388 Analysis of the Kah-gyur. [Sept. 



which occurred previously in the 2nd volume of the Duu-va, and the 

 Sapta Buddhastava, short prayers or Mantras attributed to each 

 of the seven Buddhas which had a place in the 22nd volume of the 

 Do claps. 



The fifteenth article in the 11th volume is one of the numerous 

 proo's afforded by the cat logue of the intimate connexion of Manju' 

 Sri' with this part of the Buddhist ritual. It is styled Arya Manju, 

 Sri Mulct Tantra, the primary Tantra of the holy Manju' Sri'. 

 It is described as delivered by Sakya in the highest heaven, in the 

 course of a conversation with Manju' Sri' in the presence of the assem- 

 bled Bodhisatwas and gods. Besides descriptions of Mandalas, and 

 of various ceremonies, accompanied with numerous Mantras, it contains 

 a system of astrology, an account of the planets and lunar constella- 

 tions, of lucky and unlucky periods, and the characters of men born 

 under different planetary combinations. Sakya in this part of the work 

 predicts the birth of some illustrious characters in Indian literature 

 or history, as Panini and Chandragupta ; also of some eminent per- 

 sonages in his own faith, asNjvGARJUNA and Arya Sanga, entitled by 

 Mr. Csoma, the Aristotle and Plato of Buddhism, and said by him to be 

 the teachers of comparatively rational systems, speculative or practical, 

 in the Madhydmika and Yogdcharya schools, of which they were 

 severally the founders. Nagabjuna is a person who enjoys a very ex- 

 tensive but rather unintelligible celebrity in Hindustan. In the south 

 of India, he is the reputed author of works on alchemical medicine, and 

 in the introduction to the almanacks of Benares, he is commonly men- 

 tioned as the institutor of a Sdka or era yet to come, the last of the 

 Kali age. Nothing else is known of him to the Hindus. According 

 to the Bauddhas he flourished four centuries after Sakya, in the south 

 of India, and lived 600 years, traditions evidently connected with those 

 of the peninsula. Arya Sanga, according to Mr. Csoma, livedinthe 

 6th or 7th century after Christ. 



This Tantra is held in high estimation by Tibetan writers, and con- 

 tains a number of interesting particulars relative to the princes of 

 India, who fostered or who persecuted Buddhism. It was translated 

 by order of a Raja of Tibet, named Chang-chu-bhot, at Tholing, in 

 Gu-ge above Geihwal and Kamaon, in the 11th century, by Kumara 

 Kalasa Pundit, and the Gelong, Sakya Lo-gros. 



The 12th volume contains two works of the same name and sub- 

 stance, but differing in their source ; one being translated from Chinese 

 and the other from Sanscrit. The Tibetan title is, Dehi shing kini kwaug 

 medjwahi shing wang kyang. The Sanscrit, Arya Suverna prabhdsa 



