Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 29, 1918.djvu/275

 The Rosary 171 Magic and Religion. 265

also used, the number of beads representing the chief disciples of Buddha.

India. In India the Buddhist rosaries seem to differ but little from many of those used by Hindus. Some are made of more costly materials than others, the more valuable being of turquoise, coral, amber, silver, pearls, or other gems. The poorer people usually have their rosary beads made of wood, pebbles, berries, or bone, and they are often satisfied with only thirty or forty beads.

Burma. The Burmese rosary again has 108 beads. It seems to be used merely as a means of counting the repeti- tions of the names of the Buddha trinity, viz. Phra (Buddha), Tara (Dharma) and Sangha. On completing a round of the rosary the central bead is held, and the formula " Anitsa, Dukka, Anatha,'" " All is transitory, painful, and unreal," is repeated.^ The monks sometimes wear a rosary called bodhi, with seventy-two beads. These beads are said to be made of slips of leaf on which charmed words are in- scribed. The leaves are rolled into pellets with the aid of lacquer or varnish. ^ A rare and costly rosary which is sometimes found among rich lay devotees has beads made of compressed sweet-scented flowers. The flowers are pressed into hard cakes and then turned on a lathe into beads. They are said to retain their scent for many years. ^

Tibet. The rosary is an essential part of a Lama's dress, and is also worn by most of the laity of both sexes. It bears the name phreng-ba, " a string of beads," and the act of telling the beads is called tnn-c'e^ which means literally " to purr like a cat," the muttering of the prayers being suggestive of this sound. The rosaries have 108 beads on the main string. The reason given for this number is that it ensures the repetition of a sacred spell 100 times, the

' L. A. Waddell,yio«;-«. Asiatic Soc. Bcugal,\\\. t,},.

" Gazetteer of Sikkim, p. 282.

'L. A. Waddell, Pro. Asiatic Soc. Boigal, 1892, p. 190.