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OCTOBER 1995.)
NOTES AND QUERIES.
303
ascertain the boais ou which the statement is thakathi a period of 1,000 years is assiyned to Founded. The Buddhists do not question the truth cach of the following classes of saints:-- of the statements in the Pali texts of the Tripitaka, (a) Patisambhidâparta; but they are at liberty to criticise the commen
(6) Sukkhavipassaka; taries, such as the authabthuis, leis, etc. In
(c) Anigami; the present case, the limit of the continuance of () Sakadagami; Buddhism is fised by the athukuthus, and not by
(e) Sotapanni. the Buddha himself.
In the Angutturatth.kathi a similar assignaThe Dichanikya, the Mhuingga of the Sulta- tion is inade, and the following are the classes:nitalere, and the Mal ipurinibbúnasuttu do not
(a) Pațisambhida patta; contain any allusion to the question, but distinctly
(6) Chbalábbiñña; say. On the other hand, that the succession of (c) Tevijjaka; monks will never be interrupted so long as (d) Sukkhavipassaka ; there is peace ind concord among them : " Sace,
(e) The observers of the Pdtimókkha. Subda, ime whilkhú samdvihureyyuria, asunno
Personally, I am inclined to think with Froude? loko aralunteki 1882."
that Truth is writ large on the tablets of eternity, In the Chilevaga, however, it is said that and that it is idle to set bounds to the limits of Gautama Buddha was averse to the admission of eternity muny into the Church, as he foresaw the risk
(20) Mahåvihára. accruing to the Order of Monks, and declared When Mahinda, the son of Asoka, was sent to that his Religion would last 1,000 years if no Ceylon after the 3rd Buddhist Council, Devanamnuns were admitted, but only 500 years if they piyatissa, king of that Island, after the manner of were. This is, of course, only a hypothetical Bimbisåra, king of Rajagriha, who presented the statement, and an euphemistio avowal of unwil.! Buddha with the V&ļuvana Monastery, presented lingness to recognize the Order of Nans which was the Missionary Prince with the Maha méghavana subsequently formed. But the commentators took villa, which came to be known as the Mahavihára. a serious view of the matter and, being constrained The vicissitudes of the Mahâ vibara sect are briefly to put a literal interpretation on the declaration, detailed in the Kalyani Inscriptions. prolonged the period of 1,000 years to 5,000, which
Taw Sein-Ko. they had no authority to do. In the Chulavaggat
(To be continued.)
.
NOTES AND QUERIES. A CEREMONIAL MUTILATION.
cause of this strange ceremony, they relate a long
legend. (F. Buchanan) (Hamilton's) Travels in In (Bachanan) Hamilton's East India Gazetteer
Mysore in Asiatic Researches.)" (1815), page 337, the following curious passage occurs:- “Near Deonella or Deonhully, a town
DENZIL IBBETSON in P. N. and Q. 1883. in Mysore, is a seat or sub-division of the Murresoo Wocul caste, every woman of which, pre
A HINDU HOUSE-WARMING. vious to piercing the ears of her eldest daughter, preparatory to her being betrothed in marriage, WHXN the house is finished Brahmans and mast undergo the amputation of the first joints
the friends of the family are feasted. The mistri of the third and fourth fingers of her right hand. I (master-builder) attends the dinner, and receives The amputation is performed by the blacksmith from the owner complimentary gifts, such as of the village who, having placed the finger in a shawls, tarban, clothes, and money, as his merits block, performs the operation with a chisel. If and the generosity of his employer dictates. the girl to be betrothed be motherless, and the During the building & lamp is often kept mother of the boy have not before been subjected burning all night. This is to prevent bhats to the amputation, it is incumbent on her to (ghosts), and churdla (female ghosts), and the like, suffer the operation. In these districts this caste from taking up a lodging in the new.abode. occupy about 2,000 houses, and for the original
J. L. KIPLING in P. N. and Q. 1883. 1 "First, it (history) is a voice for ever sounding across the chief offenders, but paid by some one. Justice and the centuries the laws of right and wrong. Opinions alter, truth alone ondure and live. Injustice and falsehood may manners ohange, creeds risecand fall, but the moral law is be long-lived, but doomsday comes at last to them, in written on the tablets of eternity. For overy false word or French revolutions and other terrible ways." - Frondo's nnrighteous deod, for cruelty and oppression, for lust or Short Strulios on Great Subjects, Vol. I. p. 27. Yanity, the price has to be paid at last: not always by [See Journal, Society of Arts, 1883, p. 739. - ED.)
