MADRAS JOURNAL 



OF 



LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 



No. 16.— July, 1837. 



I. — Notes on the Code and Historical MSS. of the Siamese and on 

 the Progress of Buddhism to the Eastward. — By Lieutenant T. J. 

 Newbold, Member of the Asiatic Societies^ Madras and BengaL 



"With reference to the subjoined notes on the spread of Buddhism to 

 the east, as connected with the notice of the Siamese MSS. lately pre- 

 sented to the Society, I will briefly state in explanation that, during a 

 period of service in the Straits, my attention was powerfully attracted, 

 by the prevalence of Hindu words in the construction of the language 

 of the Malays, and in the names of places met with in their historical 

 MSS., to a consideration of their literature, religion, and written 

 character prior to the introduction of Mahomedanism. 



From the almost total absence of records, among the Malays of the 

 peninsula, anterior to this important era, I was compelled to seek their 

 history through the medium of that of their neighbours, the Siamese 

 ~-the Aborigines of the peninsula— the Javans, the Bugis, the Battaks, 

 the inhabitants of Menangkabowe, and even from the Chinese. In the 

 course of these enquiries, made, as opportunity offered, from natives of 

 these countries themselves, the great prevalence and antiquity of the 

 religion, and alleged similarity of the written language of the Budd- 

 hists of eastern and western Asia came under discussion. The result 

 was an impression on my mind that Buddhism, propagated either from 

 Ceylon or the continent of India (in a few instances supplanted by 

 Brahminism), was originally engrafted on the rude, natural religion 

 of the islanders, on the Sinterism of the people of Japan, the tenets of 

 Taon, and the doctrines of Confucius in China—that the Sanscrit, 

 prevailing in the dialects of the most civilized nations of the Archipe- 

 lago, was introduced through the medium of the Pali, the language in 

 which it appears the religious writings of Buddha were brought from 



