPLANATION OF PLATES XXXIX. TO XLIII.
The first demon represented in these plates is the goddess Pattinee,* in the upper compartment on the left. She belongs to the Nekates, and lias also the gift of healing. In the appearance of this character as presiding among the demons, and also the power which she is represented oftentimes to exercise in their behalf, we have the strongest evidence how much the system of magic and demon idolatry has been interwoven with the Budhist system.
Mr. Harward cites Dr. Davy for the observation, “ that it is not uncommon to see a Dewale and a Wihari (a Budhist temple) contiguous, or even under the same roof and Dr. Davy adds, “ this may be considered not merely tolerated, but quite orthodox” — on which Mr. Harward observes, “ that neither are the Kapooistic demons consistent with pure Budhism, and nothing can be more heterodox.” The doctrine evidently denounces the worship of demons, but expressly encourages Dewales, and prescribes the service; and moreover the Budha countenanced one of these gods, Samana-dewa, by the delivery of his seat of power and sacred tree, to reclaim thereby the Nagas or serpent worshippers to his faith.
The demon Maha-kalyaka, or great black devil (plate 39, lower compartment on the right), who is one of the foreign devils, and the same demon as Kale-kumara, No. 4. When offerings are made to him the magician should dance, repeating magical words. In addition to his figure, as represented here and in No. 4, he is seen seizing an elephant with his teeth, drinking the blood, and the bowels hanging down from his mouth, and having white and black cloths on his body — he is always mounted on a bull. This history appears in Kumara-pantiya.
The demon Ayiraaha-yakseya (plate 39), also called Molangarrawah, is one of the twelve Garrah-yaccahse demons. He has long whiskers, holds a cock in his hand, and his face is like that of a man having a bloody forehead. His figure should stand at the corners and angles of places. He inflicts on mankind the following diseases — head-aches, swellings, and fluxes. When rice boiled
* The following is a literal copy of a Singalese account of this personage: — “The reason that the people are frightened in swearing upon the Ilallamba now in use for that purpose, is a persuasion that vengeance will come upon those who are falsely sworn, or disregard the said Ilallamba, it being an ornament which was worn by the personage named Pattinee Dewiyoo, whom they believe to be a goddess, and the author of pestilence or plagues prevailing in the world. This personage is said to have been formed by chance, and to have preserved her virginity during her existence in this world, although a person of the name of Palanga Gurmonansey was denominated her husband. He squandered all his possessions for a woman of the name of Perunkaly, with whom he lived in fornication ; at last he attempted to sell the Hallamba which the Pattinee had worn, and being discovered in the act by a goldsmith, he was taken before the king named Pandy-raja, upon the supposition that the Hallamba which he was thus offering for sale was the same which belonged to the queen, and was then sought for in that city, it having been unknowingly swallowed by a peacock. The king, not knowing what had become of the ornament belonging to the queen, believed that this was the same, and that it had been stolen : he therefore thought proper to put Palanga Gurmonansey to death, but he was restored to life again by his wife, who also recovered the queen's ornament from the peacock. She performed various other miracles, and has been acknowledged from that period as a goddess.
4(>
The. Devil ccdUd Coonwrn
The Demon. called. Jb.reu
The Demon called 7)ewr/
The Di /nor. called . 'ifaAa.tr l an
Tie clief §le Devil. w7w is one of the Foreign Denis.
f
Tie Devil called AY1MAPTE .
THE DEMONS.
13 L
with milk, and the cakes called Cabelloo are placed at the foot of rocks as an offering to this demon, he will eat them, and release the person on whom he may have inflicted any of the diseases. He always frequents the doors and corners of houses in quest of food when people are eating. If any person happens to be eating what the demon might see and long for, that person would be seized with indigestion and other complaints in the stomach. To obtain relief from this illness, offerings of bran are made.— This is a poor and humble demon.
Huniyan-yakseya demon (plate 39) -was originally called Oddiyakseya. He has the power of transforming himself into three different shapes, namely, Huniyan-y, Oddisa (plate 43), and Sanny-y. When one person does an injury to another through this demon by means of magic, the demon takes the shape of Huniyan-y, and the disease which he inflicts under that shape is called, in Singalese, Huniyan Dosa. When he inflicts the disease called Sanniyah upon mankind, he takes the shape called Sanny-y. His dress is formed of twenty-eight Cobra-copiles, who are twisting round his body : his eyes are blue, his body is of a gold colour ; he has a fierce face, and is mounted on a horse, having about him a pot of fire. He has on his head twenty heads of Cobra-copiles, holding in his hands, a set of beads called in Singalese Laccawella, and a book.
This is a most fierce and cruel demon, through whom dangerous diseases are inflicted on mankind by magic, such as swellings and stiffness of the joints ; crookedness in the mouth, legs, and arms ; burning, and pain in the body. This kind of Huniyan , or evils, are to be cured by means of magic, and by making offerings and sacrifices.
