NOTES
[1] Muttra, "the peacock city;" lat. 27d 30s N., lon. 77d 43s E.
(Hunter); the birthplace of Krishna, whose emblem is the peacock.
[2] This must be the Jumna, or Yamuna. Why it is called, as here, the
P'oo-na has yet to be explained.
[3] In Pali, Majjhima-desa, "the Middle Country." See Davids'
"Buddhist Birth Stories," page 61, note.
[4] Eitel (pp. 145, 6) says, "The name Chandalas is explained by
'butchers,' 'wicked men,' and those who carry 'the awful flag,' to
warn off their betters; - the lowest and most despised caste of India,
members of which, however, when converted, were admitted even into the
ranks of the priesthood."
[5] "Cowries;" {.} {.}, not "shells and ivory," as one might suppose;
but cowries alone, the second term entering into the name from the
marks inside the edge of the shell, resembling "the teeth of fishes."
[6] See chapter xii, note 3, Buddha's pari-nirvana is equivalent to
Buddha's death.
[7] See chapter xiii, note 6. The order of the characters is different
here, but with the same meaning.
[8] See the preparation of such a deed of grant in a special case, as
related in chapter xxxix. No doubt in Fa-hien's time, and long before
and after it, it was the custom to engrave such deeds on plates of
metal.
