GOO A few Gleanings in Buddhism. [Dec, 



tat, who was crucified by order of Buddha/'* " Devatat being, several 

 times worsted in his wars with Buddha, made overtures of peace, and 

 Samana Gautama consented on three conditions, first to worship God, 

 then his word, and lastly himself. This last article was rejected, and 

 Tevatat was worsted in the next battle and was taken prisoner, and im- 

 paled alive by order of Buddha, and his limbs trussed up upon a dou- 

 ble cross, and in that state hurled into the infernal regions."f I sus- 

 pect, with exception of Devatat' s enmity to Buddha, the rest of this 

 account is apochryphal ; first, there was no prominent self-existent God 

 in the then Indian systems ; secondly, it does not appear that Buddha 

 inculcated at any period the worship of himself in his earthly shape, 

 and doubtful if he did so in his future one ; and thirdly, such a cruelty 

 inflicted on his enemy was in direct contradiction to the whole tenor of 

 his life, which was marked by practising and preaching humanity, for- 

 giving even the person who poisoned him. 



Buddha's disciples were we know numerous enough. They are 

 classed by the Buddhists of Siam as Arahdns. The chief of these 

 was P'hra Arahan, but he is stated in the 10th Vol. of the Asiatic 

 Researches "to have been Siva or Uranus, who both preside over 

 astronomy." But the inference or identification does not appear to me 

 to have been proved. His followers are likewise described as having 

 at one period been the most powerful amongst the heterodox sects, 

 meaning the Buddhists in this instance. 



The Phra Arahan are borne on the Siamese war flag under the sym- 

 bol o£ 8 as there were eight of them — and they are represented in their 

 various stages of the metempsychosis under various forms of half-human 

 half-bestial ; or with human heads peeping out of shells, as in Sancha- 

 dwip. 



In the Pali Book called by the Siamese Milin, which I have sup- 

 posed to be the Milinda Raja, and of which I have, as already noticed, 

 a copy, there is a section or passage descriptive of the Arahanta, who 

 are rated at 100,000. Amongst these were pre-eminent 



Assakhutta Thero, who full of divine inspiration, abode on the top 

 of the mountain Yukhunthan, (Vicuntha, I suppose,) and who had 

 gone to call Nagasena down (from heaven) when he was a Devatta. 



* As. Res. Vol. x. p. 44. f As. Res. Vol. x. pp. 94, 95. 



