244 



Terms of address in use 



I shall now proceed to an investigation of religious titles 

 or " terms of address " to Budhist priests. On this subject, 

 the following passage occurs in the essay already so fre- 

 quently referred to : 



" A generic name for a Budhist priest is said by Bridgnell to be 

 rc-^B >?n d -^G> d (ganninnanse) probably from some root signifying 

 learning or wisdom, whence we have Ganesa the Hindu god of wisdom, 

 ganeya a poetical measure, and ganetiya the science of Arithmetic. But 

 Clough derives the word differently, and thinks it is an inferior term 

 applicable to the lowest order of priests." — p. 75. 



In my opinion, both Bridgnell and Clough have failed to 

 give the correct application of the word Ganninnanse. In 

 the first place, it is not a generic term for a e Budhist priest ' ; 

 although people of different creeds (other than Budhists) 

 vulgarly employ it, as well as the simple Unnanse, to signify 

 a priest. Sometimes also 6 gana ' is used without the nanse in 

 a contemptuous sense, as efC^c^^csac^cdsDcQ ! tantamount to 

 c look at that ganaya ! ' In the next place, it is not "an 

 inferior term applicable to the lowest order of priests." It is 

 properly the designation of the principal or the chief of a 

 semi-association; "the e?3«r5©cd lord of a cd-^ class;"* 

 or, in the language of Milindu, in the Milindapprasna ; the 

 " head of a sect having fraternities of his own." Hence it is 

 clear, that the word is not derived " from some root signify- 

 ing learning or wisdom:' Nor is it from any such imaginary 

 source that we get Ganisa the Hindu God of wisdom, 

 ganay a a poetical measure, and ganitaya the science of Arith- 

 metic. Ganisa and ganaya, like ganninnanse, are both derived 

 from the same root gana or ' class': — the ya in ganaya 



* A gana, according to the ceremonial doctrines of Budhism, is a class or semi- 

 association of not less than two nor more than four priests ; and Sanga is an asso- 

 ciation of any number of priests above four. Thus, the following passage in the 

 Milindapprasna, referring to the six Arahatwas or Tirthakas, ^ ^3&^eno&C<n 

 x*f$^e4 csC£g}S)3&:<?ke3es TO^O^Po en 6^.853 may be interpreted : "Their 

 Lordships, the six aforenamed, are hierarchs over [Sanga] associations, and [gana] 

 semi-astociationt" 