Kale-kumara-yakseya (plate 39) is a demon of a fierce black countenance, with four arms: he wears three Cobra-copiles on his head, and a spotted ocelot or tiger's head from each shoulder ; in one hand he holds a cock or sacrifice, and in the other a naga branch ; on his girdle appears the bird or garuda, as worn by the Pattinee goddess.
The demon Mahasona-yakseya (plate 40) has four names ; the above Mahasona, Yayason-yakseya, Genie-sona, and Ley-sona. He transforms himself into four different shapes, and inflicts diseases on men. In ancient times he had a battle with the giant Godimbere, and from a blow given by the giant he lost his head, and then the god Genesura brought a head of a bear, and placed it on the body of the devil ; since which time he is called Maha-sona, and, with permission of the god Wese-munie, he now watches in burying-grounds, and makes people sick. When persons are affected with any disease by means of this devil, an image is prepared, and offerings made to him for their recovery.
This figure has three marks on the forehead, and one on the eye-brow, two on the middle of the belly, and another on the thigh, a lighted candle or chule (a torch or flambeau of the cocoa-nut tree) in his hand, and a flower in one side of the belly. The face is that of a bear, of large size, with long hair all about the body, and jaws beset with formidable teeth. He holds a pike in the right hand, and an elephant by the left, squeezing its trunk, and sucking out its blood. This devil rides on a hog, and knocks out the brains of the elephants by a single blow with his fist, and other greater gods show him much favour. This Bali figure is to be kept in a place where three streets meet together.
Riry-yakseya (plate 40), a female demon, so called as being born of blood. She lias a monkey face, her body the colour of gold ; her figure is to be made of mud, having on the breast a pond of blood, with a goat, a cock, and a man ; it must be placed in an awitte ground or field in the evening, at which time the offerings called Tattu are to be placed on the four sides of it, for the recovery of the diseases which
s2
132
THE DEMONS.
she inflicts on mankind, which are those proceeding from blood. — The history is in the book Baiegry Paliya.
Kumara (plate 40), has a red body shining like fire, a sacrifice in the right hand of a fowl, and some naga branches in the left hand, a shining black cloth round the body, a green face, with a red cap on his head : lie stands on his right foot upon a rock ; his teeth are of the shape of a half-moon ; and he walks about in search of blood-offerings, bloody flesh, and human flesh ; he glances around, often pulling his whiskers. The offering should be made to him called Sameya-ballia in this manner : A figure made of mud in the shape of a woman, the hair tied towards the right side of the head, having golden ear ornaments called todu, the rigid arm as if thrown round the neck of her husband, who appears to be embracing her ; her dress of flowers and garlands. This demon can inflict evils on women only, causing madness and faintings, and destroying conception in women.
The devil Devol (plate 40), is a god lately known on the island of Ceylon. Having loaded seven vessels, he was coming to the island from Bengal, and in the high seas the ships being wrecked, he got into a stone raft made for him by Manemake-lowe, the goddess of the sea, and arrived at Ginigame, in Ceylon, where he came on the island, and obtained the title of Devol from the goddess Pattinee, and since that time he receives offerings in the same modo or room with Pattinee. He is not a demon that does harm to the people as the other devils ; but if any offerings usually made to him by the prosperous of the world are neglected, he does mischief. There is no danger from him for people that do not worship or serve him. — From the book Panti Col-murra.
Gara-yakseya (plates 41 and 43). There are twelve demons called Gara-yakseya ; but the most powerful of them is the one born of the queen Hanswetty, and begotten by the seer Somedanta. This demon is called also Dalle-kumarayah and Dalle-rakseyah. His eyes are like two godaw fruits ; his two ears are like two fans called watapat, and he has two Cobra-copiles on his turban. He is capable of eating at a time 700,000 cocoa-nuts, and an ammunam of rice, and drinking a boatful of blood, and as much water as half the sea; and as he was very cruel, Saturn (Budha) sent upon him a poisonous smoke, which burned his face; whereupon he went to the demon Pattinee, who saved him. Since that time he has been called by the name of Gara-yakseya, and begun to save men from the evils of other demons. When a person suffers from a demon, sacrifices are offered to Gara, with dancing, by the devil-dancer wearing a mask representing the features of this demon. — This history appears in the book Garu-duta.
Sanni-yakseya (plate 41). The same demon as Huniyan, under the form of Sanni. When he inflicts sickness, sacrifices must be offered to this demon for the disease.
