1863.—"The title of the First King (of Siam) is Phra-Chom-Klao-Yu-Hua and spoken as Phra Phutthi-Chao-Yu-Hua.... His Majesty's nose is styled in the Pali form Phra-Nasa.... The Siamese term the (Catholic) missionaries, the Preachers of the Phra-Chao Phu-Sang, i.e. of God the Creator, or the Divine Lord Builder.... The Catholic missionaries express 'God' by Phra-Phutthi-Chao ... and they explain the Eucharist as Phra-Phutthi-Kaya (Kaya = 'Body')."—Bastian, Reise, iii. 109, and 114-115.
1870.—"The most excellent Parā, brilliant in his glory, free from all ignorance, beholding Nibbāna the end of the migration of the soul, lighted the lamp of the law of the Word."—Rogers, Buddhagosha's Parables, tr. from the Burmese, p. 1.
1871.—"Phra is a Siamese word applied to all that is worthy of the highest respect, that is, everything connected with religion and royalty. It may be translated as 'holy.' The Siamese letters p—h—r commonly represent the Sanskrit v—r. I therefore presume the word to be derived from the Sanskrit 'vri'—'to choose, or to be chosen,' and 'vara'—'better, best, excellent,' the root of ἄριστος."—Alabaster, The Wheel of the Law, 164.
PRAAG, sometimes PIAGG, n.p. Properly Prayāga, 'the place of sacrifice,' the old Hindu name of [Allahabad], and especially of the river confluence, since remote ages a place of pilgrimage.
c. A.D. 638.—"Le royaume de Polo-ye-kia (Prayâga) a environ 5000 li de tour. La capitale, qui est située au confluent de deux fleuves, a environ 20 li de tour.... Dans la ville, il y a un temple des dieux qui est d'une richesse éblouissante, et où éclatent une multitude de miracles.... Si quel qu'un est capable de pousser le mépris de la vie jusqu' à se donner la mort dans ce temple, il obtient le bonheur eternel et les joies infinies des dieux.... Depuis l'antiquité jusqu' à nos jours, cette coutume insensée n'a pas cessé un instant."—Hiouen-Thsang, in Pèl. Boudd. ii. 276-79.
c. 1020.—"... thence to the tree of Barāgi, 12 (parasangs). This is at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges."—Al-Birūnī, in Elliot, i. 55.
1529.—"The same day I swam across the river Ganges for my amusement. I counted my strokes, and found that I crossed over at 33 strokes. I then took breath and swam back to the other side. I had crossed by swimming every river that I had met with, except the Ganges. On reaching the place where the Ganges and Jumna unite, I rowed over in the boat to the Piâg side...."—Baber, 406.
1585.—"... Frõ Agra I came to Prage, where the riuer Jemena entreth into the mightie riuer Ganges, and Iemena looseth his name."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 386.
PRACRIT, s. A term applied to the older vernacular dialects of India, such as were derived from, or kindred to, Sanskrit. Dialects of this nature are used by ladies, and by inferior characters, in the Sanskrit dramas. These dialects, and the modern vernaculars springing from them, bear the same relation to Sanskrit that the "Romance" languages of Europe bear to Latin, an analogy which is found in many particulars to hold with most surprising exactness. The most completely preserved of old Prakrits is that which was used in Magadha, and which has come down in the Buddhist books of Ceylon under the name of [Pali] (q.v.). The first European analysis of this language bears the title "Institutiones Linguae Pracriticae. Scripsit Christianus Lassen, Bonnae ad Rhenum, 1837." The term itself is Skt. prākṛita, 'natural, unrefined, vulgar,' &c.
1801.—"Sanscrita is the speech of the Celestials, framed in grammatical institutes, Pracrita is similar to it, but manifold as a provincial dialect, and otherwise."—Sanskrit Treatise, quoted by Colebrooke, in As. Res. vii. 199.