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Mirra Alfassa
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/5/21

Hurrychund Chintamon had played an important part in the early Theosophical Society and in the move of Blavatsky and Olcott from New York to India. He had been their chief Indian correspondent during 1877-1878, when he was President of the Bombay Arya Samaj (a Vedic revival movement with which the early Theosophical Society was allied). After Blavatsky and Olcott arrived in Bombay in 1879 and met Chintamon in person, they discovered that he was a scoundrel and an embezzler, and expelled him from the Society. Chintamon came to England in 1879 or 1880, and stayed until 1883, when he returned to make further trouble for the Theosophists in India. Perhaps the fact that Chintamon was in England when Burgoyne first met Theon led some to conclude that they were the same person. But this cannot be the whole story. Ayton claimed very clearly and repeatedly that he had proof of Burgoyne’s being in company with Chintamon. In a letter in the private collection, [The Rev W. A.] Ayton writes:

I have since discovered that Hurrychund Chintaman the notorious Black Magician was in company with Dalton at Bradford. By means of a Photograph I have traced him to Glasgow & even to Banchory, under the alias of Darushah Chichgur. Friends in London saw him there just before his return to India. This time coincides with that when I noticed a great change in the management. Chintaman had supplied the Oriental knowledge as he was a Sanskrit scholar & knew much. Theon was Chintaman! Friends have lately seen him in India where he is still at his tricks.

Before her disillusion[ment] with Chintamon, Blavatsky had touted him to the London Theosophists as a “great adept.” After the break that followed on her meeting with him in person, Chintamon allied himself to the rising Western opposition to esoteric Buddhism exemplified by Stainton Moses, C.C. Massey, William Oxley, Emma Hardinge Britten, Thomas Lake Harris, and others. From this formidable group, Burgoyne first contracted the hostility towards Blavatsky’s enterprise that would mark all his writings.

Chintamon also appears in connection with “H.B. Corinni,” the otherwise unidentifiable (and variously spelled) “Private Secretary” of Theon, who was thought by the police to be just another of Burgoyne’s aliases. Ayton, however, believed Corinni to be Chintamon’s son, who he said offered Blavatsky’s old letters for sale to the President of the London Branch of the Theosophical Society, Charles Carleton Massey. [Ayton to unnamed American neophyte, 11 June 1886, based on what he had been told by Massey.] The flaw in Ayton’s thesis is of course the existence of a real and independent Max Theon, of whom we, unlike Ayton, have documentary evidence. Nonetheless, after more than a hundred years, the whole tangle of misidentifications involving Chintamon, “Christamon,” and “Metamon” [see B.9.c-3] with the Order cannot be entirely resolved.

-- Excerpt from The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism, by Joscelyn Godwin

Max Théon (17 November 1848 – 4 March 1927) perhaps born Louis-Maximilian Bimstein, was a Polish Jewish Kabbalist and Occultist. In London while still a young man, he inspired The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor in 1884...

There is some dispute over whether Théon taught Blavatsky at some stage; the Mother in The Agenda says he did...

Théon gathered a number of students, including Louis Themanlys and Charles Barlet, and they established the "Cosmic Movement". This was based on material, called the Cosmic Tradition, received or perhaps channelled by Théon's wife. They established the journal Cosmic Review, for the "study and re-establishment of the original Tradition"...

Louis Themanlys was a friend of Matteo Alfassa, the brother of Mirra Alfassa (who would later associate with Sri Aurobindo and become The Mother), and in 1905 or 1906 Mirra travelled to Tlemcen to study occultism under Théon (Sujata Nahar, Mirra the Occultist). The Mother mentions that Sri Aurobindo and Théon had independently and at the same time arrived at some similar conclusions about evolution of human consciousness without having met each other. The Mother's design of Sri Aurobindo's symbol is very similar to that of Théon's, with only small changes in the proportions of the central square (Mother's Agenda, vol 3, p. 454, dated December 15, 1962).

-- Max Théon, by Wikipedia

Mirra Alfassa
Personal
Born: Blanche Rachel Mirra Alfassa, 21 February 1878, Paris, France
Died: 17 November 1973 (aged 95), Pondicherry, India
Resting place: Pondicherry, India
Religion: Hinduism
Nationality: French, Indian
Notable work(s): Prayers And Meditations, Words of Long Ago, On Thoughts and Aphorisms, Words of the Mother
Pen name: The Mother
Institute: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Auroville
Religious career
Students: Satprem, Nolini Kanta Gupta, Nirodbaran, Amal Kiran, Pavitra

Mirra Alfassa (21 February 1878 – 17 November 1973), known to her followers as The Mother, was a French spiritual guru, an occultist and a collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who considered her to be of equal yogic stature to him and called her by the name "The Mother". She founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and established Auroville as a universal town; she was an influence and inspiration to many writers and spiritual personalities on the subject of Integral Yoga.

Mirra Alfassa was born in Paris in 1878 to a Sephardic Jewish bourgeois family. In her youth, she traveled to Algeria to practice occultism along with Max Théon. After returning, while living in Paris, she guided a group of spiritual seekers. In 1914, she traveled to Pondicherry, India and met Sri Aurobindo and found in him "the dark Asiatic figure" of whom she had had visions and called him Krishna. During this first visit, she helped publish a French version of a periodical Arya which serialized most of Sri Aurobindo's post-political prose writings. During First World war she was oblised to leave Pondicherry. Thereafter a 4-year stay in Japan, in 1920, she returned to Pondicherry for good. Gradually, as more and more people joined her and Sri Aurobindo, she organised and developed Sri Aurobindo Ashram. In 1943, she started a school in the ashram and in 1968 established Auroville, an experimental township dedicated to human unity and evolution. She left her body on 17 November 1973 in Pondicherry.

The experiences of the last thirty years of Mirra Alfassa's life were captured in the 13-volume work Mother's Agenda by Satprem who was one of her followers.

Early life

Childhood


Mirra Alfassa as a child c. 1885


Mirra Alfassa

Mirra Alfassa was born in 1878 in Paris to Moïse Maurice Alfassa a Turkish Jewish father, and Mathilde Ismalun an Egyptian Jewish mother. They were a bourgeois family, and Mirra's full name at birth was Blanche Rachel Mirra Alfassa. She had an elder brother, Mattéo Mathieu Maurice Alfassa, who later held numerous French governmental posts in Africa. The family had just migrated to France a year before Mirra was born. Mirra was close to her grandmother Mira Ismalum (née Pinto), who was a neighbour and who was one of the first women to travel alone outside Egypt.[1][2]

Mirra learnt to read at the age of seven and joined school very late at the age of nine. She was interested in various fields of art, tennis, music and singing, but was a concern to her mother owing to an apparent lack of permanent interest in any particular field.[3][4] By the age of 14 she had read most of the books in her father's collection, which is believed to have helped her achieve mastery of French.[5] Her biographer Vrekhem notes that Mirra had various occult experiences in her childhood but knew nothing of their significance or relevance. She kept these experiences to herself as her mother would have regarded occult experiences as a mental problem to be treated.[6] Mirra especially recalls at the age of thirteen or fourteen having a dream or a vision of a luminous figure whom she used to call Krishna but had never seen before in real life.[7][8][9]

As an artist and traveller


Mirra Alfassa at the age of 24 with son Andre, circa 1902

In Paris

In 1893 after graduating from school, Mirra joined Académie Julian[10][11] to study art. Her grandmother Mira introduced her to Henri Morisset, an ex-student of the Académie; they were married on 13 October 1897.[12] Both were well off and worked as artists for the next ten years, during an era known for having many impressionist artists. Her son André was born on 23 August 1898. Some of Alfassa's paintings were accepted by the jury of Salon d'Automne and were exhibited in 1903, 1904 and 1905.[13] She recalls herself being a complete atheist at this time, yet was experiencing various memories which she found were not mental formations but spontaneous experiences. She kept those experiences to herself and developed an urge to understand their significance. She came across the book Raja yoga by Swami Vivekananda, which provided some of the explanations she was looking for. She also received a copy of the Bhagavad Gita in French which helped her considerably in learning more about these experiences.[14]

Max Théon and Alma Théon


Mirra Alfassa in Theon's house at Tlemcen, Algeria (1906–1907)

During this time Mirra made the acquaintance of Louis Thémanlys who was the head of the Cosmic Movement, a group started by Max Théon. Through reading a copy of Cosmic Review, she attended Thémanlys's speeches and became active in the group. For the first time, on 14 July 1906, she journeyed alone to the Algerian city of Tlemcen to meet with Max Théon and his wife Alma Théon. She consequently travelled twice more, in 1906 and 1907, to their estate at Tlemcen and there practised and experimented with the teachings of Max Théon & Alma Théon.[15]

