14 On the Code and Historical MSS. of the Siamese, [July 



(Singhapura), near the point of the river, is a large stone bearing an 

 inscription in a character which has hitherto, I believe, resisted the 

 efforts of all decipherers, Sir Stamford Raffles among the rest. 



At Malacca and the states in the interior my efforts were unavailing 

 to procure a single inscription or sculpture, prior to Mahomedanism. 

 My enquiries, not confined to the Malayan tribes, extended to the 

 savage aborigines, inhabiting the wilds and forests of the peninsula, 

 but not a vestige of Buddhism was to be traced — save their veneration 

 for these ancestors, the partial belief of a state of future existence in 

 the west, and the imperfect notions entertained by them of the 

 metempsychosis. 



Identity of the sacred language among the Buddhist nations of 

 Eastern Asia. The Kdwi, the sacred or poetical language of the 

 Javans and Balinese, bears great affinity to the Pali. Most of the 

 inscriptions found in the Buddhist temples of Java, their ancient 

 religious works, poetical epitomes of the Ramayana and Mahabharat, 

 are written in this language. The characters are square, many of them 

 corresponding exactly with those of the Pali of Burma and Siam.* 

 The knowledge of these ancient characters, like those of China and 

 Japan, is confined to a few individuals. Some of the Kdwi inscrip- 

 tions, it is alleged by natives, go back as far as the beginning of the 6th 

 century of Salivahanaf, though Mr. Crawford contradicts this. 



Sacred languages of the Buddhists of the Indo-Chinese kingdom. 

 There appears to be little doubt that the sacred language of the 

 Buddhists of Magadha and Ceylon, Burma and Siam, is essentially 

 similar, though varying considerably in its written character. Accord- 

 ing to Major Wilford, Magadha and Pali or Bali are considered 

 synonymous by the people of Siam, Ceylon, and BurmaJ. Leyden 

 and Ksempfer inform us that among the Indo-Chinese nations the Pali 

 is frequently denominated Sanka-basa, Maccata-pasa or Magadhi-bhasa, 

 i. e. languages of Ceylon or Magadha, plainly indicating its origin. 

 In Ceylon the terms Magadhi and Pali are both applied to it. 



Sacred language of China and Japan. The sacred language of the 

 Buddhists of China is termed the Fan-yu — the language of Fan, 

 (India ?) where they suppose Fuh or Buddha was born. Having few 

 books, particularly modern works on Chinese philology, to refer to, I 

 do not know whether this language has ever been examined, or speci- 



* Mr. Medhurst, when at Sangora, a Siamese town on the east coast of the Malay 

 peninsula, wrote out the Japan alphabet for the Buddhist priests there, who were much 

 struck with the great similarity existing between the characters composing it and their 

 own. Journal of a Voyage up the east coast of the Malay peninsula. 



■x Crawford's Archipelago, vol. ir. p. 213. 



X Dissertation on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese* nations, page 121. 



