No. 35.— -1887.] NOTES ON JATAKAS. 



201 



and detailed account of the purchase, but at present I confess I do not 

 know where to look for it. It is, however, probably in one of the early- 

 books of the Tripitfaka, and, if so, we shall meet with it sooner or later. 

 In the meantime the friends of Buddhism may well rest satisfied with 

 having found graven on the rock, 200 years before Christ, the very words 

 of those South Buddhist records which a certain set of critics are for 

 ever proclaiming to be devoid of antiquity and authenticity. 



R. C. Childers. 



JO. 



My dear Mr. Childers, Colombo, February 9, 1875. 



I thank you for kindly sending me the copies of the Academy which 

 contain your remarks on the Bharahut inscriptions and sculptures. 

 I was greatly interested in reading them. 



In the Academy of November 28 last, No. 134, with reference to 

 the legend Erapato Naga Raja Bhagavato vandate which General 

 Cunningham translates, " Erapatra the Naga Raja worships Buddha," — 

 and I think correctly — you say this rendering is quite inadmissible, first 

 because Bhagavato is a genitive, while vandate governs an accusative 

 •and seconly because the Bo tree which the Naga king is worshipping 

 can by no possibility be called Bhagavat, and you propose to read 

 Erapato Naga Raja Bhagavato bodhim vandate. I am sorry I cannot 

 agree with you in this opinion. I think that in this legend, 

 as well as in the one Ajdtasata Bhagavato vandate (Proceedings 

 Bengal A. S., May, 1874, p. 112), Bhagavato is the in dative case, and 

 though vandate according to strict grammar governs the accusative, I 

 think in irregular Pali it sometimes governs the dative. At least it is 

 so in Sinhalese, which you so recently and so ably found to be an 

 Aryan dialect. In Sinhalese we say either e)^<33£to, Budun 



vandinavd, or gjgsj'O £)^<so£b, Budunta vandinavd. There is a rule 

 somewhat similar to this in Kachchayana, Namo yogddisvapica (Senart's 

 " Kaccayana," vol. I,, p. 340). 



I have found the legend of Erapatta Naga Raja in the Dhammapada 

 Atthahathd (Fausboll). Mr. Fergusson's opinion that the tree which 

 Erapatra is worshipping is not the Bodhi tree of the last 

 Buddha at all, but one of a totally different species, will turn out to 

 be perfectly correct. I may be permitted to add that Erapatta is 

 not worshipping a tree at all, but Buddha, as General Cunningham in 

 my humble opinion has rightly translated it. The legend as given in 

 this Dhammapada Atthahathd clearly explains this. Fausboll does 

 not give the legend, although he gives some extracts from it (vide 

 Fausboll " Dhammapada," p. 344, v. 182). 



In the legend it is stated that Erapatta Naga Raja met Buddha near 



