LITERATURE OF THE BURMAS. 263 



SjAKA.* The name Shaka Sir William Jones 

 wrote Sakya, and Paulinus Shakya. It fignifies, 

 according to that learned etymologift, the cunning, 

 the god of good and bad fortune t. From China xht 

 religion of Shaka feems to have fpread to JapaUy 

 Tonquin^ Cochinchina, and the molt remote parts of 

 Tartary. 



It muft however be obferved, that the religion of 

 Cochinchina, defcribed by Boiret J as that of But, 

 That-dalna, Nhin-nhitc or Thica Mauni-phut, 

 and alleged to have been introduced from Ceylon in the 

 reign of the Chinefe cmpcroT Minh-de, feems to differ 

 in many effential circumftances from the doftrine of 

 the Burma RaJians. The Cochinchineje 2Jt alleged to 

 fuppofe, that But created the heavens, the earth, and 

 indeed the whole univerfe: and from Boiret's men- 

 tioning that they adore But as the principal deity, wc 

 may infer, that they allov/ of other gods. The priefts 

 of the Coc/zmcArnf/e arc alleged to be pretenders to the 

 arts of magic, enchantment and necromancy, and to 

 implore the divinity to affift them in fuch deceptions. 

 In thefe circumitances the worlhip of But in Cochin- 

 china differs from that of Bouddha in Ava; and I 

 fufpeft, that there, as well as in China, the prevailing 

 vulgar religion is the worfhip of the gods of the 

 Brahmens freed from the doctrine of calt; and that 

 Bouddha is with them the favourite god, as different 

 members of the Egyptian theocracy in different places 

 met with very different degrees of refpe6l. Still how- 

 ever the accounts I have feen of the vulgar religion in 

 thefe eaftern regions are very unfatisfaftory; and the 

 hints given us by Alexander of Rhodes^ || concern- 

 ing the dotlrine of Thicga in Tonkin smd Cochinchina^ 



S 4 bear 



* K^EMPFaR, Amcrn. Exot, 6q8, as quoted in Harris's voy. 



2g«j I- 543- 



+ Mus. Borg. pag.8o. % Paulinus Mus. Borg, pag. 8g et feq. 

 j] Didionarium AnamAticum Rome, 1651, page 761. 



