Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 211

COTOBER, 1931)
SCRAPS OF TIBETO-BURMAN FOLKLORE
183
Here the special unit for the spice-trade works out at 22-6 lb., which is the farsala we have already met a little further down the coast. The maund of 12 pounds (presumably Holland or nearly 13 lb.) used for provisions, etc., does not appear, so far as I can find, in earlier records we may guess it to be a retail maund, for the articles mentioned did not form part of Goa's principal export trade.
I have referred above to indications that the maund of about 25 lb. prevailed inland as well as on the coast. A few of these may be noted here. In the hinterland of Dabhol the maund Was 24 to 25 lb. (English Factories, i, 289); and at Hubli it was about 27 lb., or possibly some. what less (idem, xi, 344). In Useful Tables (i, 80 ff.), the following commercial maunds are recorded as current early in the nineteenth century: Bangalore, 25 lb.; Belgaum, 26 lb.; Bellary, 258 lb.; Coimbatore, 24 lb. ; Poona, 271 lb.; Hyderabad, 237 lb.; Madura, 25 lb.; Seringapatam, 241 lb.; and Trichinopoly, 25 lb. It may therefore be taken as established that this southern maund was generally, though not necessarily exclusively, employed throughout India south of the Tapti. There is no suggestion that it was ever prescribed by authority, nor do we know of any authority which could have prescribed it over the whole region; and the facts suggest that a unit of about 25 lb., with local variations, had come into general use, booause it was in some way or other convenient for packing and transport. Wheeled traffic was rare in this region in early times, and the unit is too small to make a load, or half-load, for any pack-animal; but it is conceivable that we have here a survival of the porter's load, that is to say, that a porter carried about 50 lb. (with small local variations) in two equal pack ages, slung banghy-fashion from his shoulders. On this guess the candy would represent the load of a gang of 10 porters, each carrying two packages of about 25 lb.
(To be continued.)
SCRAPS OF TIBETO-BURMAN FOLKLORE. BY THE LATE SIR RICHARD C. TEMPLE, BT.
(Continued from page 157.)
12. Prayer-walls. "Prayer-walls (p. 173) are very common in Tibet [Möndang). They consist of a thick stone or sun-dried brick wall of varying length, sometimes a few yards long and sometimes stretching for a quarter of a mile or more. They are frequently placed in the middle of the high-road, so that travellers may acquire merit merely by passing them in the prescribed way. In some cases prayer-wheels are set in the walls, and in nearly all cases tbe sides are ornamented with sacred inscriptions, or with bas-relief sculptures representing various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. As it is considered an act of great merit to erect such a prayer-wall, they are to be seen in the neighbourhood of nearly every village."
"On the Rong Valley.... (p. 206), alongside the roadway, were a number of prayerwalls. In these were placed a large number of prayer-wheels. .... These particular prayer-walls were of interest to me, because they contained inscriptions-invocations, which were not in Sanskrit as is usual (even Om mani padme Tuung is Sanskrit), but in Tibetan. and were, moreover, written phonetically, and not according to the classical spelling."
IV. SUPERSTITIONS.
1. General. “ There was (p. 334) a great deal of excitement in Lhasa, during the early part of my stay there, over a fire which broke out in the Potala. By a curious coincidence, I had been asking about fires in Lhasa only a short time before the conflagration, and though the Potala was a mile away and I was known to be in Sonam's apartments the whole time, some people wondered if my dark influence did not have something to do with the accident."
2. Boys in Processions. [On March 13th, 1923, was the procession of the festival in honour of the Blessed Maitreya, the Coming Buddha.] “Small boys (pp. 319-320) played a very important part in the