INSCRIPTION FROM BUDDHA GAYA. 



177 



rebuilt. The vakeels also read the number in the inscription as twelve and not 

 twenty-one. 



18. — Padetha is a tree said to exist in the Nat mansion, and in the northern of the 

 four islands forming the Burmese world. It is said to bear clothes and every other 

 article of necessary use, as well as fruits and flowers, and imitations of this tree are made 

 by the Burmese with bamboos having flowers ; cups, umbrellas, cloths, &c., hanging to 

 the branches, and presented to temples and monasteries. These trees usually form a part 

 of religious ceremonies in Ava, and for a further account of them reference may be made 

 to Dr. Buchanan's paper in the Gth volume of the Asiatic Researches. 



19. — It is a very common custom with the kings of Ava to have themselves weighed 

 in gold or silver, and to apply the amount to some religious purpose. The our" in the 

 inscription is supposed to mean the king Aloung-tsee-thoo, the chief of the 100,000 

 Pyoos, and the priest WaRadaTHI. The weight in silver of the bodies of these three 

 personages could not have amounted to so considerable a sum as one might at first 

 imagine, for allowicg that their average weight was 11 stone 462 lbs. avoirdupois or 

 561 lbs. imperial troy weight, the whole would not have exceeded 127^ viss of Burmese 

 dain silver, or about sicca rupees 16,507. In the year 1774, the whole of the great 

 Dagon pagoda at Rangoon was gilded with gold of the bodily weight of the then king of 

 ^va, TsHEN-BYOO-YEN. The weight of his majesty on that occasion is stated in the 

 30th volume of the large Burmese History to have amounted to 47 viss and 37 ticals, 

 that is, about 12 stone 3 lbs., and in sicca rupees the value would be about 94,080. This 

 pagoda is now being again gilded, and the sum collected for the purpose from the inha- 

 bitants of the country is said to be equivalent to a lac of rupees. , 



20. — Neibhan is the Burmese heaven — literally, emancipation from the round of 

 existence to which all animal life is supposed to be doomed, until liberated by good works 

 and placed in a state of quietude like that of annihilation. 



21. — Rahandas, or as usually pronounced YaJiandas, are inspired apostles of 

 BooDH, possessing miraculous powers, such as, being able to sit upon water without 

 sinking, to drive through the earth, &c. It was only five or six years ago that a 

 Burmese priest pretended to be a Yahanda. He was summoned to Ava and treat- 

 ed with great respect, until he was prevailed upon to give a proof of his holy 

 character, by performing the miracle of sitting upon water. He was fool enough 



to try to perform this feat, and of course soon sunk down. The king ordered 



2 w 



