No. 11— 1858-9. j SINHALESE MYTHOLOGY. 



If 



Vijayot* ; his park, Nandana^ ; his chief elephant, Air&- 

 uana^i his bow,§ "the rain-bow," and his charioteer, Mdtali y 

 who is made to say by one of our poets — " Asuras are my 

 foes, Sakra is my lord : know thou that I am Matali, the 

 charioteer" : — 



Although he is the Regent of the East ; yet his Olympus is the 

 Mafia Mera. 



High heav'n the footstool for his feet he makes, 

 And, wide beneath him, all Olympus shakes. — Homer. 

 A Sinhalese poet briefly sums up Indra's attributes in the 

 following lines, wherein he is made to say ; " a possessor of 

 a thousand eyes, the chief of (both the worlds) heaven and 

 earth, the Regent of the East, I am called by men Sakra, the 

 supreme God." 



Guttila. 



1 shall briefly allude here to the character which this Deva 

 holds in Buddhistical works. There he has few of the at- 

 tributes which are described in the Purdnas, and is represented 

 rather as a venerable personage, the friend of the faithful 

 ministering to their wants and comforts, than as receiving 

 their homage, or as the object of their prayers. It is said of 

 Sakra, that he was a frequent hearer of Buddha's bana, that 

 he thereby obtained merit, and prolonged his own existence. 

 He is however characterized in several books, as being exceed- 

 ingly jealous of pious men, lest they may, after migrating 

 from their present existence, supersede him in his kingly 



Qddq 00032)3} 3d©Q33S$33i) §!S)6i.—Selalihini Sandtsa. 

 f 8§03 £<33g3} <33gs3 €)^3O30— Guttila. 



t 6^3<n)©3} £>c5e}33<33i®c5)i5s3 g<5©>sotf} 88£)d> ©333^.33.— Kusa Jdtaka 

 § " In India's bow, o'er yonder hillock ip\a,y."—Megha Dtita. 



D 