Ihe demon Amoo-sohan (plate 41). He has the power of transforming himself into two different shapes, as Amoo-sohan and Lai-sohan. He commonly frequents burying-grounds. The evils which this demon inflicts on man are swellings, putrid diseases, fever, head-ache, &c. To obtain a cure his figure must be made of mud, and sacrifices offered. The shape must have a fierce countenance, of blue and blood colour, having under his foot a dead body, on the bowels of which he is feeding, and two birds called henza, one on each shoulder, and a lion at his right foot. In two of his hands he holds a cup, and a weapon called colay a.
1 he Great Black Devil, who is one of the foreign demons (plate 41), has the boon of 16,000 queens. His figure is to be made of mud, having a cap on his head, four hands holding two swords, a shield, and a pointed iron ; besides which, four buffaloes are to be made round about him, and on his head, breast.
/
V
• \
THE DEMONS.
133
and belly sixteen heads of tigers ; a Cobra-copile twisting round his waist, and also having on his crown a Cobra-copile. This demon inflicts diseases upon women and children only ; for the recovery of such diseases, devil-dancing is to be performed, and offerings and sacrifices prepared.
The she-demon Mahakale-kumara (plate 42), is the chief demon amongst the foreign devils. The diseases which she causes to mankind are vomiting of blood, bloody flux and fainting in children, also the pains which cause the crying of infants, &c.
The demon Devol (plate 42). On a Certain boon being given by the god Iswara to Basmasura, he happening to lay his hand on his own head, it was burned away ; from these flames the demon Devol was produced, from the sparks the seven demons called Koorumberra, and from the charcoal the black devil. All these demonshad gone to the country called Mallela, and having spoken with some merchants of the town called Pooduppura, to come to the island of Ceylon, they fitted out seven ships, and at a lucky moment they sailed ; but on account of their primitive sin, seven days after they had sailed, a tempest arose, accompanied with rain, thunder, and lightning. The sea was so agitated and foaming, that the ships were dashed one against another, and wrecked. At this juncture, when the crews were in danger of perishing, the goddess of the sea called Marriene-kali, brought some rafts of stone, which by her power she caused to float, to their relief. When on these rafts they came near to land, the goddess Pattinee would not suffer them to land in Ceylon ; and to prevent this, by her power she made seven different rows of flaming fire along the sea-shore ; but the demon called Devol, without the least fear, passed through the fire, and came to land at Sinigam-Moderra, and having seen the village Weregodda, Devol obtained permission to receive sacrifices at eight different villages ever since that time.
Oddisa (plate 43). A personification of Huniyan, who has the power of transforming himself into three forms.
Mahason demon (plate 43). The same as the demon (plate 40).
The different kinds of devil-dancing, and worshipping of demons, are the following
Yate-kawe, offering prayers to perform certain ceremonies.
Eppe-kap, the same.
Jatika-kap, the same.
Devol-bage, an offering to the demon Devol.
Devol-maduwe, a great ceremony and offering.
Gam-maddu, a very great sacrifice and offering.
Gie-maddu, a ceremony above all.
Paan-maddu, offering lamps.
Maboroe-maddu.
Nooly-antra, a ceremony to the devils.
Piede-anie, offering meats to them.
Rattiya-rume, a ceremony to the devils.
Maha-sammeyan, the same.
Huniyan- reppume, the same.
Kumare-sameyeme, the same.
Kale-kumara-sameyeme, the same. ^
Sumisoeniau, the same.
Mangere, the same.
Garrewa, a ceremony when any person’s health is considered to be affected by the sight of another. Mall Bali, offering to the planets of small degree.
Keendre-mall Bali, a greater offering to the same
134
THE DEMONS.
Maha-mall Bali, of a great degree. Att-mall Bali, of a small degree. Ken-kerieme, a sympathetic cure. Ralehamy-piedieme, an offering of meats.
Sufficient notice has been taken of a system of service so derogatory to the nature and character of man ; but while this sentiment would, it seems, spring up spontaneously in the heart of every being who enjoys such privileges as those of this happy land, the consideration of such matters comes fraught with eminent utility when it produces the conviction, that were we confined to the bounds to which human reason alone would cany us, the concurrent testimony of all history would declare that we should be no better than these votaries of the demons. The scheme of the Budha Gaudma revived most probably the materialism of a former period, with tenets which still faintly portray a first cause ; such as the Budha’s gift of supreme bliss, and other subtle distinctions scattered here and there in the system, of which, as yet, we know but little. Setting himself up as a teacher, he attached rewards and punishments to the due observance of the law which he came on earth to declare, and building up the system upon a basis of moral precepts, he so framed their graduatory scale, as to establish upon the metempsychosis a sort of corrective and guiding principle for his proselytes. There is much of contradiction in the parts, which may be explained or reconciled by further discoveries ; such for instance as a positive law of necessity leading the system of the universe through its regular and fixed periods of destruction and reproduction ; while the doctrine also teaches that men may, by their rigid observance of the Budha’s laws, increase the wealth and riches of the world, and bring back again the golden age. If man can, by any act of obedience, alter the destiny and progress of the world (and to such acts the gods of the Dewa Loka exhort and encourage men to aspire), then there is no existence for fatalism. Such, however, is recognised in the system, which turns on works to the exclusion of all worship. The Budha is not worshipped, but addressed, or propitiated ; the whole legend of Gaudma, his actions, and the homage paid to him by his followers, and ascribed to him by the sacred books, indicate the character of a di\ ine teacher, 01 Muni ; not that of a supreme God, according to our acceptation of the term. Nothing can surpass the attention paid by the Singalese to the bana of the Budha: while engaged in communicating instruction to the people in the temporary buildings of leaves, erected for the purpose, called Bana-mandooas, the priests skreen their faces from their auditors by a sort of fan. As many priests are in attendance, the services are continued for several successive nights, the congregations assembling after sunset. The people sit during the service on their heels, and with admirable patience continue in that posture several hours, occasionally expressing by a kind of chorus, which may be heard at a considerable distance, their admiration of the doctrine.
