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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
In his “Tree and Serpent Worship,” our late honoured Vice-President, James Fergusson, called attention to the similarity observable between certain symbols found on the Buddhist Topes of Sāñchi and Amarāvati, and others found on sculptured buildings and coins of Western Asia and Eastern Europe; and in doing so he expressed a hope that this subject would be taken up and developed by other writers. Discussing the origin of the object known as the triśula he said, “It is curiously like the sign of the planet Mercury, or the caduceus of the god of that name; and, if it were not rank heresy even to hint at such a thing, I would venture to suggest that, after all, there may be some connexion between at least the symbolism of the East and West.”
page 364 note 1 Op. cit. pp. 115, 116, and note.Google Scholar
page 364 note 2 Id. p. 177, note 3.Google Scholar
page 366 note 1 Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy, p. 29.Google Scholar
page 367 note 1 Burnell's, South-Indian Palæography, p 3.Google Scholar
page 367 note 2 Rawlinson's, Ancient Monarchies, vol. i. p. 101–2.Google Scholar
page 367 note 3 Sixth Oriental Monarchy, p. 33.Google Scholar
page 368 note 1 History of Art in Chaldæa and Assyria, Armstrong's, translation, vol. i. p. 125.Google Scholar
page 369 note 1 2 Kings xvii. 6, 24.
page 369 note 2 Kings xvii. 26, 27.
page 370 note 1 Ezra vii. 23 (Revised version).
page 370 note 2 Sun-god and goddess.
page 370 note 3 2 Kings xvii. 30, 31.
page 371 note 1 Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii. p. 431.Google Scholar
page 372 note 1 Herod, iii. 94, 95.
page note 2 Rawlinson's, Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii. p. 131.Google Scholar
page 372 note 3 We read of no Indian troops being utilized for European warfare from the days of Xerxes to those of Lord Beaconsfield.
page 372 note 4 Herod, vii. 65.
page 372 note 5 id. viii. 113; ix. 31.Google Scholar
page 372 note 6 Esther, i. 1, viii. 9.Google Scholar1 Esdras, iii. 2, etc.Google Scholar
page 373 note 1 These were Baeto, Diognetos, Nearchos, Onesikritos, Aristoboulos, Kallisthenes, and others.
page 374 note 1 Article “India,” Enoyclop. Brit.
page 375 note 1 Poole's Catalogue of the Coins of the Seleucid Kings, plate i. The coins represent the sovereign in a chariot drawn hy elephants.
page 375 note 2 Indian Antiquary, vol. vi. p. 113, ff. (1877).Google Scholar
page 375 note 3 Ptolemy Geog. vii. i.; McCrindle's, Ancient India, p. 122;Google ScholarCunningham's, Geog. of Anc. Ind. pp. 180–7.Google Scholar
page 375 note 4 Num. Chron. N.S. vol. ix. p. 150.Google Scholar
page 376 note 1 1 Macc, . vi. 30–37.Google Scholar
page 376 note 2 id. viii. 6.Google Scholar
page 376 note 3 p. 85 ff. and 274–277.
page 377 note 1 For Southern India see the author's List of Antiquities, Madras, vol. i. pp. 144, 190, 214, 218, 220, 222, 226–240, 244, 285, 286, 291.Google Scholar
page 377 note 2 Mr. Scott, a pleader in the District Court of Madura, has a quantity of these.
page 377 note 3 Desjardins, , Segment xi. Livraison 11.Google Scholar
page 378 note 1 Sewell's, Lists of Antiquities, Madras, vol. ii. p. 205,Google Scholar and the same author's Sketch of the Dynasties of Southern India, p. 65.Google ScholarHunter's, Orissa, App. vii.Google Scholar
page 378 note 2 This, however, would seem to have been a mistake. The Turanians appear to have immolated human victims in propitiation of the bloody and vindictive demons they feared.