Mirra Alfassa and Henri separated in 1908; she then moved to 49 Rue des Lévis, Paris, living alone in a small apartment and involving herself in discussions with Buddhists and Cosmic movement circles. During this time she also made the acquaintance of Madame David Néel.[16] Mirra married Paul Richard in 1911 who after serving four years in the army had involved himself in philosophy & theology. He had come to know Mirra when he was in discussions with Max Théon. Vrekhem, a biographer of Mirra, informs that Richard was undergoing a legal problem in inheriting children from his first marriage to a Dutch woman, and had asked Mirra for help which she had accepted by marrying him.[17]

First meetings with Aurobindo and Japan


Dorothy Hodgson (Dutta), Mirra Alfassa, Paul Richard & Japanese friends in Tokyo c.a 1918

Richard was also an aspiring politician and had attempted to win election to the French senate from Pondicherry, which was then under French control. Despite his initial failure he wanted to make a second attempt, and on 7 March 1914 Mirra along with Richard set sail to India and reached Pondicherry by 29 March.[18][19] After reaching Pondicherry, they fixed an appointment with Sri Aurobindo who was then settled in Pondicherry and had suspended all his activity for Indian independence from British rule. When she first met Sri Aurobindo, Mirra recognized in him the person whom she used to see in her dreams. During a later meeting, she experienced a complete silence of the mind, free from any thought.[20]

Richard lost the elections to Paul Bluysen whom he had supported in previous elections. Richard decided to publish a review of the yoga of Aurobindo, and to be called Arya and be bilingual in both English and French. The Journal was first published on 15 August 1914 and ran for the next six and half years. Consequent journals published were later made into complete books.[21] By this time World War I had erupted and Indian revolutionaries were being prosecuted by the British for being spies of the German army. Although Aurobindo had totally dispensed his activities against British rule he was considered unsafe and all the revolutionaries were asked to move to Algeria. Aurobindo had refused this offer, so the British had written to the French government in Paris asking to hand over revolutionaries staying at French Pondicherry. This request came to Mirra's brother, Mattéo Alfassa, who by then was foreign minister and who filed the request under other working files never to be looked upon again.[22][23]

On the insistence of the British in 1915, Richard was ordered to move out of Pondicherry. After an unsuccessful attempt to stay, both Mirra and Richard left for Paris on 22 February 1915. After a few years Richard was ordered to promote French trade in Japan (which was then an ally of France and Britain) and China. Mirra left for Japan along with Richard, never to return to Paris again.[24]

Mirra and Richard stayed in Japan and made acquaintances among the Indian community. Their time in Japan was relatively peaceful, and they spent the following four years there. On 24 April 1920 Mirra returned with Richard to Pondicherry[25][26] accompanied by Dorothy Hodgson. Mirra moved to live near Aurobindo in the guest house at Rue François Martin. Richard did not stay long in India; he spent a year traveling around North India returning to France and remarried in England after divorcing Mirra. After working a few years as a professor in the United States he died in 1968.[27] On 24 November 1920 due to a storm and heavy rain, Aurobindo asked Mirra and Dorothy Hodgson (later known as Dutta) to move into Aurobindo's house and she started living in the house along with other residents. [28][29]

Foundation of the ashram

Integral yoga

With time many influenced by the Arya Magazine and others who had heard about Aurobindo started to come to his residence either permanently to reside or to practise Aurobindo's yoga. Mirra was initially not totally accepted by the other household members and was considered an outsider. Aurobindo considered her to be of equal yogic stature and started calling her "the mother", and she was known to the whole community as such from then on. Around 1924 onwards Mirra was starting to organise the day-to-day functioning of the household and slowly the house was turning into an ashram with many followers flowing in every day.[30] After 1926 Aurobindo started to retire from regular activities and put his complete focus towards yogic practises. The community had grown to 85 members by then and the group had slowly turned into a spiritual ashram.

Integral yoga and the Siddhi Day

On 24 November 1926, later declared as Siddhi Day (Victory Day) and still celebrated by Sri Aurobindo Ashram,[31] Mirra and Aurobindo declared that overmind consciousness had manifested directly in physical consciousness, allowing the possibility for human consciousness to be directly aware and be in the overmind consciousness[note 1].

Aurobindo had received a few complaints against Mirra on the daily running of the ashram. To settle this matter in finality Aurobindo declared 'The Mother' to be in sole charge of further activities of the ashram through a letter in April 1930.[32] By August 1930, the ashram members had grown to a number of 80 to 100 residents, a self-sustaining community with all basic amenities fulfilled. [33]

Aurobindo and Mirra's work and principles of yoga was named by them: integral yoga, an all-embracing yoga. This yoga was in variance with older ways of yoga because the follower would not give up the outer life to live in a monastery, but would be present in regular life and practise spirituality in all parts of life. [34]

By 1937 the ashram residents had grown to more than 150, so there was a need for an expansion of buildings and facilities, helped by Diwan Hyder Ali, the Nizam of Hyderabad who had made a grant to the ashram for further expansion. Under the guidance of Mirra, Antonin Raymond, the chief architect, assisted by Franticek Sammer and George Nakashima, constructed a dormitory building. By this time the second world war erupted delaying the construction but was finally completed after ten years and was named Golconde.[35] In 1938 Margaret Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of US President Woodrow Wilson, came to the ashram and chose to remain there for the rest of her life.[36]

By 1939 World War Two had broken out. Although some of the members of the ashram may have supported Hitler indirectly because Britain was attacked, both Mirra and Aurobindo publicly declared their support for the Allied forces, mainly by donating to the Viceroy's war fund, much to the surprise of many Indians.[37]

School in ashram and death of Sri Aurobindo

On 2 December 1943 Mirra started a school for about twenty children inside the ashram. She considered this was a considerable movement away from usual life in the ashram, which was until then about practising total renunciation of the outside world. However she found that the school would gradually align to the principles of Sri Aurobindo's integral yoga.[38] The school later became known as the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education. From 21 February 1949 she started a quarterly magazine called "The Bulletin" in which Aurobindo published a series of eight articles under the title "The supramental manifestation upon earth" wherein for the first time he wrote about transitional being between man and superman.[39]


Mirra's painting: ‘Divine Consciousness Emerging from the Inconscient’, 1920–1925

Aurobindo's health had deteriorated and he died on 5 December 1950. This was a very difficult experience for Mirra.[39] All the activities in the ashram were suspended for twelve days, after which Mirra had to decide the future course of the ashram. Mirra decided to take up the entire work of the ashram and also to continue the integral yoga internally. The years from 1950 to 1958 were the years where she was mostly seen by her disciples.[40]

Pondicherry, India

On 15 August 1954 French Pondicherry became a union territory of India. Mirra declared dual citizenship for India and France.[41] Jawaharlal Nehru visited the ashram on 16 January 1955 and met with Mirra for a few minutes. This meeting cleared many doubts he had about the ashram. During his second visit to the ashram on 29 September 1955, his daughter Indira Gandhi accompanied him. Mirra had a profound effect on her, which developed into a close relationship in later years.[42] Mirra continued to teach French after the death of Aurobindo. She started with just simple conversations and recitations, which later expanded into deeper discussions about integral yoga where she would read a passage from Aurobindo's or her own writings and comment on them. These sessions grew into a seven-volume book called Questions and Answers. [43]

After 1958, Mirra slowly started to withdraw from outer activities. The year 1958 was also marked by greater progress in yoga.[44] She stopped all her activities from 1959 onwards to devote herself completely towards yoga. On 21 February 1963, on her 85th birthday, she gave her first darshan from the terrace that had been built for her. From then on she would be present there, on darshan days where visitors below would gather around to catch a glimpse of her.[45] Mirra Alfassa regularly met with one of her disciples Satprem. He had recorded all their conversations, which later he gathered in a volume of 13 books called Mother's Agenda.


Mirra Alfassa playing tennis

Establishing Auroville

Main article: Auroville


Matrimandir, in Auroville, near Pondicherry

Mirra had published an article titled "The Dream" in which she suggested a place on earth that no nation could claim as its sole property, for all humanity with no distinction.[46] In 1964 it was finally decided to build this city. On 28 February 1968 they drew up a charter for the city, Auroville, meaning City of the Dawn (derived from the French word aurore), a model universal township where one of the aims would be to bring about human unity. The city still exists and continues to grow. [47] Today Auroville is managed by a foundation set up by the Indian government.

