264 ON THE^ RELIGION AND 



.bear a much ftronger refemblance to the wbrfhip of 

 >the Rahans^ than the accounts of Boiret. 



These various names applied to the god, of whom I 

 am treating, are all appellatives, expreffing his various 

 attributes, a^ we ufe the terms, almighty, the moft 

 high, and other fimilar phrafes, to denote the Creator 

 of the univerfe. Many other appellations of Boud- 

 DHA maybe feen in Paulinus, who copies them from 

 the Amarafinha^ a work of the Hindus ; but as I do not 

 know, that thefe titles axe ever bellowed on Godama 

 by thofe who worfhip him as the only god, I fhall 

 forbear to enum.erate them. 



The name by which this divinity was called on 

 earth, was probably Dherma or Dharma rajah; al- 

 though it mufl be obferved, that among the Hindus it 

 has never been cuftomary to call any prince by his 

 proper name. This cullom has been communicated 

 to the Burynas with fuch jftrength, that it is almoil im- 

 poffibie to learn the name of any prince during his 

 reign. His titles only can lawfully be mentioned; 

 and the law is enforced with fuch rigour, that Burmas, 

 even in Calcutta, fhudder when requefted to mention 

 the dreadful name; nor am I fatisfied, that either 

 Captain Symes, or I, could ever procure the real 

 name of the reigningmonarch. Dherma rajah {ignifies, 

 according to Paulinus, the virtuous or beneficent 

 king,*and may be only a title beftowedon thatprince, 

 whofe real name, as his reign ftill continues, it may 

 not be lawful to mention. This etymologift alfo al- 

 leges, that the name Hermes muft be derived from the 

 Sanjcrit word Dherma.^ fignifying virtue or benefi- 

 cence : although interpreter was imagined to be the 

 meaning of this word by the Greeks, as the father pro- 

 bably would fay, owing to their ignorance of the 

 Samfcrdam, as he has chofen to name the language of 

 the Hindus. His opinion however is fupported with 

 ingenuity; and the word Turm, which Winckelmann 

 luckily found upon two old pots in Italy, is by no 



means 



♦ Mus, Borg. page 75, 



