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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VOL. XIV. 



and were used in all important matters, especially in religious rites 

 According to Hindu ideas, the left-handed chank was not as useful 

 as the right-handed one, but the latter was not so rare as was supposed. 

 Even now right-handed chanks could be bought in Calcutta for about 

 Rs. 200 or Rs. 250 each. 



Mr. Fernando, replying to Mr. Lawrie, said that the description 

 read that evening was of the ceremony of the inauguration of King 

 Devanampiyatissa, in whose reign Buddhism was introduced to 

 Ceylon by Mahinda. Dhammasoka, who is said to have sent the 

 Kshatria maiden and the chanks for the inauguration, was the father 

 of Mahinda ; he was the great Asoka under whom Buddhism in India 

 received so great an impetus. There could thus be no doubt that 

 the ceremony was adapted to Buddhism from Hinduism. It was the 

 Buddhistic child of a Hinduistic parent. Replying to Mr. de Win ton, 

 he said he had interpreted grahapatl as pater familias, or head of 

 a household, assail and pater were of the same root. 



The Chairman pointed out that it was not so. " Pati " was derived , 

 not from the same root as pater, but from the same root as the Latin 

 po tis and potens. It had nothing to do with the word "father," but 

 implied having " power over " the house. Referring to a remark of 

 Mr. Fernando that the best authority on the subject was the Mahd- 

 wansa, his Lordship said that, excellent as was the Mahdwansa, and 

 great as was its veracity, the writers of it could not possibly have 

 known what took place 700 years before their time, and it was as 

 impossible for those now living to say that the statements in the 

 Mahdwansa were true as that they were false. 



Mr. D. W. Ferguson proposed, and Mr. Coomaraswamy secon- 

 ded, a vote of thanks to the authors of the Papers. This was carried 

 unanimously, and the proceedings terminated with a vote of thanks 

 to the Chairman, proposed by Mr. J. H. Renton and seconded by 

 Mr. Harward, the former remarking that they were all grateful to His 

 Lordship for finding the time to come there, in spite of the extra 

 heavy duties which devolved upon him at the present time. 



