25 
1892.] L. A. Waddell— Laniaic Rosaries : their Kinds and Uses. 
mystic spells and other strange formulas. In the very complicated 
rosaries of Japan* it has attained its highest development. 
The rosary is not enumerated in the southern Scriptures among 
the articles necessary for a monk. But incidental mention is made by 
Slnvay Yoef of a rosary with 108 beads ; and several of the Burmese 
monks I have met possessed a rosary called ‘ Bodhi ’ consisting of 72 
black sub-cylindrical beads which I understood, were composed of slips 
of a leaf inscribed with charmed words and rolled into pellets with the 
aid of lacquer or varnish. 
The rosary is not conspicuous amongst Southern Buddhists ; but 
amongst Tibetans, it is everywhere visible. It is also held in the hand 
of the image of the patron god of Tibet—Che-re-si (Skt. Avalokitesuara), 
And its use is not confined to the Lamas. Nearly every lay-man and 
woman is possessed of a rosary on which at every opportunity they 
zealously store up merit; and they also use it for secular purposes, 
like the sliding balls of the Chinese to assist in ordinary calculations : 
the beads to the right of the centre-bead being called ta-thang and 
registering units, while those to the left are called cliu-do and record 
tens, which numbers suffice for their ordinary wants. 
Description of the Rosary and its Appendages. 
The Tibetan name for the rosary is { &phreng-ba,’ pronounced 
theng-wa or vulgarly theng-nga, and literally means ‘ a string of beads.’ 
The rosary contains 108 beads of uniform size. The reason for this 
special number is alleged to be merely a provision to ensure the repeti¬ 
tion of the sacred spell a full hundred times, and the extra beads are 
added to make up for any omission of beads through absent-mindedness 
during the telling process or for actual loss of beads by breakage. Che- 
re-si and Do-ma have each 108 names, but it is not usual to tell these on 
the rosary. And in the later Kham editions of the Lamaic Scriptures— 
the ‘ 5kah Agyur,’—the volumes have been extended from 100 to 108. 
And the Burmese foot-prints of Buddha sometimes contain 108 Sub¬ 
divisions.]; This number is perhaps borrowed like so many other Lamaic 
fashions from the Hindus, of whom the Yaishnabs possess a rosary with 
108 beads. 
The two ends of the string of beads, before being knotted, are passed 
# Note on Buddhist Rosaries in Japan. By J. M. James, Trans. Jap. As. Soc., 
p. 173, 1881. 
t The Burman : His Life and Notions I. p. 201. 
J The Burman, 8fc., I. p. 201. 
D 