Later years

Many politicians visited Mirra on a regular basis for her guidance. She had visits from V.V. Giri, Nandini Satpathy, Dalai Lama, and especially Indira Gandhi who was in close contact with her and often visited her for guidance. [48] By the end of March 1973 she became critically ill. After 20 May 1973 all meetings were cancelled. She gave her final darshan on 15 August of the same year, visiting the outside balcony where thousands of followers were waiting to catch a glimpse of her. Mirra died at 7:25 p.m on 17 November 1973. On 20 November she was buried next to Aurobindo in the courtyard of the main ashram building.[49]


Mirra Alfassa on a 1978 stamp of India

References

Notes

1. A detailed description of the Overmind is provided in Book I ch.28, and Book II ch.26, of Aurobindo's philosophical opus The Life Divine

Citations

1. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 4–7.
2. Mother's Chronicles Bk I; Mother on Herself – Chronology p.83.
3. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 8.
4. Iyengar 1978, pp. 6–7.
5. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 10.
6. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 11–13.
7. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 14.
8. Bulletin of the Sri Aurobindo Centre of Education, 1976 p.14, Mother on Herselfpp.17–18.
9. Bulletin 1974 p.63.
10. "The Mother". sriaurobindoashram.org. 2013. Archived from the original on 9 November 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
11. Mirra Alfassa, paintings and drawings, P. 157-158
12. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 15–20.
13. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 24.
14. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 29.
15. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 37–67.
16. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 73–75.
17. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 84.
18. Interview with Prithwindra Mukherjee, The Sunday Standard, 15 June 1969; The Mother by Prema Nandakumar, National Book Trust, 1977, p9.
19. Karmayogi no date, Van Vrekhem 2001.
20. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 140–155.
21. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 160–172.
22. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 175–177.
23. Purani 1982, pp. 9–12[full citation needed]
24. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 178–180.
25. Iyengar 1978, p. 182.
26. Collected Works 1978, volume 8, pp. 106–107.
27. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 215–216.
28. Vrekhem 2004, p. 225.
29. Mother's Agenda 1979, volume 2, pp. 371–372.
30. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 228–248.
31. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 250–251.
32. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 258–259.
33. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 286–287.
34. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 270–271.
35. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 303–305.
36. Nirodbaran 1972, Karmayogi[full citation needed]
37. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 310–326.
38. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 334–335.
39. Jump up to:a b Vrekhem 2004, pp. 353–354.
40. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 385.
41. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 408–409.
42. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 412–413.
43. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 414.
44. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 479–486.
45. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 541.
46. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 547–549.
47. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 559–562.
48. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 573.
49. Vrekhem 2004, pp. 593–598.

Bibliography

• Heehs, Peter (2008), The Lives of Sri Aurobindo, Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-14098-0
• Vrekhem, Georges Van (2004), the Mother the story of her life, Rupa & Co, ISBN 8129105934
• Jones, Constance; Ryan, James D., eds. (2007), Encyclopedia of Hinduism, New York: Facts on File Inc, ISBN 978-0-8160-5458-9

Further reading

• Anon., The Mother – Some dates
• Aurobindo, Sri (1972). Collected Works of Sri Aurobindo (Birth Centenary ed.). Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.
• (1972b) The Mother, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry
• Iyengar, K. R. S. (1978). On the Mother: The Chronicle of a Manifestation and Ministry (2nd ed.). Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education / Pondicherry. (2 vols, continuously paginated)
• Alfassa, Mirra (1977) The Mother on Herself, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry
• Collected Works of the Mother (Centenary ed.). Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. 1978(17 vol set)
• Mother's Agenda. New York, NY: Institute for Evolutionary Research. 1979(13 vol set)
o (date?) Flowers and Their Messages, Sri Aurobindo Ashram
o (date?) Flowers and Their Spiritual Significance, Sri Aurobindo Ashram
• Das, Nolima ed., (1978) Glimpses of the Mother's Life vol.1, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry
• Mukherjee, Prithwindra (2000), Sri Aurobindo: Biographie, Desclée de Brouwer, Paris
• Nahar, Sujata (1986) Mother's chronicles Bk. 2. Mirra the Artist, Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives, Paris & Mira Aditi, Mysore.
o (1989) Mother's chronicles Bk. 3. Mirra the Occultist. Paris: Institut de Recherches Evolutives, Paris & Mira Aditi, Mysore.
• K.D. Sethna, The Mother, Past-Present-Future, 1977
• Satprem (1982) The Mind of the Cells (transl by Francine Mahak & Luc Venet) Institute for Evolutionary Research, New York, NY
• Van Vrekhem, Georges: The Mother – The Story of Her Life, Harper Collins Publishers India, New Delhi 2000, ISBN 81-7223-416-3 (see also Mother meets Sri Aurobindo – An excerpt from this book)
• Van Vrekhem, Georges: Beyond Man – The Life and Work of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, HarperCollins Publishers India, New Delhi 1999, ISBN 81-7223-327-2

Partial bibliography

• Commentaries on the Dhammapada, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, WI 2004, ISBN 0-940985-25-X
• Flowers and Their Messages, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, WI ISBN 0-941524-68-X
• Search for the Soul in Everyday Living, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, WI ISBN 0-941524-57-4
• Soul and Its Powers, Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, WI ISBN 0-941524-67-1

External links

• Writings by The Mother

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Thomas H. Burgoyne (1855-1894)
by Encyclopedia.com
Updated Mar 4 2021

Thomas H. Burgoyne, an astrologer and founder of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, was born April 14, 1855, and grew up in his native Scotland. Spontaneously psychic, he claimed that as a child he came into contact with the Brotherhood of Light, a group of discarnate, advanced beings who attempt to guide the destiny of humankind. Today that group continues as the Church of Light. At a later date he met a M. Theon, purported to be an earthly representative of the brotherhood who taught Burgoyne about the Brotherhood.

Burgoyne moved to the United States around 1880 and soon afterward his writings began to appear in various periodicals. He was brought into contact with Norman Astley of Carmel, California, who also claimed to be in contact with the Brotherhood of Light. Astley suggested that Burgoyne write a set of lessons to introduce the brotherhood's teachings to the public, and Burgoyne accepted Astley's hospitality at Carmel while he worked on the lessons. They were published in 1889 as The Light of Egypt. The writing of the lessons occasioned the establishment of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor as an esoteric occult order and outer expression of the Brotherhood of Light. The Hermetic Brotherhood was structured with three leaders, a seer, a scribe/secretary, and an astrologer. Burgoyne became the scribe.

As Burgoyne understood it, the Brotherhood of Light was an occult order formed to oppose the dominant religious powers of the day in ancient Egypt. As the members died, they continued the brotherhood from their new plane of being.

Burgoyne wrote several more books, including The Language of the Stars (1892), Celestial Dynamics (1896), and a second volume of The Light of Egypt (1900). He died in March 1894, in Humboldt County, California, still a relatively young man, before the last two were published. Henry and Belle Wagner continued his work. Henry Wagner owned the Astro-Philosophical Publishing House in Denver, Colorado, which published Burgoyne's books. Belle M. Wagner succeeded Burgoyne as scribe of the Hermetic Brotherhood.

Occult historian Arthur Edward Waite claimed that Burgoyne was, in fact, a name assumed by Thomas Henry Dalton, who had been imprisoned in Leeds, England, in 1883, on charges of fraud. Waite asserts that it was only after his release that he met a Peter Davidson (also known as M. Theon and Norman Astley), the real founder of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. Waite asserts that Dalton fled to the United States to escape the scandal of his arrest and continued the work of the order in California.

Sources:

Burgoyne, Thomas H. Celestial Dynamics. Denver: Astro-Philosophical Publishing, 1896.

——. The Language of the Stars. Denver: Astro-Philosophical Publishing, 1892.

——. The Light of Egypt. 2 vols. Denver: Astro-Philosophical Publishing, 1889, 1900.

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Biography of Thomas Burgoyne
by Blackcatcaboodle.com
Accessed: 3/5/21

Thomas Henry Burgoyne (born Thomas Dalton) 1855 – 1894 was a Scottish occultist, who founded the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor in Britain and was an editor of the The Occult Magazine. Burgoyne moved to America, wrote The Light of Egypt, and founded the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light in America. Burgoyne was a staunch advocate of homeopathy, and he was a colleague of William Alexander Ayton, Emma Hardinge Britten, Peter Davidson, Gerard Anaclet Vincent Encausse, Hargrave Jennings, Kenneth Robert Henderson MacKenzie, Paulos Metamon, Paschal Beverly Randolph, Max Theon, John Yarker and many others.

