Indian Antiquary Vol 23

SR No.: 032515
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 412
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
It occurs in Ranna's poem called Sahasa-BhimaVijaya, or Gadd-yuddha, written at the end of the tenth century, the hero of which is the Chalukya prince Satyáśraya. The quotation forms the 26th padya of the 3rd dévása.
Kalasajan intum kolisida I
khalane gadam Dharmma-nandanam kraradinam- II
gala pesaram mareyisi Mam-1
galavaram Vadḍavaram embante valam || Having so caused Kalaśaja to be slain, is not the son of Dharma base ? Even as disguising the
name of evil (or unlucky) days in calling them Maigalavara and Vaḍdavara.'
The reference is doubtless to a common saying
that Tuesday, which is amangala or inauspicions, is called Maigalavâra, and that Yudhishthira, who was (in this instance) adharma or unjust, is called Dharma-raja. But as far as the meaning of Vaddavára is concerned, the passage demands that it NOTES AND BUDDHIST CAVES IN MERGUI. Referring to my "Notes on Ramannadesa," ante, Vol. XXII. p. 327 ff., I have lately been sent, through the kindness of Mr. H. G. Batten, Deputy Commissioner of Mergui, three ancient images of the Buddha found in that District. One is of wood, very much eaten away; one of iron or bell metal, so eaten away as just to prove by its appearance that it was an image of the Buddha; and one of some such mixture as the "tutenague,"i or white copper, of the old travellers. This last is still in good preservation, and had been either cast or stamped. All three bear a strong family likeness in general shape to those found by myself in the Caves about Maulmain.
These three images were found in the extreme south of Burma on the banks of the Lênyà River and in a Cave, and so are valuable to prove the spread of the cult of the Buddha in Caves.
The finder was Maung Maung, a Township Officer of the Mergui District, who writes of the find thus:
"In the Pratan Caves on the left tributary of the Lênyà River I found these remains. Tradition asserts the existence in this neighbourhood of the site of an ancient City, called Kosambi, which was destroyed about the middle of the 14th Century A. D. by the Great Thai (Shân) Race, who invaded the country from the north-east. I found vestiges of cultivation, but no remains beyond those now sent."
R. C. TEMPLE.
1 See Yule, Hobson-Jobson, s. v. Tootnague. [There are "Kosambis" all over Burma. They merely refer to the habit of giving classical names to old
[JUNE, 1894.
should be a name of auspicious import applied to a day which is really inauspicious. Now these conditions are exactly fulfilled in the case of Saturday (not Friday), provided we can interpret vadda as a word of good omen. On the analogy, therefore, of baddi (interest on money) from vriddhi, we may derive vada from vriddha, which signifies 'old, full-grown, large, augmented,' &c. This is sufficient for our purpose, for growth and increase are recognized signs of prosperity and good fortune. The idea of maturity is also not inappropriate as applied to the last day of the week. We seem, therefore, justified in concluding that Vadḍavara means Saturday.
The terms vadila thus explained will equally,
apply to a great merchant, to the principal taxes or to a famous village, the various connections in which it appears in inscriptions.
LEWIS RICE.
Bangalore, 10th January 1894. QUERIES.
SANSKRIT WORDS IN THE BURMESE
LANGUAGE.
Rájagriha Yazajo.
The Burmese word for the famous Buddhist site is written Rajagro and pronounced Yazajo. The Sanskrit name of the place is, of course, Rajagriha and the true Pâli name is Rajagaha. The Burmese gró cannot be got out of gaha, though it is the natural representative of griha.
Here then seems to be a clear instance of a famous name in constant use, connected with religion in Burmese, the Sanskrit form of which is preferred to the Pâli, pointing almost certainly to a Sanskrit usage anterior to Pâli usage in Burmese.
Bigandet, Life and Legend of Gaudama, Or. Ser. Ed., Vol. II., p. 181, practically admits the Sanskrit form when he writes: "Radzagio or Radzagihra, was the capital of Magatha or South Behar." Compare with the above state: ment the following from Fausböll's Játaka, Vol. I. p. 143, Lakkhanajataka:-"Atitê Magadharatṭhê Rajagahanagarê êko Magadharaja rajjam kârêsi," which Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 195, paraphrases: "Long ago, in the city Rajagaha, in the land of Magadha, there ruled a certain king of Magadha."
This instance seems dead against Mr. Houghton's argument, ante, p. 165, and J. R. A. S., 1894, p. 411 f., that Môr does not, in Burmese, represent Mêru and that mogh does not represent mégha, for there we have gró representing griha.
R. C. TEMPLE. sites in order to give a home to classical stories in their own land, which is so strong in the Burmese.-R. C. T.]