The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-12
ORIENTAL PRAYING BEADS.
Kosaries Used by the Faithful I'm
China. India and Japan.

| One usually looks upon the rosary as q
purely Roman Catholic implement OF
worship. while. as a matter of fact, 1t
was used by the Orientals centuries be-
| fore st. Dominic introduced its use to
/ European Christians. writer in The
! Queen describes some of these Oriental
/ beads as follows:
! But take away the cross that is hang
| ing to the beads, and we find that we
must turn to the dim, mysterious East
| for the origin of the rosary, for it Is
! among the temples of India, China and
| Japan that the first sign of this practice
| is to be found Ancient pictures OF the
Hindu gods depict them with ehaplets
of beads In their hands, and Ii is be-
lieved that this method of keeping count
| of their many prayers was i'm use among
the Hindus before the era of Buddha
so at least Il. &. 500
The use of the rosary seems especially
suited to an Eastern CLINE and 10 the
repOse of an Oriental mind The Budd-
hists are fond of using very smooth
beads Of glass. polished jade or coral
and ii has been thought that the smooth
cool beads gliding through their fingers
as they murmur the holy names for
thousands of times. helps them to arrive
at that state of holy abstraction from
things earthly which is so much priced
among the followers of Buddha
The favOrite japanese rosaries are
made of polished wood. crystal onyx
and chased silver. and the Japanese Bud
dhists repeat in endless devotion Manu-
Amida Butzu (''Save US, Buddha'D
while their Chinese brothers have the
blessed name, ''Omi-to-fu," forever on
their lips.
The Buddhist rosary is of very
great size. 1t was originally used in a
temple in kioto, Japan. These huge beads
are of dark brown polished wood. They
are hollow, and have each figure of a
god inside the little shrine, which can be
seen through the lattice of brass work
From its great size il must have been
hung on the walls of the temple The
largest bead is about 6 inches I'm diameter
and the rosary about "A feet long.
a very curious rosary which, like that
already described, is preserved in the
British Museum, comes from Tibet, and
is composed OF thin discs made from a
human skull. finished at the ends with
three peach kernels and strung on a COM
mon piece of string.
The Moslem's beads are called Sch
hah." They are ninety-nine in number,
and have silk tassel to mark each tenth
bead. They use alOes, coral wood and
even lTull sioiitS anu Seeus, Out some
are very costly. Monsieur TAbbe Tod
erini tells us that every Moslem has his
chaplet, and that he saw a suberb speci-
men belonging TO Seigneur Serpos, made
of large and perfect pearls, and valued a
Sc, 000, 900 piasters. He rather quantity adds
that it was bought by the Grand Vizir,
Amid, Ali. who, poor man, lost his head
in a revolution.
Lane tells us of ceremony called the
Sebhah Cor Rosary which is performed
the first night after a burial to facili-
tate the entrance of the deceased into a
state of happiness Chapters from the
Kur-an form the opening of this cere-
mony, and holy sentences are repeated
for 1000 times. This is kept count of on
the rosary, and at the end of each thou
sand beads rest is taken and coffee par
taken of, when they proceed till the de-
sired number of prayers has been recited.