Thomas H Burgoyne, an astrologer and founder of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, was born April 14, 1855, and grew up in his native Scotland. Spontaneously psychic, he claimed that as a child he came into contact with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light, a group of discarnate, advanced beings who attempt to guide the destiny of humankind. Today that group continues as the Church of Light. At a later date he met a Max Theon, purported to be an earthly representative of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light who taught Burgoyne about the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light. Burgoyne write a set of lessons to introduce the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light‘s teachings to the public. They were published in 1889 as The Light of Egypt. The writing of the lessons occasioned the establishment of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light as an esoteric occult order and outer expression of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light. The Hermetic Brotherhood of Light was structured with three leaders, a seer, a scribe/secretary, and an astrologer. Burgoyne became the scribe. As Burgoyne understood it, the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light was an occult order formed to oppose the dominant religious powers of the day in ancient Egypt. As the members died, they continued the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light from their new plane of being.

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Thomas H. Burgoyne [Thomas Dalton]

Unlike the case of Peter Davidson, there are no descendants or local historians anxious to bear witness to the virtues and achievements of Thomas Henry Dalton (1855?-1895? [Date of birth deduced from prison records; death record searched for, without success, by Mr. Deveney.]), better known as T.H. Burgoyne, whose misdemeanors are amply chronicled in the Theosophical literature [B.6]. The “Church of Light,” a still active Californian group which descended from Burgoyne’s teachings, disposes of his life up to 1886 as follows:

T.H. Burgoyne was the son of a physician in Scotland. He roamed the moors during his boyhood and became conversant with the birds and flowers. He was an amateur naturalist. He also was a natural seer. Through his seership he contacted The Brotherhood of Light on the inner plane, and later contacted M. Theon in person. Still later he came to America, where he taught and wrote on occult subjects. [“The Founders of the Church of Light.”]

While this romanticized view cannot entirely be trusted, there is no doubt that Burgoyne was a medium and that he was developed as such by Max Theon. Burgoyne told Gorham Blake that he “visited [Theon’s] house as a student every day for a long time” [B.8.k], and gave this clue to their relationship in The Light of Egypt:

… those who are psychic, may not know WHEN the birth of an event will occur, but they Feel that it will, hence prophecy.

The primal foundation of all thought is right here, for instance, M. Theon may wish a certain result; if I am receptive, the idea may become incarnated in me, and under an extra spiritual stimulus it may grow and mature and become a material fact.

Burgoyne was making enquiries in occult circles by 1881, when he wrote to [The Rev W. A.] Ayton asking to visit him for a discussion of occultism. The clergyman was shocked when he met this “Dalton,” who (Ayton says) boasted of doing Black Magic [B.6.f], and forthwith sent him packing [B.6.k]. Later Ayton would be appalled to learn that it was this same young man with whom, as “Burgoyne,” he had been corresponding on H.B. of L. business. Having decided that the mysterious Grand Master “Theon” was really Hurrychund Chintamon, Ayton deduced that the young Scotsman must have learned his black magic from this Indian adventurer.

This lovely picture raises as many questions as it answers. Adam McLean tells me in a private e-mail (3-18-08) that the book Philalethes Illustratus is about alchemy. He adds:

The ouroboros is a well know symbol in alchemy, as is the interwoven triangles. These were often brought together in alchemical emblems. There was a particular focus on this image in the early 18th century, through its use as an illustration in the influential 'Golden Chain of Homer', written or edited by Anton Josef Kirchweger, first issued at Frankfurt and Leipzig in four German editions in 1723, 1728, 1738 and 1757. A Latin version was issued at Frankfurt in 1762, and further German editions followed. In the late eighteenth century Sigismund Bacstrom made a rather poor translation of the work into English. Blavatsky was very interested in this work and apparently wanted to write a commentary on it. Part of this was published in the Theosophical Society Journal 'Lucifer' in 1891. The Rev W. A. Ayton, the alchemical enthusiast, and contact of Blavatsky, used a variation of this image as a letterhead on his papers.

This is a copy of the letterhead of Rev W. A. Ayton which Adam McLean sent me. Ayton is mentioned in Blavatsky's diary in 1878 and 1879 (BCW I, p 410, 421 and II, p. 42). Note that where Blavatsky's seal has astrological connotations with for instance the sign of the Leo in the right-bottom corner, Ayton has an actual lion in exactly the same spot as well as a sun and moon. Adam McLean notes (3-18-08) that Ayton was a member of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and his seal is similar to theirs.

It's clear at this point that the Theosophical Seal has a western esoteric background. Seen through the Eliphas Levi seal the cross was turned into an Egyptian cross, which makes sense as an Egyptian source for the early theosophical adepts was hinted at in their name: the Brotherhood of Luxor (whether a connection with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor should be assumed is an open question of theosophical history).

The circle on top with the swastika inside is present in Blavatsky’s seal. I have not been able to find any precursors to that. In this respect Blavatsky’s seal was clearly the example for the Theosophical Seal.

-- Early history of the Theosophical Seal, by Katinka Hesselink 2006, 2008

Hurrychund Chintamon had played an important part in the early Theosophical Society and in the move of Blavatsky and Olcott from New York to India. He had been their chief Indian correspondent during 1877-1878, when he was President of the Bombay Arya Samaj (a Vedic revival movement with which the early Theosophical Society was allied). After Blavatsky and Olcott arrived in Bombay in 1879 and met Chintamon in person, they discovered that he was a scoundrel and an embezzler, and expelled him from the Society. Chintamon came to England in 1879 or 1880, and stayed until 1883, when he returned to make further trouble for the Theosophists in India. Perhaps the fact that Chintamon was in England when Burgoyne first met Theon led some to conclude that they were the same person. But this cannot be the whole story. Ayton claimed very clearly and repeatedly that he had proof of Burgoyne’s being in company with Chintamon. In a letter in the private collection, Ayton writes:

I have since discovered that Hurrychund Chintaman the notorious Black Magician was in company with Dalton at Bradford. By means of a Photograph I have traced him to Glasgow & even to Banchory, under the alias of Darushah Chichgur. Friends in London saw him there just before his return to India. This time coincides with that when I noticed a great change in the management. Chintaman had supplied the Oriental knowledge as he was a Sanskrit scholar & knew much. Theon was Chintaman! Friends have lately seen him in India where he is still at his tricks.

Before her disillusion[ment] with Chintamon, Blavatsky had touted him to the London Theosophists as a “great adept.” After the break that followed on her meeting with him in person, Chintamon allied himself to the rising Western opposition to esoteric Buddhism exemplified by Stainton Moses, C.C. Massey, William Oxley, Emma Hardinge Britten, Thomas Lake Harris, and others. From this formidable group, Burgoyne first contracted the hostility towards Blavatsky’s enterprise that would mark all his writings.

Chintamon also appears in connection with “H.B. Corinni,” the otherwise unidentifiable (and variously spelled) “Private Secretary” of Theon, who was thought by the police to be just another of Burgoyne’s aliases. Ayton, however, believed Corinni to be Chintamon’s son, who he said offered Blavatsky’s old letters for sale to the President of the London Branch of the Theosophical Society, Charles Carleton Massey. [Ayton to unnamed American neophyte, 11 June 1886, based on what he had been told by Massey.] The flaw in Ayton’s thesis is of course the existence of a real and independent Max Theon, of whom we, unlike Ayton, have documentary evidence. Nonetheless, after more than a hundred years, the whole tangle of misidentifications involving Chintamon, “Christamon,” and “Metamon” [see B.9.c-3] with the Order cannot be entirely resolved.

By October 1882, Burgoyne was in Leeds, working in the menial trade of a grocer. [This is the trade ascribed to him in the court records. The records of the Leeds Constabulary call him “medium and astrologer.”] Here he tried to bring off an advertising fraud [B.6.d] so timid as to cast serious doubt on his abilities as a black magician! As a consequence, he spent the first seven months of 1883 in jail. He had probably met Theon before his incarceration, and, as we have seen, worked for a time in daily sessions as Theon’s medium. On his release he struck up or resumed relations with Peter Davidson, and became the Private Secretary to the Council of the H.B. of L. when it went public the following year.

Burgoyne contributed many letters and articles to The Occult Magazine, usually writing under the pseudonym “Zanoni.” He also contributed to Thomas Johnson’s Platonist [see B.7.c], showing considerably more literacy than in the letter that so amused the Theosophists [B.7.b]. But he never claimed to be an original writer. In the introduction to the “Mysteries of Eros” [A.3.b] he states his role as that of amanuensis and compiler. The former term reveals what the H.B. of L. regarded as the true source of its teachings – the initiates of the Interior Circle of the Order. The goal of the magical practice taught by the H.B. of L. was the development of the potentialities of the individual so that he or she could communicate directly with the Interior Circle and with the other entities, disembodied and never embodied, that the H.B. of L. believed to populate the universes. If Gorham Blake is to be credited [B.6.k], Davidson and Burgoyne “confessed” to him that Burgoyne was an “inspirational medium” and that the teachings of the Order came through his mediumship. Stripped of the bias inherent in the terms “medium,” and “confess,” there is no reason to doubt the statement of Burgoyne’s role. In the Order’s own terminology, however, his connection with the spiritual hierarchies of the universe was through “Blending” – the taking over of the conscious subject’s mind by the Initiates of the Interior Circle and the Potencies, Powers, and Intelligences of the celestial hierarchies – and through the “Sacred Sleep of Sialam” (see Section 15, below).

