April — sept. 1858.] Notes Antiquarian and Mythical. 59 



Possibly a remnant of the old chaotic fetish worship of half-con- 

 scious man ; then as the mind opens, the first abstract idea that 

 develops itself in primaeval races is of that reproductive energy of 

 Nature which, more or less veiled, is the ultimate idea and princi- 

 ple underlying all heathen systems and deities. And of this the 

 earliest and rudest expression would be some form of the lingam, 

 most readily typified by the stones scattered around. But the 

 whole assumption may be questioned, and is beset with difficulty 

 and incoherencies. 



II. 



In the Reverend W. Taylor's " Oriental Historical Manuscripts" 

 Vol. I. pp. 112-114, there is an account from an old Tamil Chro- 

 nicle of a contest held between the Samanal or Buddhists and the 

 Brahmans, in which both parties submit their respective claims to 

 orthodoxy to this ordeal, viz., that each writing a prayer or charm 

 upon palm leaves, and casting the same into a river, that side 

 whose leaves should ascend against the stream should be declared 

 to hold the true faith. Upon trial every leaf of the Samanals was 

 carried down with the stream, and those of the Brahmans alone 

 ascended. The former, 8,000 in number, notwithstanding the 

 miracle, refusing to be convinced or accept the Saiva faith, " with 

 obstinate prejudice" (saith the Brahman chronicler) " put them- 

 selves on the impaling stakes," the penalty previously agreed upon 

 for the losing party. Mr. Taylor in his notes at pages 182-183, 

 states that the impalement of this army of martyrs is unquestion- 

 ably a historical fact, and commemorated to this day by a mimic 

 representation. He is further of opinion that Buddhists, Samanals, 

 and Jainas are terms denoting substantially the same sect. It is 

 upon the name Samanal (cFlo^stt) that a few remarks occur. 

 Adverting to Sarmana Cardama, the son of Mahiman, a form of 

 Siva, identified with Gantama or Buddha, and the same with the 

 Siamese Sommono Kodom, Mr. Taylor conjectures Sommono and 

 Sarmana to be the origin of the term Samanals, and dialective 

 variations of Sarvamanu, an universal or very illustrious sage. 

 Porphyry makes particular mention in his work De Abstinentia 

 (Lib. iv. cap. 17) of a sect called Samandans, who appear to have 

 been great travellers and proselytisers, and to have had a kind of 