page 378 note 3 Cave-Temples of India (Fergusson and Burgess), p. 13.Google Scholar
page 379 note 1 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 76.Google Scholar
page 379 note 2 Tree and Serpent Worship, pp. 67–69.Google Scholar
page note 3 Rawlinson's, Ancient Monarchies, vol. i. p. 110.Google Scholar
page 380 note 1 id. p. 111.Google Scholar
page 380 note 2 Ancient Monarchies, vol. ii. p. i.Google Scholar
page 380 note 3 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 42.Google Scholar
page 381 note 1 “Ancient Monarchies,” vol. ii. p. 324.Google ScholarSeventh Oriental Monarchy, p. 632.Google Scholar
page 381 note 2 The Rev. Edkins, J., J.R.A.S. Vol. XVIII. N.S. Part I. p. 6 (01. 1886).Google Scholar
page 382 note 1 Op. cit. vol. i. p. 65–73 (Armstrong's translation).Google Scholar
page 382 note 2 “Carmina vel cælo possunt deducere lunam.” So Virgil many centuries later (Bucol. viii. 69).Google Scholar
page 383 note 1 The Chaldæan system of Astrology spread far and wide. The “Magi” in Persia seem to have been second only to the irresponsible monarch in power. One, indeed, Pseudo-Smerdis, or “Gomates, the Magian,” a priest, seized the monarchy and held it firmly for a short time. Originally a Median religious caste, they appear to have adopted and carried on the sciences of the Chaldæan star-gazers, after the fall of Babylon and establishment of the Empire of the Medes; for when the Greeks and Romans come in contact with them, they seem to have been called indifferently “Magi” or “Chaldæans.” A good idea of Chaldæan magic, as intimately known to the Jews, who were largely affected by it, is gained from the prophecy of Isaiah (xlvii. 12.), who, apostrophizing the city of Babylon under the title “daughter of the Chaldæans,” says,—“Stand now with thy enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries ⃜ Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee.” Though all forms of magic were forbidden by the Avesta, and Zoroastrianism was opposed to Magianism. the Magi contrived to pose before the Greeks as the representatives of the religion of Persia. “Magi,” “Chaldæi,” “Mathematici.” When Roman chiefs built their villa-residences in the newly-conquered island of Britain, they brought with them the symbols and superstitions of their own country. The old svastika emblem was introduced by them into the decorated mosaic flooring of their principal rooms. Specimens are found in the Roman villa at Whitestaunton in Somersetshire, as well as in that at Brading in the Isle of Wight; and in curious connection with it in the latter mosaic is the figure of an astrologer with a divining-rod in his hand, who has, in the field of the design, as if in the air, close by his head—in the place where, under the Assyrians and Persians, an anthropomorphic winged-globe would have been depicted,—an Oriental sun-emblem, the circle or wheel on a pillar, exactly as seen at Amarāvati and 
It seems most probable that this design stamps the astrologer as a representative of eastern magic.
page 384 note 1 Aurés, , Essai sur le Système méique Assyrien, p. 10Google Scholar (in the Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la philologie et à l'Archeotogie Egyptiennes et Assyriennes, vol. iii.).Google Scholar
page 384 note 2 Lenormant, F., Manual d'Histoire Ancienne, vol. ii. p. 177 (3rd edition).Google Scholar
page 385 note 1 Indian Antiquary, xiv. 1 (01 1885).Google Scholar
page 385 note 2 Philost, . Vit Apollonii, iii. 41.Google ScholarPriaulx's, Apollonius of Tyāna, p. 53 (see “Postscript” below, p. 405).Google Scholar
page 386 note 1 J.R.A.S. (New Series), Vol. I. p. 484.Google Scholar
page 386 note 1 South Indian Palæography, pp. 1–9.Google Scholar
page 387 note 1 By Lenormaut, , Essai sur la Propagation de l'Alphabet Phénicien, i. part i. table vi.Google Scholar
page 388 note 1 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 94.Google Scholar
page 399 note 1 ProfMüller, Max, Introduction to the Parables of Buddhaghosha, by Capt. Rogers, p. xxvi.Google Scholar
page 399 note 2 Rawlinson's, Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii, p. 351.Google Scholar
page 390 note 1 Under some of the kings of Judah the horses and chariots of the sun (2 Kings xxiii. 11)Google Scholar were stalled in the precincts of the Temple of Jerusalem. This dedication of horses to the sun was perhaps borrowed from the Persians (Herod, i. 189;Google ScholarCurt. iii. 3. § 11;Google ScholarXen. Cyrop. viii. 3. § 24).Google Scholar The Armenians and the Massagetæ sacrificed horses to the sun (Herod, i. 216;Google ScholarXen. Anab. iv. 5. § 35).Google Scholar It is noticeable that the horse is frequently introduced into the Amarāvātī sculptures in a way not yet satisfactorily explained. Sun-images are frequently alluded to in the chronicles of Israel and Judah (Levit. xxvi. 30, etc.).Google Scholar
page 391 note 1 Other figures carved on the Tope sculptures have been noticed as bearing a close resemblance to figures carved on monuments further West. Thus Fergusson called attention (Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 187, and note 3) to an ornament or design used on the roll-frieze of the outer rail at Amarāvatī— “an ornament new ⃜ in so far as India is concerned,” —but which is found on the mystic representations of the Ephesian Artemis, It resembles the upper half of a little demon with upraised arms. A representation will be found in Falkener's, Ephesus, p. 286. Amongst other points of resemblance between Hindu and Western-Asian symbolism may be noted the fact that in both countries sculptured deities are often represented as holding in one hand a slain deer.Google Scholar
page 391 note 1 See above, note 1, p. 383.
page 392 note 1 Tree and Serpent Worship, plate lxxxvii. p. 229.Google Scholar
page 392 note 2 ProfMüller, Max, in Schliemann's Ilios (pp. 346–7);Google ScholarGoldstücker, , Pānini, his place in Sanskrit Literature, p. 59.Google Scholar
page 392 note 3 The chakra occupies the most prominent place on the summit of the north gateway of the 
Tope, flanked by two triśuls.