Shortly after arriving in Georgia, for all the Theosophists’ efforts to intercept him [B.6.1], Burgoyne parted with Davidson. From then on, the two communicated mainly through their mutual disciples, squabbling over fees for reading the neophytes’ horoscopes and over Burgoyne’s distribution of the Order’s manuscripts, with each man essentially running a separate organization. This split may be reflected in the French version of “Laws of Magic Mirrors” [A.3.a], which was prepared in 1888 and which bears the reference “Peter Davidson, Provincial Grand Mater of the Eastern Section.”

Burgoyne made his way from Georgia first to Kansas, then to Denver, and finally to Monterey, California, staying with H.B. of L. members as he went. According to the Church of Light, Burgoyne now met Normal Astley, a professional surveyor and retired Captain in the British Army. After 1887 Astley and a small group of students engaged Burgoyne to write the basic H.B. of L. teachings as a series of lessons, giving him hospitality and a small stipend. Astley is actually said to have visited England to meet Theon – something which is hardly credible in the light of what is known of Theon’s methods. We do know, however, that Burgoyne advertised widely and took subscriptions for the lessons, and that they were published in book form in 1889 as The Light of Egypt; or The Science of the Soul and the Stars, attributed to Burgoyne’s H.B. of L. sobriquet “Zanoni.”

With The Light of Egypt, the secrecy of the H.B. of L.’s documents was largely broken, and they were revealed – to those who could tell – to be fairly unoriginal compilations from earlier occultists, presented with a strongly anti-Theosophical tone. Only the practical teachings were omitted. The book was translated into French by Rene Philipon, a friend of Rene Guenon’s, and into Russian and Spanish, and a paraphrase of it was published in German. We present [B.8] the most important reactions to this work, which has been reprinted frequently up to the present day.

After the political upheavals in Tibet in the 1950s, Pallis became active in the affairs of the Tibetan [Tibet] Society, the first Western support group created for the Tibetan people. Pallis also was able to house members of the Tibetan diaspora in his London flat. Pallis also formed a relationship with the young Chögyam Trungpa, who had just arrived in England. Trungpa asked Pallis to write the foreword to Trungpa’s first, autobiographical book, Born in Tibet. In his acknowledgment, Trungpa offers Pallis his “grateful thanks” for the “great help” that Pallis provided in bringing the book to completion. He goes on to say that “Mr. Pallis when consenting to write the foreword, devoted many weeks to the work of finally putting the book in order”.

Pallis studied music under Arnold Dolmetsch, the distinguished reviver of early English music, composer, and performer, and was considered “one of Dolmetsch's most devoted protégés”. Pallis soon discovered a love of early music—in particular chamber music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—and for the viola da gamba. Even while climbing in the region of the Satlej-Ganges watershed, he and his musically-minded friends did not fail to bring their instruments.


Viola da gamba

Pallis taught viol at the Royal Academy of Music, and reconstituted The English Consort of Viols, an ensemble he had first formed in the 1930s. It was one of the first professional performing groups dedicated to the preservation of early English music. They released three records and made several concert tours in England and two tours to the United States.

According to the New York Times review, their Town Hall concert of April 1962 “was a solid musical delight”, the players having possessed “a rhythmic fluidity that endowed the music with elegance and dignity”. Pallis also published several compositions, primarily for the viol, and wrote on the viol’s history and its place in early English music.

The Royal Academy of Music, in recognition of a lifetime of contribution to the field of early music, awarded Pallis an Honorary Fellowship. At age eighty-nine his Nocturne de l’Ephemere was performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London; his niece writes that “he was able to go on stage to accept the applause which he did with his customary modesty.” When he died he left unfinished an opera based on the life of Milarepa...



Pallis described "tradition" as being the leitmotif of his writing. He wrote from the perspective of what has come to be called the traditionalist or perennialist school of comparative religion founded by René Guénon, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, and Frithjof Schuon, each of whom he knew personally.

Frithjof Schuon (/ˈʃuːɒn/; German: [ˈfʀiːtˌjoːf ˈʃuː.ɔn]) (18 June, 1907 – 5 May, 1998), also known as ʿĪsā Nūr ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad (عيسیٰ نور الـدّين أحمد),[1] was an author of German ancestry born in Basel, Switzerland. He was a spiritual master, philosopher, and metaphysician inspired by the Hindu philosophy of Advaita Vedanta and Sufism and the author of numerous books on religion and spirituality. He was also a poet and a painter...

Schuon's father was a concert violinist and the household was one in which not only music but literary and spiritual culture were present.


Violin

-- Frithjof Schuon, by Wikipedia

As a traditionalist, Pallis assumed the "transcendent unity of religions" (the title of Schuon's landmark 1948 book) and it was in part this understanding that gave Pallis insight into the innermost nature of the spiritual tradition of Tibet, his chosen love. He was a frequent contributor to the journal Studies in Comparative Religion (along with Schuon, Guénon, and Coomaraswamy), writings on both the topics of Tibetan culture and religious practice as well as the Perennialist philosophy.

-- Marco Pallis, by Wikipedia

Burgoyne’s last years were spent in unwonted comfort if, as the Church of Light says, Dr. Henry and Belle M. Wagner – who had been members of the H.B. of L. since 1885 – gave $100,000 to found an organization for the propagation of the Light of Egypt teachings. Out of this grew the Astro-Philosophical Publishing Company of Denver, and the Church of Light itself, reformed in 1932 by Elbert Benjamine (=C.C. Zain, 1882-1951). Beside Burgoyne’s other books The Language of the Stars and Celestial Dynamics, the new company issued in 1900 a second volume of The Light of Egypt. This differs markedly from the first volume, for it is ascribed to Burgoyne’s spirit, speaking through a medium who was his “spiritual successor,” Mrs. Wagner. As the spirit said, with characteristically poor grammar: “Dictated by the author from the subjective plane of life (to which he ascended several years ago) through the law of mental transfer, well known to all Occultists, he is enabled again to speak with those who are still upon the objective plane of life.”

Max Theon wrote to the Wagners in 1909 (the year after his wife’s death), telling them to close their branch of the H.B. of L. [Information given to Mr. Deveney by Henry O. Wagner.] By that time, the Order had virtually ceased to exist as such, while the Wagners continued on their own, channeling doctrinal and fictional works. Their son, Henry O. Wagner, told Mr. Deveney that he, in turn, received books from his parents by the “blending” process, to be described below. In 1963 he issued an enlarged edition of The Light of Egypt, which included several further items from his parents’ records. Some of these are known to have circulated separately to neophytes during the heyday of the H.B. of L. (see Section 10, below), while others were circulated by Burgoyne individually on a subscription basis to his own private students (all of whom were in theory members of the H.B. of L.) from 1887 until his death. These include a large body of astrological materials and also treatises on “Pentralia,” “Soul Knowledge (Atma Bodha)” and other topics. They are perfectly consistent with the H.B. of L. teachings, but appear to have been Burgoyne’s individual production, done after his separation from Peter Davidson, and they are not reproduced here.

