NO. 1667. COLLECTION OF R0t^ARIE8—CASA^'0WICZ. 335 



of the deity. High-caste Brahmans merely employ it to assist them 

 in counting n\) their daily prayers, while the atscetics consider the 

 operation of counting a means of promoting contemplation and 

 mental abstraction, which is so highly prized by the Hindus. Devo- 

 tees attach great importance to the size of the beads, Avhich may vary 

 from small seeds to heavy balls as big as a human skull. Rosaries 

 are also worn by the Hindus as necklaces, and the Vishnu chaplet of 

 108 tulasi beads plays an important part in the ceremony of con- 

 firmation, or initiation, which children undergo at the age of or T, 

 when such a rosary is passed around their neck, and they are at the 

 same time taught some sacred formula or sentence to be recited by 

 them. There is no example of a Brahman rosary in the National Mu- 

 seum's collection. But in form and use it resembles the Buddhist 

 rosary, of which it apparently was the parent. 



II. THE BUDDHIST ROSARY. 



In the Buddhist rosary of 108 smooth beads may be . recognized 

 its Brahnum origin. In fact, the rosary and even prayer itself, must 

 be considered an accretion upon the simple original system of 

 Buddha, in which " personal divinity has almost faded into a mere 

 metaphysical idea." The rosarj^ in Buddhism is accordingly es- 

 pecially peculiar to the northern school (tlie Mahyana, or great 

 vehicle), with its belief in the merit and efficacy of meditation, and 

 in the potency of repeating mystic spells and formulas. But, though 

 thus borrowed from the outside, the rosary has attained in Buddhism 

 its widest diffusion and most general application. It forms an es- 

 sential part of a Buddhist monk's equipment. 



The Buddhists give the number 108 of the beads a symbolic signifi- 

 cation of their own : The number 108 is said to correspond to a like 

 number of mental conditions, or sinful inclinations, which are to be 

 overcome by the recitation of the beads." The number 108 seems 

 to have a special signification in the tradition and philosophy of 

 Buddhism ; 108 Brahmans were summoned at Buddha's birth to fore- 

 tell his destiny. The Burmese foot prints of Buddha have some- 

 times 108 subdivisions; the Kahgyur^ the Tibetan sacred writings of 

 Buddhism, are composed qf 108 volumes, and the white pagoda at 

 Peking is surrounded by 108 columns. So also in Japan, on the 

 festival of the dead (the hommatsuri or bonku), which is observed 

 from the 13th to the 15th of July, 108 welcome fires (niukaebi) are 



"In the Buddhist Forty-two Points of Doctrine, article 10. is written: "The 

 man, who in the practice of virtue applies himself to the extirpation of all 

 his vices, is like to one wlio is rolling hetween his hngers the beads of a chap- 

 let. If he continues taking hold of them one by one he arrives speedily at 

 the end. By extirpating his bad inclinations one by one a man arrives thus 

 at perfection." Compare Dr. Zertii in Juurn. Soc. Arts, May 1), IST"), 11. 4(31). 



