History of paganism in Caledonia : with an examination into the influence of Asiatic philosophy, and the gradual development of Christianity in Pictavia. / By Thomas A. Wise.

  • Wise, T. (Thomas), 1801-1889.
Date:
1884
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of paganism in Caledonia : with an examination into the influence of Asiatic philosophy, and the gradual development of Christianity in Pictavia. / By Thomas A. Wise. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    examine it critically, who, finding its dimensions exactly those of Buddha's foot, viz., 5 feet by 2 feet, thereupon decisively pronounced it to be his, although likeness to a foot there is none, according to Mr. Alabaster's sceptical conclusion. Like the footprint on Adam's Peak, it forms a depression upon the top of a mountain, and is an object of extreme veneration to pilgrims, who, in the month of February, resort to it in crowds and leave it with, as they think, Buddha's blessing. To invest this footprint with a more than usual impressiveness, a gold plate, which professes to be a facsimile of the original, is sunk into the spot, inscribed with 108 devices, the sacred Wheel of the Law being in the centre.(l) Such are samples of sacred footprints, which, although they are mostly natural depressions of irregular oblong shape, have come in after-times to be superstitiously looked upon as impressions left by some incarnate god or heroic personality. Brahmins, Buddhists, Egyptians, Greeks, Christians, Mahommedans, and others have been weak enough to regard such phenomena with feelings of religious awe, and to connect them with certain high moments in their religious history. In holy scripture we read of high places, in which the people, deeming them specially sacred, paid homage and did sacrifice to Baal as to God. The feeling which suggested recourse to these is of very ancient date, and it prevailed for a long time far and wide among the tribes of Asia. Its existence both explains the absence in many quarters of temples made with hands for the worship of the Deity, and that superstitious awe with which, in this region, men learned to regard the high mountain-summits of the world. Besides these, other spots are met with which are supposed to possess and convey a kindred sacredness and sanctity. I have seen what is called an inauguration-stone with the impression of a foot, in which, as alleged, the first distinguished chieftain of a race, if he did not stamp it there, stood and swore he would respect as inviolable the laws and customs of the people; and with their right foot in which his successors all stood and in a similar way swore, before they were allowed to take up and wield the badges of royalty. Such was the virtue presumed to emanate from this footprint, and such the sanction it was thought to impart to an otherwise emphatic enough protestation. The early footsteps too of the race which originated and transmitted these ideas may be traced in Asia and Europe in those megalithic monuments which survive, in evidence at once of their physical and inventive faculty. There they are to this day, in many cases in a state as perfect as when they were first chiselled and erected, having escaped the ravages of conquering hosts, who, while they sought to destroy them and the ideas they represented, have themselves perished without sign, leaving them standing there to connect primitive races and beliefs with those of the modern world, and to afford a clue to the origin of the thoughts which have contributed to raise the character as well as extend the borders of civilized humanity. When the Hindus conquered Ceylon in a.d. 1023, the sacred mountain with its gigantic footprint came to be referred to Civa, Lakshmana, an incarnation of Vishnu, being installed as guardian angel of the spot; while the temple of Gaya came to be regarded with special veneration, as enshrining a footprint of Vishnu. This temple is frequented by pilgrims, who, believing in the sacredness of the dust it encloses, bring hither the remains of their relations, that their ashes may be sprinkled therewith, before they are deposited for good in the sacred circulating waters of the Ganges. The Mohammedans, on the other hand, ascribe the impression on the summit, and the consequent sacredness which invests the mountain in Ceylon, to the footstep of Adam, whom they regard as the greatest of all the Patriarchs and Prophets, and who, they allege, ascended to heaven from the spot. Just such an impression, though on a smaller scale, may be seen near Damascus, which was left, they say, by the foot of Mahomet, when, half-alighted from his camel at the southern gate of this voluptuous city, he, on the summons of the angel Gabriel, suddenly sprang back and turned away, renouncing for ever the joys of earth for the joys of heaven, which this minister of God had been commissioned to promise him, should he sacrifice every other. At least, such is the (1) See Buddhism Illustrated, by H. Alabaster. (Trubner & Co). I 2