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NOTICE OF
peculiarly appropriated to religious ceremonies in the orthodox system. In the Vaidik creed it was customary to fast, and offer oblations to the gods in general on this day, and the Pauráňiks made it sacred to different divinities, particularly to VISHNU. The Tántrikas have devoted the eighth day of certain months to the celebration of rites, which have no exclusive object, but are intended to secure the prosperity of the observer, and in this they have been apparently imitated by the Bauddhas of Nepal.
The opening of the work, announcing the intention of the worshipper, refers briefly to several of the leading topics of the verses of the Panchavinsatiká. Thus:
"In the period of the Tathugata Śákya SINHA, in the Bhadrakalpa, in the Lokadhátu named Sahá, in the Vaiwaswata Manwantara, in the first quarter of the Kali age, in the Bharata division of the earth, in Northern Panchála, in the Devasúka Kshetra, in the Upachhandoha Pitha; in the holy land Aryávartta; in the abode of the King of Serpents, KARKOT A, in the lake called Nágavása, in the region of the Chaitya of SWAYAMBHÚ, in the realm over which GUHYEŚWARÍ Prajná presides, and which the fortune of ManJU ŚRÍ protects, in the kingdom of Nepal, of the form of that of Sri Samvara, and invincible, encircled by the eight Vítarágas, Manilingeswara, Gokarneswara, Kileswara and Kumbheswara, Gartteswara, Phanikeswara, Gandheśa and Vikrameswara, watered by the four great rivers Vágmatí, Keśavati, Manimati, and Prabhávatí,
