Indian Antiquary Vol 22

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 24

12
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1893.
mark the extent of the sima. At the distance of about ten feet from the boundaries thus marked an outer boundary-line is indicated. The land enclosed within these two boundary-lines is levelled and cleared and besmeared with mud. When the mud is dry, allotments of space, measuring six by three feet, are marked out in rows with lime or red earth, and an awning is constructed over the whole ground. Then a Chapter, consisting of ten or fifteen priests, take their seats in the first allotment of space in the first row and proceed to intone by turns the kammavách for the desecration of & sima, it being held negessary that, for the proper consecration of the new simd, the one which may possibly exist on the same site, should be first desecrated. This ceremony is repeated till the last allotment of space in the first row is reached. The priests then seat themselves in the last allotment of space in the second row and continue the intonation of the same kammaváchd. The same ceremony is repeated till the first allotment of space in the second row is reached. Thus, once in a forward order, and then in a reverse order of the allotments of space arranged in rows, is the same kammaváchá intoned till the number of rows has been exhausted. The ceremony of desecrating & simá is repeatedly performed for about a week or ten days. After this, one or two days' rest is given to the officiating priests.
Twenty or thirty learned and qualified priests are now selected ; and they proceed to mark the limits of the proposed simá, such limits being smaller in extent than those of the visungáma. At the four corners of the site of the simá, and also on its sides, pits are dog deep enough to hold as much water as will not dry up before the conclusion of the intonation of the kammavacha for the consecration of a sima - Buch water being regarded as the boundary. At the distance of a foot and a half from these pits, towards the inside, bamboo trellis work is set up, and the space thus enclosed is decorated with various kinds of flags and streamers, water-pots covered with lotus and other flowers, plantain trees, sugarcane, cocoanut' flowers, baby leaves, and nézá grass. The awning mentioned above is likewise adorned with a ceiling of white cloth and with festoons of flowers.
Meanwhile, the pits are continnally filled with water, so that it may not dry up before the ceremony is over. When the time approaches for the ceremony to begin, no more water is poured into the pits. Near each of them, a junior priest is stationed to furnish the officiating senior priest with replies in respect of the boundaries of the simá. At the appointed hour, the senior priest, holding a kammaváchá, slowly walks along the boundary-line of the simá. Approaching the Eastern water-boundary' be asks: "Puratthimaya disdya kin nimittari and the junior priest answers: - "Udakas, bhanté." Similar questions and answers are asked and given also at the South-eastern, Southern, South-western, Western, North-western, Northern, and North-eastern points of the site, and to make the boundary-line continuous, also at the Eastern and South-eastern points, which have already been proclaimed. The questions and answers are asked and given first in Pali and then in Burmese. The same ceremony of proclaiming the boundaries is repeated by two other senior priests in succession. After the boundaries have thus been proclaimed three times, the kammavaoha for the consecration of & samanasam vasakasima is intoned seven (or eight) times by three of the priests at a time. After this, the kammaváchå relating to the consecration of an avippavasasima is chanted.
At the conclusion of the above ceremonies, a statement recording the year, month, day, and hour at which the sima was consecrated, the names of the senior priests who officiated at the os emonies, and the name of the sima, is pablicly read out. Lastly, in honour of the occasion, cdrums and conch-shells are sounded, and muskets are fired, and a shout of acclamation is raised by the people.
The above account is similar to that recorded in the Kalyani Inscriptions, which are frequently cited or appealed to as the ruling authority on the ceremonial relating to the consecration of simas.