Indian Antiquary Vol 22

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

Page 37

MISCELLANEA.
JANUARY, 1893.]
other hand, the vocalic ri of the Sanskrit would be naturally rendered first by ri in Burmese, (the r being still extant,) after which the strengthening or vriddhi on the elision of a final a, of the vowel i to ai, (the modern sound of the vowel) though somewhat anomalous in Burmese is a perfectly legitimate example of the compensation for the loss of a vowel common in many languages. The late date of the introduction of this word into Burmese is also borne out by the final letter k which shews that the modern practice of confusing the sounds of final k and t was already in existence. The application of the epithet amraik (amrita) to the Buddhist nirvdna is obviously modern and needs no discussion here.
According to the corrected spelling, the Sanskrit abhisheka (f) is represented in Burmese by bhisik, (not bhissik,) which word is if anything rather nearer to the Pali than the Sanskrit. This is, however, a matter of small importance, as this word was very probably indeed introduced by the Brahmans with the king of Burma. It may be added that the fact of the penultimate vowel in the Burmese form being i and not é is a proof of its late introduction (see amrita).
With regard to chakra, (transliterated by chakrá in accordance with the Burmese tendency
to throw the accent on the second syllable), this word originally meant the disc of Vishnu and has since come to mean any supernatural weapon. The Burmese use it partieularly to denote the weapon of Sakrå (see below), but a far commoner word is chak, which is obviously derived from the Pâli chakka. We have therefore in Burmese two forms of the original root, one of which is very commonly used, and has formed compounds with several indigenous words, whilst the other is comparatively rare and is used principally in the language of flattery and in the more 'high-falutin' books. Under these circumstances the inference is irresistible that the former or Pâli word was that originally used, and that the Sanskrit word has been introduced subsequently by some courtly scholar.
Chakravala,
meant originally in Sanskrit the range of mountains supposed to encircle the world, but in Burmese it means generally the world itself. The received cosmogony in Burma with its central Mrang 8-môr, (Mêru) mountain,
[It would be interesting to know how the author would account for mir Méru.-ED.
s Mr. Taw Sein Ko is doubtless right in deriving this word from kalpa, but at the same time the words allapaHapa quoted by him are always pronounced, in Arakan
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&c. &c., is so obviously of Brahmanical origin that little importance could in any case be attached to this word. It seems very probable that the Burmese have derived their cosmogony from the Brahman astrologers at the Court.
The same observations apply to shakravati, universal ruler,' as to ohakra, the word having probably come into use through the courtiers at the king's court, (and who are more cunning flatterers than the Brahmans ?). The last syllable we would derive direct from the Sanskrit nominative vartt, the Burmese phonological ideas coinciding very much with those of the old speakers of Pali.
Chankram. This seems to be rather a doubtful Sanskrit word, at any rate it is not given in Monier Williams' Dictionary. There may possibly be such a word with the meaning "promenade" derived like chankrama from kram, but, so far as we can see at present, authority is wanting, and such being the case it is unnecessary here to discuss further this word.
The Sanskrit dravya , meaning 'stuff' or wealth,' (and generally used in Southern India with the latter signification) becomes drap in Burmese spelling, but is there used solely in philosophical works to signify 'substance' or 'matter,' and has never come into common usage. It is evidently a purely scientific term probably introduced by some translator of a Sanskrit work on philosophy. As regards the word for planet (groh) we need only say that if any word was likely to be introduced by the Brahman astrologers it would be this.
The Sanskrit kalpa, FT, and the Pali kappa have both derivatives in Burmese, namely kambhús and kap, but as precisely the same observations apply to these as to chakrd and chak it is unnecessary to discuss them further.
Mrigasiras मृर्गाशरस् and Pushya पुष्य, are merely the names of two lunar nakshatras and it is therefore natural to find the Burmese equivalents derived from Sanskrit and not from Pali.
Parisat, (as it is now spelt,-not parisad) is defined in Judson's Dictionary as a 'religious assembly,' but it is also used for an assembly in general. The original Sanskrit word means rather a 'council,' as in a Court, or an assembly of ministers, and it is not a violent assumption to
at least, as spelt, and not'as antipa-sanlapa. The change of final to n is however not unknown in the TibetoBurman family, ef. Lushai lal, and Southern Chin lan, 'a chief.'