Burmese Sketches - Khamkoo

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BURMESE SKETCHES.
wilds, those whose customs are diverse from ours, through the
most remote lands all have received the royal calendar^ all
have accepted the imperial instructions; alike they praise his
war-like merit and sing of his exalted virtues and his true grace
of utterance.'* The modern royal calendar is a work con-
taining useful information about the seasons, etc. It is
annually issued by the Astronomical Board at Peking, and is
distributed throughout the Chinese Empire and its depen-
dencies.
In this sketch of Buddhism we must not omit a reference to
Buddhaghosa, the great scholar and divine, who was the
reputed apostle of Buddhism to Burma. Talaing historians
claim him to be their fellow-countryman and state that he
crossed over to Ceylon in 402 A. D., and thence brought back
to Thaton a complete set of the Tripltaka together with Its
commentaries. This claim is vitiated by the Mahavamsa and
other Sinhalese records, which say that he visited Ceylon
during the reign of Mahanama (412-434 A. D.) and that he
returned, not to Thaton, but to ' Jambudipa, to w^orshlp at the
Bo-tree at Uruvela in Magadha.'* Further, the Kalyani
Inscription erected by Dhammacetl, King of Pegu, in 1476
A. D., is absolutely silent regarding the celebrated Buddhist
divine. If the story about Buddhaghosa's advent to Thaton
be historically true, the event would have been considered to
be an important epoch and would certainly have been mentioned
in this Inscription, which gives a resume of the vicissitudes
of Buddhism in Burma and Ceylon, and which was erected by
a king, who was called from the cloister to the throne, and to
whom every kind of information was accessible. Considering
that the identification with the Suvannabhumi of the ancients
has been urged in favour of three countries, namely, Ramanfiadesa,
the Malay Peninsula, and Cambodia, in all of which
gold is found, one cannot help being sceptical as to the his-
torical accuracy of the account relating to the mission of
Buddhaghosa to Thaton. Such scepticism becomes somewhat
confirmed, when it is borne in mind that there Is no palaeographical
affinity between the Talaing and Sinhalese alphabets
and that Cambodian writers affirm that the great divine came
to their country | In this connexion, the conclusions of Mr.
Foulkes in his careful researches into the legends of Buddhaghosa
are extremely interesting.
• Cotnparfc with the account given at pages 2-927, Copleston's Buddhism.
t Bowring'i Kingdom and People of 8iam, Vol. I, page 36.
X Indian Antiquary for April 1890.
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