Life," or " Beautiful." 61
In the plate representing the interior of a Chinese jeweller's shop in
San Francisco, the proprietor of the place is shown seated in the
background. None of the artisans, however, were willing to face the
camera, either from superstitious dread of having their pictures taken,
or perhaps through fear of being molested in some way by the Government.
When the nine gems of the great Hindu charm, the naoratna, are
set in rings, the Burmese usage is to place the ruby in the centre, and
group around it the eight other stones. Rings of this description were
worn by Burmese kings and nobles as preventives of disease or danger.
Sometimes an incantation is recited over these nine stones, which are
then immersed in water, the belief being that whoever drinks of this
water will secure immunity from all evil.62
In
the masterpiece of Hindu dramatic literature, the Çakuntalâ of the poet
Kâlidâsa, written about the sixth century of our era, a ring plays a
most important part. The heroine, the daughter of the nymph Menakâ and
the sage Viçvamitra, has had it foretold to her that the man who loves
and marries her will entirely forget her, until his love and
memory are revived by a ring. In due time she is beloved of the King
Dushyanta, who marries her, but soon leaves her, to return to his
court. When she follows him thither he fails to recognize her.
Thereupon she remembers what had been predicted in regard to a ring,
but finds to her dismay that the one the King gave her has been lost.
In the next act of the play a fisherman is dragged in by guards who
charge him with hav-
61 Communicated through Prof. Austin F. Rogers, Leland Stanford University, by Mr. Wah S. Lee.
62 Personal communication from Kien Taw $ein Ko, of Rangoon, Burma.
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