Captain James Low on Bupp ma and the Phrabdt. 63 
The impression of the /eft foot of Bupp,ua, according to the belief of his 
followers in Siam, is extant on the top of the mountain Amala Sri Pada, or 
Adam’s Peak in Ceylon; which, both from its height, and the veneration in 
which its summit has been ever held by the natives, has attracted the atten- 
tion of most travellers. 
Dr. Leyden has noticed both these impressions under nearly similar 
names. * 
There was 2 Phrabdt at Mecca before the time of Islamism; and it no 
doubt gave additional sanctity to the place, even after the worship or vene- 
ration of it became extinct. Similar impressions are stated to have existed 
in former times on the bank of the Dniester, and in the country to the N.W. 
of China; and in modern times have been discovered in North America, as 
well as in various parts of Europe.t 
Without presuming to aim at establishing a system, which at best 
could only prove hypothetical, it may still be remarked, that some sort of 
connection can be traced betwixt a Phrabdt, or divine footstep, and that 
celebrated monument of antiquity called the Mensa Isiaca, or Memphine 
tablet which was found, it is said, on a mummy in Egypt by M. Mont- 
faucon ; and which displayed all the symbols which adorned the mystic bell 
of that country. It was about four feet long and nearly as broad, which is 
about the common dimensions of the Phrabdts, only these are longer in 
proportion. 
As the Phrabét is an object claiming from the Indo-Chinese nations a 
degree of veneration scarcely yielding to that which they pay to Bupp Ma 
himself, we are naturally led to inquire why the emblems it exhibits are not 
all adored individually as well as in the aggregate. It seems to be one of 
* Although I cannot at once agree with the learned Wilford, in supposing that Arahan was 
the Siamese Buppma, since the Siamese distinctly avow the contrary, by enumerating no less 
than eight chief Arahans ; yet the following remark is curious and deserving of attention, viz. 
“ That it was this personage who left impressions of his feet on rocks in very remote countries, 
as monuments of his extensive travels.”(a) And it will have appeared from the Bali account, 
here given, that the Siamese describe Phra Phuttha to have been no despicable traveller, as he 
traversed the four quarters of the world. 
+ Essay on Egypt and the Nile in “ Asiatic Researches.” 
t The genuineness of this table has, however, been called in question by some writers ; 
although not so in “ Maurice’s Indian Antiquities.” 
(a) Essay on Egypt and the Nile in “ Asiatic Researches.” 
