-
"A Lor Cotiaus Qu'il Ont Trenchans Et Afiles
Escorchoient Les Turs, Aval Parmi Les Pres.
Voiant Paiens, Les Ont Par Pieces Decoupes.
En L'iave Et El Carbon Les Ont Bien Quisines,
Volontiers Les Menjuent Sans Pain Et Dessales."[10]
(Della Penna, p. 76; Reinaud, Rel.
I. 52; Rennie's Peking, II. 244;
Ann. de la Pr. de la F. XXIX. 353, XXI. 298; Hayton in Ram. ch.
xvii.; Per. Quat. p. 116; M. Paris, sub. 1243; Mel. Asiat. Acad. St.
Petersb. II. 659; Canale in Arch. Stor. Ital. VIII.; Bergm. Nomad.
Streifereien, I. 14; Carpini, 638; D'Ohsson, II. 30, 43, 52;
Wilson's Ever Victorious Army, 74; Shaw, p. 48; Abdallatif, p. 363
seqq.; Weber, II. 135; Littre, H. de la Langue Franc. I. 191; Gesta
Tancredi in Thes. Nov. Anecd. III. 172.)
NOTE 10. - Bakhshi is generally believed to be a corruption of Bhikshu,
the proper Sanscrit term for a religious mendicant, and in particular for
the Buddhist devotees of that character. Bakhshi was probably applied to
a class only of the Lamas, but among the Turks and Persians it became a
generic name for them all. In this sense it is habitually used by
Rashiduddin, and thus also in the Ain Akbari: "The learned among the
Persians and Arabians call the priests of this (Buddhist) religion
Bukshee, and in Tibbet they are styled Lamas."
According to Pallas the word among the modern Mongols is used in the sense
of Teacher, and is applied to the oldest and most learned priest of a
community, who is the local ecclesiastical chief. Among the Kirghiz
Kazzaks again, who profess Mahomedanism, the word also survives, but
conveys among them just the idea that Polo seems to have associated with
it, that of a mere conjuror or "medicine-man"; whilst in Western Turkestan
it has come to mean a Bard.
The word Bakhshi has, however, wandered much further from its original
meaning. From its association with persons who could read and write, and
who therefore occasionally acted as clerks, it came in Persia to mean a
clerk or secretary. In the Petrarchian Vocabulary, published by Klaproth,
we find scriba rendered in Comanian, i.e. Turkish of the Crimea, by
Bacsi. The transfer of meaning is precisely parallel to that in regard
to our Clerk. Under the Mahomedan sovereigns of India, Bakhshi was
applied to an officer performing something like the duties of a
quartermaster-general; and finally, in our Indian army, it has come to
mean a paymaster. In the latter sense, I imagine it has got associated in
the popular mind with the Persian bakhshidan, to bestow, and
bakhshish. (See a note in Q. R. p. 184 seqq.; Cathay, p. 474; Ayeen
Akbery, III. 150; Pallas, Samml. II. 126; Levchine, p. 355; Klap.
Mem. III.; Vambery, Sketches, p. 81.)
The sketch from the life, on p. 326, of a wandering Tibetan devotee, whom
I met once at Hardwar, may give an idea of the sordid Bacsis spoken of
by Polo.
NOTE 11. - This feat is related more briefly by Odoric:
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