1844.] Remarks on a Boodhist Coin. 573 



I look therefore upon those Deghopes as more modern then the he- 

 mispherical " tsedya". The form however of the " tsedya" before us, 

 which I may call a scenite " tsedya," is not, to the best of my knowledge, 

 found on coins, although, according to Col. Sykes, a complicated one 

 exists sculptured on the rocks of the cave temples; there is however, 

 an approach to one figured the last in the row of " tsedyas" given by 

 Col. Sykes, in the plate accompanying the notes above referred to; 

 it is represented (fig. 6) in our plate, but this is a true and correct 

 " tsedya;" for the individual objects of which it is composed are trine 

 in their combination. It is to be remarked, that 3 is a most sacred 

 number in the mind of a Boodhist, endeared to him as symbolic of 

 the most sacred tenets of his faith ; not only typifying the holy Triad, 

 " God, the Law, and the Congregation," but also calling to his recol- 

 lection the three ways by which he progresses to Nieban, " the not to 

 be ;" the three grades of initiation before he can attain the crowning 

 point of his craft. If we count then the number of hemispheres in the 

 base and each side of the " tsedya" (fig. 4,) or the number of quad- 

 rangular figures in the " tsedya," (fig. 6,) we shall find there are 

 three in each face; making by counting in that way 9 in the 

 three faces, forming a trebly expressive symbol of the expres- 

 sive three; for this reason, nine was ever held as a mystical and 

 holy number among Boodhists, hence its Burman name Ko, ** to 

 worship, reverence," hence likewise its Pali representation by the 

 nana radana, or nine jewels;" Burmanised into ndwd ra, "the 

 essence of the nine," these jewels were worn, set in a ring, as a 

 charm against every evil. In our " tsedya" however (fig. 6,) we have 

 10 upright glyphs, thus vitiating the whole. The scenic "tsedya" is 

 the prototype of the modern " Pyaththad" 



The next mark to which I wish to call your attention, are the two 

 similar upright figures on the right and left of the "tsedya," (b. b. 

 fig. 1.) These are representations of the head of the Cobra Capella, 

 (Coluber Naga.) This is an interpolation of the Semitic myth of the 

 Dragon, &c. into Boodhist story, and which does not properly belong 

 to it ; the account in elucidation of this will be found in the accom- 

 panying note,* and will at once point out its Brahminical origin. 



* Gaudama remained with bis family till be was 29 years of age, he bad married 

 and had had one son ; lie then left his family and kindred and wandered in the 