-- The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism, by Joscelyn Godwin

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Church of Light
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/5/21


Official Emblem of the Church of Light

The Church of Light was incorporated November 2, 1932 in Los Angeles, California. Its mission is “to teach, practice, and disseminate The Religion of The Stars, a way of life for the Aquarian Age, as set forth in writings of C.C. Zain.” The Church is the continuation of an initiatic organization, the Brotherhood of Light, established in the same city in 1915. The 1932 reorganization as The Church of Light was a response to ordinances passed that year by Los Angeles County “prohibiting both the teaching and practice of astrology.”[1]

Brotherhood of Light


Elbert Benjamine AKA C. C. Zain

The Church is the continuation of an initiatic organization, the Brotherhood of Light, established also in Los Angeles in 1915. The Brotherhood of Light lessons, on the three branches of occult science, were written between the spring of 1910 and 1950 by Elbert Benjamine (also known as C.C. Zain, born Benjamin Parker Williams).[2] Benjamine had been invited in 1909 by the leaders of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor (HBofL) in Denver to join them as successor to Minnie Higgin, who had been the order’s astrologer until her death that year.[3] The surviving Council members proposed to Benjamine that he rewrite the order’s teachings in a systematic form as the basis for a new organization that would “bring occultism to the life of ordinary people.”[4] This change was inspired by orders from Max Theon to close the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor following the death of his wife the previous year.[5] After five years of preparation and study, Elbert Benjamine came to Los Angeles in 1915 and began to hold meetings. “At that point it still operated as a secret society. On November 11, 1918, the Brotherhood of Light opened its doors to the public, offering classes and a home-study course.”[6]

Influences

Astro-Philosophical Publications, founded in Denver in 1892, was a publishing arm of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor created by Henry and Belle Wagner. The authors it published included Thomas H. Burgoyne and Sarah Stanley Grimke, both cited by Benjamine as sources of Brotherhood teachings. He accorded the same status to Ghost Land and Art Magic by Emma Hardinge Britten.[7] Another early HBofL member, Genevieve Stebbins, relocated to California from England in 1917 with her husband Norman Astley, and provided assistance to the Benjamines in establishing the Brotherhood of Light.[8]

Founders

The 1932 reorganization as The Church of Light was a response to ordinances passed that year by Los Angeles County “prohibiting both the teaching and practice of astrology.” The three founding officers were

• C.C. Zain, pen name of Elbert Benjamine (1882-1951) - President
• Fred Skinner (1872-1940) - Vice President
• Elizabeth D. Benjamine (1875-1942) - Secretary-Treasurer

Schisms

Following the 1943 remarriage of Elbert Benjamine, his son and heir apparent Will Benjamine departed in acrimony and established the Stellar Ministry, “a short-lived religious group that taught a mixture of Hermeticism and Christianity.” [9] Another more recent schism in the Church of Light, is the Light of Egypt, headed up by a past president, Linden Liesge.

Activities

The 21 volume Brotherhood of Light lessons are publicly accessible to nonmembers of the church, but only members participate in a system of written examinations covering each volume. Each examination passed advances the member one degree. Seven volumes each are devoted to astrology, alchemy, and magic. Students who complete all 21 degrees (including examinations) are awarded a “Hermetician’s Certificate.”[9]

Church headquarters were located through 1999 at 117 (later 2341) Coral Street in Los Angeles, which had been the home of the Benjamines. After several years based in Brea, California, in 2005 it relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Regular classes and services are held at its headquarters, 2119 Gold Avenue, many of which are viewable as live streams and archived on the church website. The current president is Christopher Gibson.[10]

See also

• Genevieve Stebbins
• Emma Hardinge Britten
• Max Theon
• Hermetic Brotherhood of Light
• Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
• Esotericism
• Theosophy
• Occult
• Mysticism
• Spiritualism

References

Citations

1. Gibson, Christopher, "The Religion of the Stars: The Hermetic Philosophy of C.C. Zain",Gnosis Magazine, Winter 1996, 63.
2. Volume XVI titled 'Stellar Anatomy' Copyright, 1947, Serial No. 197 Reprinted December, 1966 The Church of Light, Los Angeles, California
3. "Elbert Benjamine", Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology, 5th ed. (Detroit: Gale, 2000.)
4. Horowitz, Mitch, Occult America (New York: Bantam, 2009), 217
5. Godwin, Chanel, and Deveney, eds., The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1995), 39.
6. Gibson, Christopher, "The Religion of the Stars: The Hermetic Philosophy of C.C. Zain,Gnosis Magazine, Winter 1996,61.
7. Zain, C.C., Laws of Occultism, (Los Angeles: The Church of Light, 1994), 152,156.
8. "C.C. Zain", Greer, John Michael, The New Encyclopedia of the Occult.(St. Paul, MN: LLewellyn, 2003, 527.
9. Gibson, Christopher, "The Religion of the Stars: The Hermetic Philosophy of C.C. Zain", Gnosis Magazine, Winter 1996, 62.
10. Meet the Staff

Bibliography

Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology, 5th ed. (Detroit: Gale, 2000.) "Elbert Benjamine."
Gibson, Christopher, "The Religion of the Stars: The Hermetic Philosophy of C.C. Zain," Gnosis Magazine, Winter 1996
Greer, John Michael, The New Encyclopedia of the Occult.(St. Paul, MN: LLewellyn, 2003)
The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor: Initiatic and Historical Documents of an Order of Practical Occultism.Joscelyn Godwin, Christian Chanel, and John Patrick Deveney, eds. (York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1995)
Horowitz, Mitch, Occult America. (New York: Bantam, 2009)
Zain, C.C. (Elbert Benjamine), Laws of Occultism. (Los Angeles: The Church of Light, 1994)

Sources

• The Church of Light, "Vision for the 21st Century"[1]
• The Church of Light, "Where We Are Located."[2]

External links

• Church of Light
Authority control
• VIAF: 143417692
• WorldCat Identities: lccn-no2004045954

1. Vision for the 21st Century
2. Where We Are Located

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Hurrychund Chintamon
by Theosophy Wiki
Accessed: 3/5/21

Hurrichund Chintamon was a disciple of Dayanand and President of the Arya Samaj of Bombay in 1878, when the Theosophical Society formed an alliance with the organization. Soon after the Founders arrived in Bombay, they found out Chintamon had mishandled the funds sent by them from the USA and was expelled. He later was an important figure in the formation of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor.

Work in photography

Hurrichund Chintamon was a pioneer of photography in India. Martin W. Sandler wrote:

The early popularity of photography in India, particularly in Bombay, was also due in great measure to the contribution of one pioneer photographer, Hurrychind Chintamon. . . . Chintamon was the most masterful and most successful of the early Indian photographers who captured carte-de-visite images of literary, political, and business figures.[1]

Theosophical involvement

According to the Membership Register of the Theosophical Society, Chintamon was admitted as a member in 1877[2] The Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett states:

Chintamon, Hurrychund, a chela of Dayanand of the Arya Samaj movement... While HPB and HSO were still in the USA they had correspondence with him and sent fees to the Arya Samaj through him. It was discovered that he had diverted these funds, amounting to about Rs. 600, to his own pocket. Later he attempted to arouse suspicion of HPB as a "Russian spy." He was expelled from both the TS and the Arya Samaj and decamped to England with Rs. 4,000 belonging to the latter body.

He was expelled from the Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj on May 13, 1879.

Towards the end of 1882 Chintamon went to London and met with Mr. Massey. He produced some letters supposed to come from Mme. Blavatsky, incriminating her in the creation of a hoax in relation to the Mahatmas. In October 1882, Master K.H. wrote to A. P. Sinnett:

Hurrychund Chintamon of Bombay, now of Manchester and elsewhere; the man who robbed the Founders and Dayanand of Rs. 4,000, deceived and imposed upon them from the first (so far back as New York), and then, exposed and expelled from the Society ran away to England and is ever since seeking and thirsting for his revenge.[3]

Hurrychund Chintamon never failed once during the last three years to take into his confidence every theosophist he met, pouring into his ears pretended news from Bombay about the duplicity of the Founders; and to spread reports among the spiritualists about Mad. B’s pretended phenomena, showing them all as simply “impudent tricks” — since she has no real idea of the Yoga powers; or again showing letters from her, received by him while she was in America; and in which she is made to advise him to pretend — he is a “Brother” and thus deceive the British theosophists the better . . . H.C. is doing all this and much more[4]

Later years

Hurrychund Chintamon was an important figure in the origination of the "Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor". Eventually, he was forced to leave England (again for mismanagement of money) and seems to have disappeared in the USA.[5]

Online resources

• Hurrichund Chintamon at HistoryoftheAdepts.com

Notes

1. Martin W. Sandler, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc, 2002), 32
2. Membership Register. Theosophical Society Adyar Archives.
3. Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 92 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 291.
4. Vicente Hao Chin, Jr., The Mahatma Letters to A.P. Sinnett in chronological sequence No. 92 (Quezon City: Theosophical Publishing House, 1993), 291.
5. George E. Linton and Virginia Hanson, eds., Readers Guide to The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett (Adyar, Chennai, India: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), 223.

***********************************

Hurrychund Chintamon
by The Church of Light
November 24, 2010



One of the many mysterious elements in the origins of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor is the role of Hurrychund Chintamon as an advisor to its founders Burgoyne and Davidson. In Photography: an Illustrated History, Martin W. Sander writes “The early popularity of photography in India, particularly in Bombay, was also due in great measure to the contribution of one pioneer photographer, Hurrychind Chintamon…the most masterful and most successful of the early Indian photographers who captured carte-de-visite images of literary, political, and business figures, Chintamon’s most famous carte was a portrait of the Maharaja of Baroda. Thousands of these images were distributed throughout India.”(p.32) An online history of photography in the Indian subcontinent explains that Elphinstone College in Bombay began to offer instruction in 1855, “where classes consisting predominantly of Indian students were introduced to a wide range of photographic processes. Among the graduates of these classes was Hurrichund Chintamon, who thereafter established a successful studio in Bombay which survived until the 1880s.” Chintamon left a tremendous photographic legacy of which traces are found on the Web.

