230 Terms of address in use 



Whilst on the subject of swami, I may perhaps here 

 notice another inaccuracy into which Mr. Stark has fallen, by 

 rendering Maha-himiya, e the great proprietor ' ; and in sup- 

 posing that the priest Seriyut was so called from his having 

 been e a great and distinguished author of his time.'* Himiya 

 here means sioamiya, "lord," and not "proprietor:" and 

 proprietorship and authorship are not convertible terms : nor 

 have they such a relation to each other as to render one 

 term applicable to the other in a secondary sense. 



Hamu-duruvo (see Sidath Sangarawa, p. 160,) is derived 

 from Himi, which comes from " Swami " — Sans. It does not 

 sustain, as stated by Mr. Stark at p. 74, the " combined sense 

 of master and instructor ;" for it is never used towards a lay 

 instructor, although it is peculiarly the appellation of the 

 last of the triad of Budhism, the priesthood. Yet the priest 

 does not obtain it in his capacity of "teacher" or "in- 

 structor :" it is given to him owing to his peculiar sanctity ,f 

 as ( one of the three gems of adoration and worship.' Fol- 

 lowing the practice of the Budhists in this respect, the Sin- 

 ghalese Kom an Catholics apply this term (Hamuduruvo) to 

 their priests. 



The designation of a "teacher" is guru, from (SKShd'e) 

 c honor,' ( respect,' veneration ' ; and in that sense it is also 

 applied to a parent.J It is used with the affix 025D£>5®sd and 

 <2>3oM®ed, when greater honor is intended ; yet it is a curious 

 fact, that the same word c^d^ when used with the affix 



* Probably Mr. Stark tell into this error by reading Armour's Kandian law, where 

 himi (as in lot himi, ' domination by right of purchase 7 ) is used in a secondary sense 

 to mean ' right of acquiest ; ' proprietorship. 7 



t " Of those who have no fixed habitation, the priests, the pase Budhas, and the su- 

 preme Budhas ; are the chief. 77 — Hai-dy's translations from Budhist Scriptures. 



X " The father who performs the ceremonies on conception and the like, according to 

 law, and who nourishes the child with his first rice, has the epithet of guru or vene- 

 r able. "—Institutes of Manu, 11. § 142. 



