1855.] Chusan Archipelago. 325 



Om Manipadrne hum. 

 Om Vajrapani* hrinh. 



The first line is apparently the Vija-mantra or formula sacred 

 to a Bodhisattva of the name of Aripachani, the second, according 

 to Mr. Hodgson, is the Vija-mantra " of Padmapani the prcesens 

 divus of the theistic school of the Buddhists," and the third of 

 Vajrapani, the third celestial Bodhisattva and lord ascendent of 

 the last preceding age. 



The most peculiar characters of the formulae are the syllables 'jfU 

 Jirih, ^ hum, and sff: hrinh, but of their meaning nothing satis- 

 factory can be made out with the aid of the Sanskrita Dictionary 

 or Grammar : they are evidently mystic emblems and perfectly in- 

 dependant of all lexicons. 



Georgi in the Alphabetum Tibetanum, M. Klaproth in the Journal 

 Asiatique, and Professor Mill and Mr. Hodgson in the pages of this 

 Journal have discussed at great length the import of the first inscrip- 

 tion, and the first three are of opinion that the particle hum is equiva- 

 lent to the Sanskrita tathastu and the English Amen. This opinion 

 is supported by the author of the Medini who explains hum with the 

 word abhyanujna "assent," or " permission," and there can be no ques- 

 tion that that is the true meaning of the word when used in common 

 composition ; in connexion with vijamantras, however, we venture 

 to think the meaning is different. The particle in the second in- 

 scription is in the same position with the words hrih and hrinh and 

 appears to be almost convertible, and yet the latter have as yet 

 found no place assigned to them in any Sanskrita dictionary. In 

 the Kriyd-sangraha, seventeenf different particles are used to convey 



* The penultimate letter appears more like W pya or ^1 sya than ^T pa, and 

 the name may possibly be Bajrasattva, but the last letter being distinctly a «T na, I 

 think the inscription has received some scratch under the letter in question, and 

 that it is a ^T. 



2 u 2 



