anwngst the Singhalese. 221 



S^*tf@.a$£'§*i©e8cS8oSS§ 8c^§© l ^8 l 8<& "Please 

 your Lordship, said he, I will firmly stand by the truth," &c. 



The word vahanse, like many other terms of address, of 

 which we may mention £g£D* nnba, had not originally a plural 

 form ; although in modern usage Co la is affixed to signify 

 more than one. It was probably this peculiarity which Mr. 

 Justice Stark failed to notice, when he remarked, at pp. 72, 

 73, that " the term &&>&ic§ cd was applied to the Bhudhist 

 priesthood in an associated or collective capacity, as in the 

 passage — C2ed8<£3 8 c<3 egej 8 SO d in the Jatakapota" — 

 where, the reader will observe, five priests are spoken of — an 

 association of five priests to whom Bhudha delivered his first 

 sermon, f 



Speaking of £e$<5j®*d as an honorific term by itself, which 

 cannot be called a pronoun, I may here notice a few others of 

 the kind which convey different and various degrees of 

 respect to the person addressed. They are ade or 



ep®ie)3° add, ©vSbQ hola, Q^JS)S bandai,% used as " terms of 

 address" with ©S3 3 to; as ef^SiJ @;8©eso 8(5 ' Come here 



fclloiV? ©SbC <3*>©<? ®©25DD© <2»<5tt<2»®i(j < To wllOlU 



didst thou thus speak, you fellow?" epic5 &)£d"£)c3 £5>8 6)<^ 

 csWS 8© ^8dc^c5 4 Why fellow, did 1 tell thee to take 

 the lease ?' &c. 



These epithets, like the pronoun are used both in an 



affectionate and a contemptuous sense; sometimes by the higher 

 towards the lower classes; and sometimes also by the lower 

 classes towards each other. This promiscuous use, however, 

 militates against the supposition to which Mr. Stark has 

 adverted, that ©3(3 is derived from ©£)j(j> 6 dross,' ' rubbish.' 



* See Sidath Sangarawa, p. clvii. 



t See Ceylon Asiatic Society's Journal, vol. I. p. 11. Also Bengal Asiatic So- 

 ciety's Journal, vol. VII., p. 815. 



| " In Nepaul," says the Rev. Spence Hardy, " the priests are called bandaya 

 (whence also the Chinese bonze,) which in Sanscrit signifies a person entitled to 

 reverence, from the word bandana."— E astern Monachism, p. 11. 



1858] 