Hurrichund Chintamon was the President of the Bombay Arya Samaj in 1878 when the Theosophical Society formed an alliance with Swami Dayananda Sarasvati, the Arya Samaj founder. Soon after the arrival in Bombay of Colonel Olcott and Madame Blavatsky, Chintamon was expelled by the Arya Samaj and the TS for mishandling of funds sent from the latter to the former. The reason he could successfully link the TS and Arya Samaj with an assortment of rajas and maharajas is that he knew them by virtue of having photographed many of them. This helps explain a letter from HPB to Chintamon, which he shared with Richard Hodgson who quoted it in his Report on the Theosophical Society:

As for the future Fellows of our Indian branch, have your eyes upon the chance of fishing out of the great ocean of Hindu hated for Christian missionaries some of those big fish you can Rajahs, and whales known as Maharajahs. Could you not hook out for your Bombay branch either Gwalior (Scindia) or the Holkar of Indore—those most faithful and loyal subjects of the British (?). (SPR Report on the TS, p. 316)

Both of these maharajas did in fact support the TS, presumably through Chintamon’s influence. Mahatma Letter #54, allegedly from Koot Hoomi, refers to “the man who robbed the Founders and Dayanand of Rs. 4,000, deceived and imposed upon them from the first (so far back as New York), and then exposed and expelled from the Society ran away to England and is ever since seeking and thirsting for his revenge.” (Mahatma Letters, p. 306.) But in 1878, before meeting him, in an article “A Society Without a Dogma” HPB referred to “the famous commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita of our brother Hurrychund Chintamon”, and quotes him to the effect that “In Hindustan, as in England, there are doctrines for the learned, and dogmas for the unlearned; strong meat for men and milk for babes; facts for the few, and fictions for the many, realities for the wise, and romances for the simple; esoteric truth for the philosopher, and exoteric fable for the fool.”(Blavatsky Collected Writings, I:306) Within a few years Chintamon would accuse Blavatsky of adding to the stock of Indian fictions and fables, and produce documentary evidence that supported his accusation.

Even after Chintamon’s departure from India, Swami Dayananda and the TS continued in amicable relations for another three years, but in 1882 the Swami publicly denounced the Theosophists and called Blavatsky a fraud and juggler. The 1884 confessions of Emma and Alexis Coulomb to fraudulent delivery of Mahatma letters led to the investigation of the TS by Richard Hodgson, sponsored by the Society for Psychical Research. His 1885 Report relied in important details on the testimony of a correspondent of Blavatsky whose initials are H.C., and context makes it clear that Chintamon was his informant. A letter dated May 22, 1878 from Blavatsky to Chintamon was transcribed by Eleanor Sidgwick and is now the archives of the Society for Psychical Research. This date is highly significant as the official date of the amalgamation of the Theosophical Society and the Arya Samaj. The transcription was published in the first volume of the Letters of H.P. Blavatsky. Sidgwick paraphrases at times but mostly the letter seems to be directly transcribed. HPB acknowledges Chintamon’s last letter and discusses the amalgamation of the TS and the Arya Samaj. She writes that C.C. Massey, perhaps the most devoted member in England, is son of an MP and a congenital mystic, adding “I feel perfectly sure, that if Pundit Dayanand will write to him any request he will joyfully comply.” She then appeals to Chintamon to induce Dayananda to sign what might later be called two Mahatma letters, one to Massey and one to Emily Kislingbury, composed by HPB. She suggests that he is free to edit to his satisfaction:

C.C. Massey has for three years bravely defended theosophy, our Society and selves. But what can we do? He hungers after truth, and the sight of a fakir’s phenomenon (however fanatical and idolatrous) would make him do anything in the world. Another brave loyal heart is Miss Emily Kislingbury, secretary, guiding spirit and in fact soul of the B.N.A. of Spts (British National Association of Spiritualists.) She has courage enough to make herself a heroine, and her motives and character are as pure as gold. But, like most women her emotional nature calls for a proof to lean upon; and for lack of that (since we all repudiate mediumship) she feels as though she would turn to the Xn church for support… Here is a prize—or rather two—worth the having. This little woman gathers about her some of the first writers in England, and is a power for good under wise direction. We want you to secure her from her weaker self. Write to her in the name of the Arya Samaj and to C.C. Massey (I send you both addresses) and in the name of TRUTH save them both! A direct letter from India would fire the zeal of both, for it is what they have been waiting and hoping for for three years. They regard India as the land of mystery, wisdom and *Spiritual Power*. My devotion, love and enthusiasm for India has fired them both (for last year they have come both—C.C. Massey and Emily Kislingbury—across the ocean to see me and lived with me) but unfortunately I am but a white-faced IDIOT not a Hindu, what can I do more! In the name of truth then and the great Unseen, Power, help me to rescue both these enthusiasts either from Christianity—worse than that- Catholicism, in which both are diving rapidly and give them work to do— *real hard* work, for both are of the stuff that helps making MARTYRS. Show this letter to our revered pundit—perhaps, he will consent to help and advise me. The more mystery you can throw about the communication the better and deeper impression it will make. If it would not be deemed impertinent of me to suggest a form of a letter I would propose the following:

Charles Carleton Massey Esq
Atheneaum Club—London
Dear Brother
The `Brothers’ in India look to you to take the Presidency of the British Theosophical Society of the Arya Samaj. Great consequences may follow. After three years of expectation the WORD comes. Are you ready? If so—act.’ (Here let the Pundit write his name in *Sanskrit characters* and date
it from wherever he likes.)

The letter to Miss Kislingbury should be worded:–
Emily Kislingbury, 38 Great Russell Street London
Dear Sister
Only the weak need a crutch. There is no primal truth in Earthly writings outside the Vedas: all else is derivation. If you seek consolation seek it there; if support it is there to be found (or something to that effect—you know better what to say.) The reality of the Word made Flesh is to be found in humanity—The highest avatar of the Son. Have patience & work for your fellow creatures and you will see Light in the East. A true Theosophist of the Arya Samaj will not wait in vain.
(Follow again the pundits or any other signature in Sanskrit)

We know the mind to be worked upon and will guarantee results if the Pundit kindly permits the letters to be written. Deeply as C C Massey and Emily Kislingbury love us, good theosophists as they are, nothing that we could do will have such an effect as these letters from India. For the present, it will be far better that these two should not know who addresses them. Later when the London branch is actively working, we will put you in full communion. Do not think we are resorting to childish method. Believe me, we know what is best for these EX-Spiritualists—these half-born theosophists. There are others, in different parts of Europe to whom after a little we will ask you to address ourselves. (Letters, Vol. 1, pp. 435-437)

Massey and Kislingbury were the President and Secretary of the British TS. Blavatsky had found Olcott easily persuaded by letters from adept authority figures, and clearly hoped that Massey and Kislingbury would become equally devoted to Theosophy on the same basis. Dayananda had no interest in Mahatma letters and ended up denouncing Blavatsky and Olcott for their involvement in such phenomena. But instead of alerting Dayananda to the nature of the dubious requests made by HPB, Chintamon seems to have kept him in the dark. In November 1880 when Mahatma correspondence between Koot Hoomi and A.P. Sinnett was inaugurated, Dayananda was apparently taken by surprise and felt betrayed by this development. He wrote to her “Madame Blavatsky…whatever you had written to me from America, or discussed with me at Saharanpur, Meerut, Kashi, etc….does not seem to conform with your present activities.” (Autobiography of Dayanand Saraswati, p. 68) Chintamon himself lent a hand with HPB’s schemes to impress Massey, however. Olcott and HPB stopped in London in early 1879 en route to Bombay from New York, and during this visit they saw Massey at the home of a mutual friend, the medium Mary Hollis-Billing. As told by Marion Meade in Madame Blavatsky, “after dinner, at Mary’s instigation, Helena fished around under the table and `materialized’ a Japanese teapot and later, as Massey was preparing to depart, she told him to reach into his overcoat pocket. To his amazed delight, he withdrew an inlaid Indian cardcase containing a slip of paper that bore Hurrychund Chintamon’s autograph.”(p. 194) In 1884, after meeting Chintamon and hearing his account of his dealings with the TS, Massey announced his resignation as British TS President in the journal Light, writing “The evidence for the existence of Adepts — or “Mahatmas,” since that term is now preferred — and even of their connection with individual members of the Theosophical Society, need not here concern us. We may, and I do, accept it; and yet see in their methods, or rather in the things that are said and done in their names, such deviations from our Philistine sense of truth and honour as to assure us that something is very wrong somewhere.”

