NOTE.
It is with great pleasure that I add the following testimony of a belief in the existence of the sea-serpent, from a country which has not hitherto been supposed to have any traditions relating to it. My inquiries in Burmah, as to a belief among its inhabitants in sundry so-called mythical beings, led me unexpectedly on the track of the following information, for which I am indebted to the scholarship and courtesy of F. Ripley, Esq., Government Translator in the Secretariat Department, Rangoon.
Extract from the Kavilakhana dépané, pp. 132-133.
[Author—Mingyi Thiri Mahazeyathu, the Myaunghla Myoza, Nanig-ngan-gya Wundauk, or Sub-Minister for Foreign Affairs to His Majesty the late King of Burmah.]
“The creature Nyan is called in the Mágadha language Tanti-gáha, in the Bengáli Gara; in the Sakkata, Gráha or Avagráh; and in the Burmese, Nyan.
“Hence are to be found the following passages, viz.:—
“‘Tanti-gáha—The creature Nyan, of the immense length of one or two hundred fathoms,’ in the Shri Sariputtara Apadan.
“‘Graho or Avagraho—a predatory monster, in shape like an earthworm,’ in the Amarakosha Abhidhan;
and
“‘Dvagar samudda maha nady sanga mela táká yazantu vigera itichate,’ in the commentary of the Amarakosha Abhidhan.