The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / 403 ページ（カラー画像）

0403	The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2
マルコ=ポーロ卿の記録 : vol.2

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.'* 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 Hindús believe the repetition of the name of God is an act of
adoration. . . . Jápá (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 108² times, one in gold, 108³ 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.

NOTE 4.—The Saggio, here as elsewhere, probably stands for the Mithál.

NOTE 5.—This is stated also by Abu Zaid, in the beginning of the 10th century.
And Reinaud in his note refers to Mas'udi, who has a like passage in which he gives
a name to these companions exactly corresponding to Polo's Fieils or Trusty Lieges:
"When a King in India dies, many persons voluntarily burn themselves with him.
These are called Balánjariyah (sing. Balanjar), as if you should say 'Faithful
Friends' of the deceased, whose life was life to them, and whose death was death to
them." (Anc. Rel. I. 121 and note; Mas. II. 85.)
On the murder of Ajit Singh of Marwar, by two of his sons, there were 84 satis,
and "so much was he beloved," says Tod, "that even men devoted themselves on
his pyre" (I. 744). The same thing occurred at the death of the Sikh Gurú
Hargovind in 1645. (H. of Sikhs, p. 62.)
Barbosa briefly notices an institution like that described by Polo, in reference to
the King of Narsinga, i.e. Vijayanagar. (Ram. I. f. 302.) Another form of the same
bond seems to be that mentioned by other travellers as prevalent in Malabar, where
certain of the Nairs bore the name of Amuki, and were bound not only to defend the
King's life with their own, but, if he fell, to sacrifice themselves by dashing among the
enemy and slaying until slain. Even Christian churches in Malabar had such hereditary
Amuki. (See P. Vinc. Maria, Bk. IV. ch. vii., and Cesare Federici in Ram. III.
Amuki. (See P. Vinc. Maria, Bk. IV. ch. vii., and Cesare Federici in Ram. III.
390, also Faria y Sousa, by Stevens, I. 348.) There can be little doubt that this is
the Malay Amuk, which would therefore appear to be of Indian origin, both in name
and practice. I see that De Gubernatis, without noticing the Malay phrase, traces
the term applied to the Malabar champions to the Sanskrit Amokkya, "indissoluble,"
and Amukta, "not free, bound." (Picc. Encic. Ind. I. 88.) The same practice, by
which the followers of a defeated prince devote themselves in amuk (vulgo running

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