1836.] 



Bdttas of Sumatra, 



*** The above letter, and the alphabet and written characters to which 

 they refer, we submitted to the Rev. W. Taylor, the learned Translator 

 of the Oriental Historical Manuscripts, and they have elicited from him 

 some highly ingenious and recondite remarks, which we have great 

 pleasure in appending to Captain Newbold's letter. We hope that the 

 two together, will be sufficient to promote enquiry into a subject which 

 promises to be prolific of interest in philology, history and antiquities.* 



" 1. The characters of the alphabet and inscription have no resem- 

 blance to any known character, at any time used by Hindus ; but, on 

 referring to the copies of inscriptions, in an unknown character, in the 

 7th vol. of the Asiatic Researches, as copied from the so-called Ldt of 

 Firoz Shah at Delhi, I found two of the characters there, and subse- 

 quent minute examination convinces me, that there are several other 

 characters closely similar, if not the same, in the two series of docu- 

 ments. There is always a degree of uncertainty regarding perfect 

 accuracy in representations of inscriptions copied, but not under- 

 stood ; and some allowance may, perhaps, be here made with reference 

 to both of these authorities. 



" 2. The titles of the four books, mentioned by Dr. Ley den, struck 

 me at once as very plainly of Sanscrit, or Pracrit, origin. The other 

 books, also, Nos. 3 and 4, in their titles closely resemble Tamil words 

 of similar signification. 



" 3. I was hence led to conjecture that, perhaps, the Battas may be 

 descendants of Buttas or Baudhists, who were, several centuries ago, 

 driven from continental, and especially from peninsular, India, by 

 Braminical persecution. In a Tamil manuscript, given in the appen- 

 dix (p. 43) to the Oriental Historical Manuscripts, it is said that a 

 female of that race, having escaped from that persecution, afterwards 

 gave a succession of kings to Ceylon. If a female escaped, many 

 men might have done so, and they may have gone further east than 

 Ceylon. Professor Wilson, in the preface to his Sanscrit dictionary, 

 p. xx, says : " In 530 the religion of Buddah was introduced into Corea 

 in 540-50 into Japan, and the year 572 was remarkable for the arrival, 

 in that kingdom, of an immense number of priests and idols, who came 

 from countries beyond the sea :*■* a passage standing in connexion with 

 enquiries and details regarding the Braminical persecution of the 

 Bauddhists. The inference seems to me, at least, very possible, that 

 if Bauddhists came by sea to Japan, they would reach intermediate 

 islands, inclusive of Sumatra. It is a singular fact, that, to the present 

 day, at Madura, Ceylon is called Yapal-divu, meaning, as I conceive, 

 the island Japan, And, since we have clear and authentic records con- 



* We v/ished to give a lithographed/ac-mnz7t j of the alphabet and characters, but the 

 number of illustrations already prepared, we are sorry to say, prevents our doing so.— 

 Editor. 



