The king, being much surprised on hearing this, exclaimed, “Shakya! Shakya! is it possible! is it possible!” And this is the origin of the Shakya name.
Thus ends the narration of Mongalyana. Shakya, the Bhagaván, approved of it, and recommended it to his followers.
VII.
Mode of Expressing Numerals in Tibetan.
Here the same system prevails as in Sanskrit. The printed Tibetan text has the dates in figure above, and then they are written in the body of the text, in symbolical words, so as to secure them against the danger of alteration. This system, in fact, gives the sane safeguard against incertitude of figures that the mode of writing values and sums at length in European documents is intended to secure.
There are many astronomical and astrological treatises to be found in Tibet, which have not been embodied into the Kahgyur or Stangyur collections. Of these the most celebrated was written by a Viceroy at Lassa in the latter half of the seventeenth century A.D. In all works of this description symbolical names are used instead of numerals; as, for instance, lag, hand, for + 2; - mé, fire, for - 3; × chhu, water, for × 4; ÷ so, a tooth, for ÷ 32.
Besides the nine units and the zero, the following numerals have special expressions, namely, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 24, 25, 27, and 32.
When dictating to an assistant in symbolical names what to write in characters, the pandit commences the operation from right to left, thus, if you say Nyima, sun, that means = 12; mkhah, void, means = 0; mtsho, a lake = 4, the copyist writes 4012. The very same method has been adopted in the Shastras. [[187]]
As examples the following are cited:—