page 393 note 1 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 115.Google Scholar
page 393 note 2 id. plates lxx. lxxi. lxxii.
page 393 note 3 Ezekiel, ix. 4, 5, 6.Google Scholar
page 394 note 1 See notes in the Antiquary of March and August, 1881.
page 394 note 2 See Catherwood's, Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan (1854), p. 385,Google Scholar for an example at Ocosingo in Chiapas. Also Kingsborough's, LordMexican Antiquities, iv. 2;Google ScholarBaradêre's, Antiq. Mexicaines, pl. xxix. (première expédition),Google Scholar and de Bourbourg, Brasseur, Palenque (1866), Introd. p. 15, where Catherwood's woodcut is reproduced.Google Scholar
For Phœnician examples see Renan's, Mission de Phénicie (1864), p. 366,Google Scholar a stone found at Saïda (Sidon), and now in the Louvre. M. Renan states that the winged globe is found on the gates of almost all the temples in Phœnicia, . Op. cit. pp. 69, 70,Google Scholar for an example at Ain el Hayât, at Amrith on the coast of Syria. One of the latest instances is at Gébeil, on the carved architrave of a Christian church or baptistery, dated A.D. 1264 (id. pl. xxxii. 7).
Also Lajard's, Culte de Vénus, plates i. 16, iii. 9, 10, 11Google Scholar (Cilicia), iiia. 11, iv. 11, v. 13, vi. (Persepolis), xii. 4 (a curious variety), xivA. 1, xix. 16 (Tharsus). The same author's Culte de Mithra, plates i. ii. x. 3 to 11, xiii. 2, xvi. 1, 2, xvii. (numerous examples), xviii. 7 (a very remarkable specimen shaped like a bird), xxxvi. 11 (the same, but even more peculiar). Di Cesnola's, Cyprus, plates xxxv. 20 (where the emblem is clearly a large-winged scarab), xxxvi. etc.Google ScholarRawlinson's, Ancient Monarchies, ii. 4,Google Scholar and note. Perret and Chipiez, i. 87 (Armstrong's translation). De Luynes, , Numismatique et Inscriptions Cypriotes, pl. iii. (where several examples on coins of Cyprus are given).Google Scholar
page 395 note 1 De Luynes, , Essai sur la Numismatique des Satrapies et de la Phénicie (plate ii. 3, 5).Google Scholar
page 395 note 2 De Luynes, , Numismatique et Inscriptions Cypriotes, pl. iii.Google Scholar
page 396 note 1 Above, Figure 2, p. 392.
page 396 note 2 The coin is from Fergusson's, Tree and Serpent Worship (p. 162, No. 1), a coin of Krananda. The other emblems from Gen. Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes.Google Scholar
page 396 note 3 Vaux's, British Museum Phœnician Inscriptions, plates i. No. 2 (figure a); iv. 10 (figure b) (where the emblem becomes a simple caduceus, and is associated with a sun-symbol), vii. 20 (figure c), xiii. 37 (figure d), xviii. 52, xxvii. 74—inscriptions found by Nathan Davis on the site of ancient Carthage. Plate ii. fig. 5 gives an excellent illustration of the wheel of the sun as used by the Phœnicians.Google Scholar
page 398 note 1 History of Art in Phœnicia and Cyprus (Armstrong's, translation), ii. 330, 331.Google Scholar
page 398 note 2 id. i. 77.Google Scholar
page 399 note 1 Edinburgh Review, Jan. 1886, p. 209.Google Scholar
page 399 note 2 Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 116, where it is figured.Google Scholar
page 400 note 1 id. p. 116, note.Google Scholar
page 400 note 2 J.A.S. Bengal, L., part i. p. 171 (1881).Google Scholar
page 401 note 1 Tree and Serpent Worship, Plate x. a, p. 113.Google Scholar
page 402 note 1 It bears the inscription 
“ I am the public (herald ?) of the people of Longanē,” a town in Sicily.
page 402 note 2 Madden's, Coins of the Jews, No. 4, p. 109.Google Scholar
page 402 note 3 Thomas, (J. R. A. S. N. S. Vol. I. p. 483) expressed his belief in the identity of this figure with the “Taurus symbol.”Google Scholar
page 404 note 1 Most unfortunately the portion of bronze plinth on which the ornament is cut appears never to have found its way to the British Museum, where the rest of the bust is. But Micali is a very accurate and trustworthy copyist, and that the plinth did actually exist is proved by his alluding to it in his text.
page 407 note 1 This note is the substance of Sir G. Birdwood's reply to the President's question whether he had observed any indications of symbolism in Indian textile fabrics, when Mr. Sewell's paper had been read at the Society's Meeting on the 21st June, 1886.
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