BAUDDHA TRACTS FROM NEPAL. 473 



The eighth lunar day of every half month is a day peculiarly appropriat- 

 ed to religious ceremonies in the orthodox system. In the Vaidik creed, it 

 was customary to fast, and offer oblations to the gods in general on this day, 

 and the PaurdniJcs made it sacred to different divinities, particularly to Vishnu. 

 The Tdntrikas have devoted the eighth day of certain months to the celebra- 

 tion of rites, which have no exclusive object, but are intended to secure the 

 prosperity of the observer, and in this they have been apparently imitated 

 by the Bauddhas of Nepal. 



The opening of the work, announcing the intention of the worshipper, 

 refers briefly to several of the leading topics of the verses of the Panchavin- 

 satika. Thus ; 



*' In the period of the Tathdgata Sakya Sinha, in the Bhadrakalpat in the 

 Lokadhdtu named SaJiA, in the Vaiwaswata Manwantara, in the first quarter of 

 the Kali age, in the Bharata division of the earth, in Northern Panchdla, in the 

 Det!asi(ka Kshetra, in the Upachhandoha Pitha ; in the holy land Aryavertta ; 

 in the abode of the King of Serpents, Kerkota, in the lake called Ndgavdsa, in 

 the region of the Chaitya of Swayambhu, in the realm over which Guhyeswari 

 PrajnX presides, and which the fortune of Manju Sri protects, in the kingdom 

 g£ Nepal, of the form of that of ^n Samvara, and invincible, encircled by the 

 eight VitardgaSy Manilingeswara, Gokerneswara, Kileswara and Kumbheswara, 

 Garttesvara, Phanikeswara, Gandhesa and Vikrameswara, watered by the four 

 great rivers Vdgmatiy Kesavatiy Manimati, and PrabMvati, sanctified by the 

 twelve greater and six lesser Tirthas, and by the edifices on the four mountains, 

 governed by the seven Sages, honoured by the Yoginis, the eight Mdtrikas, 

 the eight Bhairavas, Sinhini, Vydghrlni, Ganesa, Kumdra, Mahdkdla, Hdriti, 

 Hanumdn, the ten ministers of wrath. In such a place, at such a time, before 

 such a divinity, I (naming himself and family) perform this rite, with my wife 

 and household." The objects of the ceremony are then enunciated, generally. 



