334 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ^fU^SEr^I. vol. xxxvi. 



iteration, especially of prayers which have assumed a traditional 

 form, to the recital of which a particular merit or potency is attrib- 

 uted, must have early suggested some means of assuring accuracy of 

 the count, such as the fingers, pebbles, knotted cords, gradually evolv- 

 ing into the string of beads. 



Following the succession in time of the appearance of the rosary 

 in the several religious systems which are known to use it, the paper 

 will treat first of the form and manner of its use among the Hindus or 

 Brahmans; second, among Buddhists; third, among Mohammedans; 

 and, fourth, among Christians." 



I. TIIP] HINDI' OR I5UA11MAN KOSAKY. 



The Hindus are generally believed to have first evolved the rosary. 

 " It is not unreasonable to conjecture," says the noted Indianist, 

 Monier M. Williams, " that the original invention of the rosary is 

 due to India. * * * ^q other country in the world stands in such 

 need of aids to religious exercises. * * * The pious Hindu not 

 only computes his daily prayers as if they were so many rupees added 

 to his capital stock in the bank of heaven, but he sets himself to re- 

 peat the mere names of his favorite gods, and will continue doing so 

 for hours together." '' It is first mentioned in the Atharva Veda." 

 The Sanskrit name for the rosary is japcmiala, " muttering chaj^let," 

 and sometimes miarana, "• remembrancer." Corresponding to the two 

 great religious sects into which the Plindus are mainly divided there 

 are tAvo rosaries, different in material and number of beads used by 

 them. The rosary of the votaries of Siva is a string of 32 or 64 rough 

 berries of the rudraksha tree {Elaeocarf)us ganitrus) each generally 

 marked with five lines, the roughness perhaps symbolizing the austeri- 

 ties connected with the worship of Siva, and the five lines standing 

 for the five faces, or the five distinct aspects of the god. That of the 

 followers of Vishnu is usually made of the Avood of the tulasi, or holy 

 basil {Ocimum sanctum), a shrub sacred to Vishnu,'^ and generally 

 consists of 108 smooth beads. Hindu ascetics (yof/ls) are said to some- 

 times wear beads made of the teeth of dead bodies. The rosary is 

 used by the Hindus to count the repetition of the names and ejnthets 



"A. V. Williams Jackson, Pei'Sia. Past and Present, New York, 1900. p. 3n.">, 

 mentions that in connection with the funerary rites of the Parsees, or Zoroas- 

 trians in Persia, " The priest, with a rosary of beads, asks each of the mourn- 

 ers how many prayers he will offer in memory of the deceased." But nothing 

 further could be learned on the nature and use of the Parsee rosary. 



*The Athenaeum, February 9, 1878, p. 188. 



'^Compare E. Washburn Hopkins, The Religions of India, Boston and Lon- 

 don, 189.5, p. r..'-)7. 



"^"The tulasi shrub is pervaded by the essence of the great god Vishnu and 

 his wife Lakshnii, and is itself worshipped daily as a deity." J. (J. Frazer, Lec- 

 tures on the Early History of Kingshij), London, 1905, p. 15(3. 



