No. 35.— 1887.] notes on j&takas. 



179 



Taking the legend then as recorded by Buddhaghosa for the 

 stand-point whence to view the question, there seems to be 

 justification for saying that General Cunningham is wrong in 

 supposing that the tree before which the Naga Raja was kneel- 

 ing was the Bodhi tree of Buddha, although he is correct in 

 translating the legend : " E'rapatra the Naga Raja worships 

 Buddha," — that Professor Childers is wrong in supposing that 

 the Serpent King worshipped the Bo tree, — that Mr. Fergusson 

 is singularly sagacious and correct in his belief that the tree 

 which the Naga Raja worshipped was not the Bodhi tree of the 

 last Buddha, but a tree of a totally distinct species, although 

 wrong in supposing that " Bhagavat is used here to 

 mean only the holy or sacred thing or person, a deity 

 or numen,"— and that Mr. Beal is correct in his supposition 

 that the Naga Raja's worship was directed to Buddha, 

 and not to the tree. 



The grammatical objections raised by Professor Childers 

 still remain, but I am inclined to think they can be 

 explained. 



Bhagavatd is both genitive and dative, and I think in this 

 connection it may be taken as the dative. There is a legend 

 given by General Cunningham which runs thus : — "Ajdta- 

 sata Bhagavatd vandate " (" Ajatasata worships Buddha "). 

 Bhagavatd is certainly in the dative case here, and is governed 

 by vandate ("worships"). In Sinhalese, which Professor 

 Childers has so recently and so ably proved to be an 

 Aryan dialect derived from Pali, vandinawd, the equivalent 

 to vandate, usually governs the dative. We say "Budunta 

 vandinaiva" ("to worship Buddha"). 



There is also a rule in Pali grammar which seems to have 

 some bearing on this point, to the effect that namo (" honour," 

 "reverence," "salutation") governs the dative. The rule 

 occurs in Kachchayana. It is as follows : — 



"Namo yogddisvapica (Chatutthi)," i. e., "Namo, 're- 

 verence,' i salutation,' governs the dative, as : — " 



I have also found one instance at least in which the verb 

 nama (equivalent to vandate) governs the dative. 



