Description of and remarks upon an ancient calvaria from China, which has been supposed to be that of Confucius / by George Busk.

  • Busk, George, 1807-1886.
Date:
[1870?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of and remarks upon an ancient calvaria from China, which has been supposed to be that of Confucius / by George Busk. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Tibetan form of Sanskrit in use about the seventh and eightlx centuries of the present era. The correctness of this determi- nation will at once be obvious to any one who regards the cha- racter placed above fig. 5, and which is copied from General Cunningham^s letter to Mr. Fergusson. And I may remark that the letter appears in precisely the same form in plate xxxix. vol. ii. of Mr. Thomases edition of ‘ Prinsep^s Essays on Indian Antiquities; ’ and from another plate in that volume it would seem that the same letter^ or one scarcely distinguishable from it, is in use in Tibet at the present time. Mr. Thomas has also pointed out that a similar form of A occurs in an ancient Mongol inscription, of which an account is given under the title of Versuch fiber eine alte Mongolische Inschrift,^^ by V. H. C. V. d. Gabelentz, in the ‘ Zeitschrift ffir die Kunde des Morgenlandes,^ vol. ii. p. 1, and plates I & 2, where it is stated that the inscription in question was discovered, with several others of the same kind, in China in the year 1618; and it was assigned, by the Chinese antiquary who attempted to decipher it, to the age of the Mongol Emperor Youan, who reigned from 1260 to 1294, and who appears to have been the first to provide an alphabet for the Mongolian language. In order to carry out this object the Emperor, it is stated, applied to the Pag-pa Lama of Tibet to fuimish him with suitable characters, who complied with the request by sending the Tibetan alphabet then in use. It is to be presumed, therefore, that the inscription in question was rendered in these characters; and we are thus enabled to trace the direct connexion of the frontal monogram with a Tibetan origin. Presuming therefore that the significance and origin of the letter is placed beyond all reasonable doubt, the next question arises as to what it means. But as to this I fear we are at pre- sent much in the dark. General Cunningham has suggested that it might probably be intended for the initial letter of the name of Ananda, who is said to have been the nephew and devoted disciple of Buddha (Gotama), and to have been with him at the time of his decease. And, in support of this surmise. General Cunningham adds the interesting remark that the relic-bones of S^riputa and Maga- lS,na, found at Bhilsa, were similai'ly inscribed with the initials of their names; and he goes on to observe that it would be in- teresting to find that any relic of Ananda liad been taken to China, as he does not remember the notice of any relics except those of Buddha himself, although statues of several disciples are recorded. He has no doubt, howevei’, that many relics of the principal disciples must have found their way to China at the time of the persecution and final dispersion of the Buddhists.