Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/91

Rh On the other hand there is said to be a tradition that the Burmese came from the region of Tibet, and this view is supported on linguistic grounds by Mr. Bernard Houghton in his Outlines of Tibeto-Burman Linguistic Palaeontology in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1896.

Buddhist animism.—Burmese Buddhism, as practised by the people, contains, though to a much less degree than the Buddhism of some other countries, some animistic beliefs which are probably inconsistent with the pure philosophy of Buddha, so far as that can be deduced from the texts which have come down to us. It may perhaps be presumed that these beliefs were brought into Burma with the Mahayanist or northern form of Buddhism, which is called corrupt because it incorporated within itself, to a far greater extent than the southern form which now prevails, the ancient beliefs and ceremonies of the people. They survive in the dragon-embraced pagodas, of which there are several beautiful examples; in the frequent representation of a cobra's hood over the head of Buddha; in the reverence paid to the Indian god Indra or Sakra, who has been converted into a kind of Buddhist archangel; and in such ceremonies as the libations of water offered to the Earth-god Wăthôndăye (Vasundhara) at feasts and funerals, in which monks take part and which arc regarded almost as an integral part of Buddhism. Before the time of the great Burman king Nawyăta (Anuruddha) of Păgan, who reigned in the eleventh century, the Mahayanist form of Buddhism seems to have been prevalent, though to what extent it was accepted by the people can only be guessed. It appears to have been overgrown by the animistic beliefs and practices incorporated in it, some of them no doubt