Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/268

 258 The Rosary in Magic and Religion.

be able to bring forward evidence which certainly seems to corroborate his theory.

Dr. Crooke considers that " the belief in the efficacy of beads is at the basis of the use of rosaries," the value being attached to the material rather than the form.^

Notched sticks are also of universal use for record-keeping, such as the tally-sticks which were utilised in England and Ireland almost up to the present day. In Ireland in quite recent times such sticks have been employed to record the number of prayers uttered, and the suppliant would leave such a stick as a votive offering at some sacred well. Mr. Henry Balfour has called these sticks " votive rosaries."

Age of the Rosary. The oldest reference to rosaries, as far as I have been able to ascertain, is to be found in the literature of India. In the Jaina Canon, composed, I believe, two or three centuries b.c, they are referred to as forming one of the appliances of Brahmanical monks.

References in later literature occur in Brahmanical works only.2 'p^g following passage from the Buddhist " Forty-two Points of Doctrine," art. 10, alludes to the rosary : " The man who, in the practice of virtue, applies himself to the extirpation of all his vices is like one who is rolling between his fingers the beads of the chaplet. If he continues taking hold of them one by one, he arrives speedily at the end. By extirpating his bad inclinations one by one, a man arrives at perfection." ^

Distribution. The rosary is found to be in use among Hindus, Buddhists, Muhammadans and Christians. It also has a use among some Jews.

Hindu Rosaries. It is generally considered that the Hindus were the first to evolve the rosary. The Sanskrit name for it is japa-nidld^ " muttering chaplet " ; some- times it is called smarani, " remembrancer," because by


 * Folk- Lore of Northern India, vol. ii. p. 19.

2 See E. Leumann, " Rosaries mentioned in Indian Literature," Oriental Congress Kep. , 1 89 1 . ^Quoted l)y Dr. Zerfli, Journ. Soc. of .Arts, 1873, p. 469.