APPENDIX. 
141 
as a fire which is gone out; set, as a luminary which has 
gone down ; defunct, as a saint who has passed away: its 
etymology is from va^ to blow as wind, with the preposition 
nir used in a negative sense : it means calm and unruffled. 
The notion which is attached to the word, in the accepta¬ 
tion now under consideration, is that of perfect apathy. 
It is a condition of unmixed tranquil happiness or ecstasy 
(ananda). Other terms distinguish different gradations of 
pleasure, joy, and delight. But a happy state of imper¬ 
turbable apathy is the ultimate bliss to which the Indian 
aspires: in this the Jaina, as well as the Baudd’ha, concurs 
with the orthodox vendantin. 
“ Perpetual uninterrupted apathy can hardly be said to 
differ from eternal sleep. The notion of it, as of a happy 
condition, seems to be derived from the experience of 
ecstacies, or from that of profound sleep, from which a 
person awakes refreshed. The pleasant feeling is referred 
back to the period of actual repose.” 
Colebrooke on the Philosophy of Indian Sectaries, Trans¬ 
actions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. i. 566. 
No. XII. 
EXPLANATION OF THE SOUNDS OF THE BURMAN AL¬ 
PHABET IN ROMAN LETTERS. 
The Burman alphabet follows the arrangement of the 
Deva-nagari. It reckons twelve vowels and thirty-three 
consonant characters. The first six vowels correspond ex¬ 
actly with the first six of the Sanscrit alphabet, and repre¬ 
sented in Roman letters, according to the orthography of 
Sir William Jones, are as follow : a, a, i, 1 , u, u. The 
seventh vowel corresponds with the eleventh Deva-negari, 
