88 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (CEYLON BRANCH.) 



rule which follows the above provides for an enlarged 

 cushion or carpet. The reason stated in the legend is not 

 without importance. A priest by the name of Udayi once 

 sat upon a cushion of the above dimensions, and it was 

 thoroughly covered over by his robes, and Buddha altered 

 the above rule by 



4. Adding e a span of fringe to the above dimensions'. — 

 See lib. 2, cap. 1. This will raise the dimensions to 

 twenty-seven by twenty-two and-a-half inches — a space 

 which certainly suffices for the stoutest man to occupy. 

 But the next rule, as well as the first, which we have 

 noticed, suggests the propriety of an increased standard 

 for the measurement of the vidalthi. 



5. It was necessary to provide for those afflicted with 

 cutaneous diseases, with an under-shift, i. e. s a coil of cloth 

 round the loins; and the prescribed dimensions of this is 

 four by two spans; — See lib. 2, cap. 1, rule 8. 



This in English measure will be three feet by one and-a- 

 half feet. Supposing that the object was to prevent the 

 robes being saturated with matter in that part of the body 

 which is generally put into action by sitting down, it is not 

 reasonable to believe that three feet correctly represented the 

 rotundity of an ordinary man ; and from experience in this 

 country, we find that that length is barely sufficient to go 

 round the broader part of an ordinary man's body. 



6. In examining the provision as regards a bath-cloth 

 of a priest, we find it to be six by two and-a-half spans, or 

 four and-a-half feet by twenty-two and-a-half inches. 



The twenty-two and-a-half inches represent the width, 

 that is the space between the waist and the knee; and 

 though four and-a-half feet would be just sufficient to cover 

 the nakedness of the body ; yet, it will be granted, that in 

 order to give to all these rules as a body, reasonable effect, 

 we must raise the standard of our measure ; especially in 