Thus also Mr. Judson, describing a popular Budhist preacher, observes — “ When all things were propci 1) adjusted, the preacher closed his eyes, and commenced the exercise, which consisted in repeating a portion from the sacred writings. His subject was the conversion of the two prime disciples of Gaudma, and their subsequent promotion and glory. His oratory I found to be entirely different from all that we call oratory ; at first he seemed dull and monotonous, but presently his soft mellifluent tones uon their way into the heart, and lulled the soul into that state of calmness and serenity which, to the mind of a Budhist, somewhat resembles the boasted perfection of their saints of old. His discourse
*
THE DEMONS. 135
continued about half an hour, and at the close the whole assembly burst out into a short prayer, after which all rose and retired.”
So softly seductive are the habits wherewith the preachers of the Budha (jaudt.ia enounce his mild and blandly tempered doctrine. If the morality be examined, its exhortations to guard me w.U, to curb the thought, to exercise kindness to others, to abstain from wrong to all, propound to its followers a \ *ry high standard of practice, but —
" though it seem’d
For dignity composed, and high exploit.
Yet all was false and hollow
for the operation of the law is frustrated and neutralized by its own innate imperfections. The system of the Budha Gaudma now established, rests upon the ruins of a former edifice, from which it derives no strength. The everlasting fate, and the doctrine of Nirwana, are altogether too subtle, too refined, for the check, or control, of the hopes and fears and vices of man ; the distinguishing tenets, the substitution of an incarnation of the divine energy, in some deified hero, or sage, for the creator of all things, leaving the Budha in Nirwana, so abstracted in his essence, that he is scarcely the object of hope or of fear ; and but for the metempsychosis, or retributive doctrine of transmigration, his influence would be lost from the system. The reasoning powers of the Budhists are of a very high class, and it requires an intimate acquaintance with their scope of argument to escape being misled in the very first step, and adjudging the whole scheme (as it often has been erroneously denominated) “ an atheology.” Thus, in the pages of the Journal of Mr. Judson, the exemplary Baptist Missionary to the Burmese Empire, he observes — “ Ooyan, a teacher, admitted that the atheistic system of the Budha was not tenable.” Again — “ All the visitors to-day, and, indeed, all the semi-atheists, are despisers of Gaudma, and the established religion of the land. Moung-shway-guang has disseminated this heresy in Rangoon for many years. Again — “ Ooyan is of a strong mind, capable of grasping the most difficult subjects. His words are as smooth as oil, as sweet as honey, and as sharp as razors ; his mode of reasoning is soft, insinuating, and acute, and so adroitly did he act his part, that Moung-shway-guang, with his strong arm, and I, with the strength of truth, were scarcely able to keep him down.” Yet, after all these conversations with the Budhist teachers themselves, assisted by a knowledge of the language, Mr. Judson saw reason to determine that he had utterly mistaken the doctrine he had termed semi-atheism, and remarks at a later period of his mission — “ I begin to find that the semi-atheism, which I have sometimes mentioned, is nothing but a refined Budkism , having its foundation in the Budhist scriptures This is the point to which the eye and attention have been constantly recalled, by the feeling which every step in the investigation has strengthened, that while there is in Budhism - a generic term of most exalted perfection actually applied to numerous individuals, a Budha superior to the whole host of subordinate deities, there are also lurking in the system “ the glimmerings of an anima mundi , anterior to, and even superior to, Budha.
Budhism has a vein of doctrine which breathes of ambrosial odours and ambrosial flowers ; when both its services and altar stood side by side with those of the Hindu gods, and the worshippers of Brahma were delighted to honour the bright star of the Budha in the planet Mercury. The records of
For uie in Library only
; -IT