!85 Ox 



THE RELlGlOy AN© 



*' XII. The northern, eastern, and M'estcrn- 

 islanders, after death, do not pass into the supe- 

 rior habitations ot'the Nat, nor into the interior 

 of th€ Apt' or damned, as do the inhabitants of 

 our southern island Zahitdiba ; but are constantly 

 born anew, inhabitants of the same island to which 

 they formerly belonged. And although this in 

 some respects be desirable, especially to the inha- 

 bitants of the northern island ; yet, whoever is en- 

 dowed with reason and judgment, say the Burma 

 doctors, would not wish to become an inhabitant 

 of the northern, in preference to the southern 

 island r for it is in this last only that a person, by 

 the merit of his good actions, can raise himself to 

 the superior habitations of the Nat^ or to that 

 most perfect of 'AW states called Nieban. Hence 

 it is that, in the Burma scriptures, this southern 

 island is called the Ford oi Nieban.'" 

 " XIII. After mankind, come the six ranks of 

 Nat or genii, and their habitations, which are 

 called: — 1. Zadumaharit, 2. Tavatdnza, 3. Jama, 

 4. Dussida, 5. Neinmanarati, 6. Paraneimmata- 

 vassanti* ; besides these there arc the Rupa and 

 Arupa. The bon or habitations of the Nat are 

 thus disposed ; in the plane commencing at the 

 summit of Ji/gando, an<l thus extending from the 

 middle of Al'ienmo to the mountains Zctckiavala 

 which surround this earth, is the habitation of the 

 first rank of Nat, called Zadumaharit. To this 

 rank belong the sun, moon, planets, and stars, 

 which, according to the Burma writings, are the 

 palaces of certain Nat called Zadumaharit. Be- 

 ginning at the summit of Mttnmo, and extending 

 from thence in a plane to ZttchiaTula, is the ha- 

 bitation of the second rank of Nat called Tava- 

 ttinza. Forty-two thousand juzana above the 

 Tavateinza, is the habitation oi\\\<iJama : and above 

 that, always at the same distance of ^%^Qi'^ juzana 

 from each other, are the habitations of the other 



" three 



* The Brahmens, into these six abodes of the Nat, have introduced 

 tl:c'r Gods with their families. See Paulini Mia, Borg. pngc 'J33, 



