- The necklace taken from the neck of the Hindu King Jaipal,
captured by Mahmud in A.D. 1001, was composed of large pearls, rubies,
etc., and was valued at 200,000 dinars, or a good deal more than
100,000l. (Elliot, II. 26.) Compare Correa's account of the King of
Calicut, in Stanley's V. da Gama, 194.
NOTE 3. - The word is printed in Ramusio Pacauca, but no doubt Pacauta
is the true reading. Dr. Caldwell has favoured me with a note on this:
"The word ... was probably Bagava or Pagava, the Tamil form of the
vocative of Bhagavata, 'Lord,' pronounced in the Tamil manner. This word
is frequently repeated by Hindus of all sects in the utterance of their
sacred formulae, especially by Vaishnava devotees, some of whom go about
repeating this one word alone. When I mentioned Marco Polo's word to two
learned Hindus at different times, they said, 'No doubt he meant
Bagava.'[3] The Saiva Rosary contains 32 beads; the doubled form of the
same, sometimes used, contains 64; the Vaishnava Rosary contains 108.
Possibly the latter may have been meant by Marco." [Captain Gill (River
of Golden Sand, II. p. 341) at Yung-Ch'ang, speaking of the beads of a
necklace, writes: "One hundred and eight is the regulation number, no one
venturing to wear a necklace, with one bead more or less."]
Ward says: "The Hindus believe the repetition of the name of God is an act
of adoration.... Japa (as this act is called) makes an essential part of
the daily worship.... The worshipper, taking a string of beads, repeats
the name of his guardian deity, or that of any other god, counting by his
beads 10, 28, 108, 208, adding to every 108 not less than 100 more."
(Madras ed. 1863, pp. 217-218.)
No doubt the number in the text should have been 108, which is apparently
a mystic number among both Brahmans and Buddhists. Thus at Gautama's birth
108 Brahmans were summoned to foretell his destiny; round the great White
Pagoda at Peking are 108 pillars for illumination; 108 is the number of
volumes constituting the Tibetan scripture called Kahgyur; the merit of
copying this work is enhanced by the quality of the ink used, thus a copy
in red is 108 times more meritorious than one in black, one in silver
108^2 times, one in gold, 108^3 times; according to the Malabar Chronicle
Parasurama established in that country 108 Iswars, 108 places of worship,
and 108 Durga images; there are said to be 108 shrines of especial
sanctity in India; there are 108 Upanishads (a certain class of mystical
Brahmanical sacred literature); 108 rupees is frequently a sum devoted to
alms; the rules of the Chinese Triad Society assign 108 blows as the
punishment for certain offences; - 108, according to Athenaeus, were the
suitors of Penelope! I find a Tibetan tract quoted (by Koeppen, II. 284)
as entitled, "The Entire Victor over all the 104 Devils," and this is the
only example I have met with of 104 as a mystic number.
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