________________
212
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1906.
religious buildings as pagodas and monasteries are undoubtedly Chinese. The Tripitaka of the Northern and Southern Schools of Buddhism, makes no mention of a rosary, and yet the Burmans imported it from China. The most remarkable of all the coincidences is, that the terms relating to the fundamental acts of the votaries of Buddhism, namely, paja, dana, and namaḥ, hould be borrowed from the Chinese language, rather than from Sanskrit or Pâli.
The above facts appear to indicate that:
(i) Before the conquest of Thatôn by Anawrata, king of Pagan, in the eleventh century A. D., the Upper Valley of the Irrawaddy profes-ed the Mahayanist School of Buddhism.
(ii) At Tagaung, Prome and Pagan, in the early centuries of the Christian era, Chinese missionaries taught Buddhism in Chinese, side by side with Indian missionaries who taught it in Sanskrit, but Chinese political influence being in the ascendant, Chinese monks were in greater favour and their teaching made greater headway.
(iii) Indian missionaries who visited China, and Chinese missionaries who visited India, reached their destination through Burma, their route being through Bassein and Bhamo.
(iv) Burma, being a half-way house between India and China, received the converging influences of Buddhism; but the latter country being the nearer neighbour, Chinese influences became predominant.
FOLKLORE FROM THE CENTRAL PROVINCES.
BY MAIDERA N. CHITTANAH.
The King and his Clever Guard.
No. I.
मद न जाने कोई जात भूख न जाने मूखी भात ॥
प्यास न जाने धोबी घाट । नीन्द न जाने टूटी खाट ॥
In the capital of a certain King there dwelt a lovely girl of the sweeper caste who was a servant in the royal palace. It was her privilege to remove the delicacies left on the royal
table and take them home.
The king, in love with her beauty, used to visit her cottage every night, accompanied by one man as his guard. He spent the night there, ate with her the leavings from his own table, drank with her at the neighbouring washerman's ghat, and slept on a broken cot. In fact, he broke every rule of caste.
At dawn he returned home and summoned his Court. He then sent for the guard and told him to say truly what he had seen during the night, on pain of death. Through fear the guard used to falter and was led out to death.
This went on daily until the King came across a clever man, who had to accompany him to the hut, but determined not to be killed, like the others. So when he was called upon to tell the truth, he plucked up courage and said :
"Your Majesty, love is blind!"
"He is right," cried the King. "Let us hear more."
Encouraged by this the man went on: "Your Highness, hunger demands not delicacies."
All were impressed, but the subservient Court cried out: "Enough of your remarks, poor
morali t."
[In the Plate attached, col. 4, No. 12, Fu-to-tru should read Pu-t'i-tzu, and in col. 7, Pú. it should read Puti, ED.]