Explanation of the "Kiddle Incident" in the Fourth Edition of The "Occult World"
by C.C. Massey
Light (London), pp. 307-9
July 26, 1884

I have very recently procured a copy of the fourth edition of "The Occult World." As noted by "M. A. (Oxon."), two or three weeks ago, the Appendix contains an explanation by Koot Hoomi of the above perplexing incident. Although Mr. Sinnett tells us that the subject had lost its interest for all persons in England whose opinion he valued, and that in the London Theosophical Society it was looked upon as little more than a joke, I venture to think that the explanation deserves a more careful examination than it seems yet to have received. I should certainly not offer to discuss the subject before a society where it is treated as a joke, but as the readers of your paper are interested in psychological problems, and this question has been already before them, some of them may like to look a little more closely into the explanation now given to the public in Mr. Sinnett’s book.

At first sight, nothing can be more intelligible, and at the same time instructive, than the account given us. The adept has to impress the chela, and the chela has to transmit the impression to paper. Upon the distinctness and vivacity of the former’s impelling thought, on the one hand, and on the attentive apprehension by the latter, on the other hand, depend the fidelity and clearness of the final representation on the paper. Given a defect in the first condition, the chela will get only a confused and blurred impression, and can pass nothing more on to the material vehicle. Given a defect in the second condition -- imperfect attention to, or apprehension of, what is conveyed -- and again the same result. In this case, taking the words and lines now printed in italics, and which are those which had to be "restored" from the original document, by reason of the chela’s inability to decipher and transcribe them, I find that they amount to about thirty-one lines out of fifty-three. And they are, as the Adept says, "precisely those phrases which would have shewn the passages were simply reminiscences, if not quotations," and thus have precluded the suggestion that passages taken without acknowledgment from the Banner of Light could not belong to a letter dictated by a veritable "Mahatma" in India or Thibet. How came it, then, that it was just these explanatory portions and none other that the Adept failed to transmit, or his chela to receive, distinctly?

At first, and till I came to examine and compare the sentences in detail, I was disposed to accept Koot Hoomi’s reply to this question as clear and satisfactory, since the simpler solution (on occult principles, which had occurred to some of us, was not the right one. The explanation is this: Koot Hoomi having, for reasons stated, made himself acquainted with certain typical utterances of American Spiritualists at Lake Pleasant, retained them in his memory for the purpose of comparison or contrast with the true ideas of which they shewed a dawning but imperfect apprehension. His own comments and interpolations, on the other hand, were excogitated at the moment, and when he was in a state of physical exhaustion. The result was that though he could still compose the well-framed sentences now "restored," and could even project a tracing of them to the chela’s mind, they were in the back-ground, as it were, of his consciousness, and were not propelled with the requisite energy. Whereas Mr. Kiddle’s sentences, being clear in memory, stood out at the surface, and were more easily, and therefore more distinctly, detached.

"While dictating the sentences quoted -- a small portion of the many I had been pondering over for some days -- it was those ideas that were thrown out en relief the most, leaving out my own parenthetical remarks to disappear in the precipitation."

And again: --

"So I, in this instance, having, at the moment, more vividly in my mind the psychic diagnosis of current spiritualistic thought, of which the Lake Pleasant speech was one marked symptom, unwittingly transferred that reminiscence more vividly than my own remarks upon it and deductions therefrom. So to say, the ‘despoiled victims’ -- Mr. Kiddle’s -- utterances came out as a high light, and were more sharply photographed (first in the chela’s brain, and thence on the paper before him, a double process and one far more difficult than Thought-reading simply), while the rest, my remarks thereupon and arguments, are hardly visible, and quite blurred on the original scraps before me."

Now all this is quite intelligible on the face of it; and it is only when we look into the matter more closely and compare the several texts that it becomes less easy to accept the statement. Referring to the letter as originally printed, I find that what we have of it (Mr. Sinnett giving only extracts from the correspondence) occupies fifty-six lines of pp. 101-2 of the new edition of "The Occult World." No exception is taken to the first thirty lines on the score of incompleteness, and we have to suppose that the Adept’s inability to project his own composition accurately and clearly began just when it got mixed up with Mr. Kiddle’s sentences -- the latter half (twenty-six lines) of the letter. The tangle begins with "Plato was right" at line thirty. Then suddenly there are nine lines (of Appendix print) clean dropped out, the sentence continuing with Mr. Kiddle’s "Ideas rule the world;" and so it goes on for a bit with Mr. Kiddle’s language, the Adept being just awake enough to substitute the future for the present tense, and to insert "creeds and even powers" among the things that are to crumble before the march of ideas. Again four or five lines dropped (relating to the foolishness of the Spiritualists), and then by a revival of energy we get three or four more lines of Koot Hoomi’s own upon the congenial topic of sweeping away the dross left us by our pious forefathers. Next, bearing in mind the explanation that it was all intended as a running commentary upon, and correction of, the Spiritualistic utterances, partially reproduced, let us see how further comparison bears that out. The key-note of the whole is, of course, Spiritualism and its ideas, and Mr. Kiddle had said, "the agency called Spiritualism is bringing a new set of ideas into the world," &c. Yet not in a single instance does the Adept succeed in effectually projecting the word spiritualism or Spiritualists (though he tried four times, as appears by the restored version), or anything whereby the chela would understand what was meant. And, curiously enough, the omissions include not only Koot Hoomi’s own new and less vividly represented words, whenever these words would have thrown light on the subject-matter of the discourse, but also phrases of Mr. Kiddle’s, which Koot Hoomi had so well pondered, and which stood out so sharply in his memory, whenever these conflicted with the ideas of Occultism. Thus we have the above passage of Mr. Kiddle’s about Spiritualism suppressed, and his expressions relating to the "Divine Will," both of which we find, more or less complete -- with a commentary -- in the restored version. Not less curiously, on the other hand, the chela, while failing to catch such phases of Mr. Kiddle’s, is now and then exceptionally impressed by the feebly transmitted words of the commentary, when these come in well to impart a dash of Occultism or Adept philosophy to what is retained of Mr. Kiddle’s. In addition to the instances of this already quoted, we have the reference to "previous and future births") which should have been "future not previous births"), the word "immutable" before "law," and the word "uninitiated" before "mortals."

Similarly, a good deal of criticism might be expended on the sentence tacked on to "Plato was right." From the sceptical point of view, one can see what a difficulty there was here. "Plato was right" had to be retained, because the chela would not have invented the words; but then it had to be separated from Mr. Kiddle’s "Ideas rule the world," and some connection must be inserted between the two, leading up to the Spiritualists, and so accounting for the quotation. This could not be done in a few words, and so we have this monstrous lacuna of nine lines, this sudden and long failure of power, where all before had gone smoothly.

Without a full reprint of all the three texts the improbability of the third having ever been included or designed cannot be adequately appreciated. Seeing that your space is limited, those who wish to master the question must be referred to the book itself, now published at a very cheap rate.

Koot Hoomi thinks that Mr. Sinnett ought to have perceived a discrepancy in the original version with the earlier part of the letter -- an indication that something was wrong in the transcript he had received. But with submission, this is not at all apparent. All seems fairly relevant, at least as relevant in the original as in the reformed version. Indeed I think the transition is much more strange and violent in the latter than in the former. The reference to the supremacy of ideas in the historical development of the world seems to me more natural in regard to the great results just before predicted for Occultism than is a comparison of the methods of Plato and Socrates, and a criticism of the views and expressions of Spiritualists.

Literary criticism is by no means exhausted by the foregoing observations. Take, for instance, the phrase "noumena, not phenomena," in the restored version. We have all heard a great deal of "noumena," as distinguished from phenomena, lately, and the word has become familiar. With Western metaphysicians, of course, it has been long in use. And a Thibetan Adept might, no doubt, know all the words that ever were coined, and their meaning. But recondite terms are only thrown out incidentally when they are "in the air," and I confess I doubt whether nearly four years ago, when this letter was written, such familiarity with metaphysical terminology would have been assumed in a correspondence of this character. That, however, is only one of several minor points to which little weight would be attached if they stood alone. Yet it would be interesting to learn from Mr. Sinnett whether this word turns up here for the first time in his correspondence with Koot Hoomi, or whether it occurs in the strictly philosophical letters (wherein it would often be relevant) upon which "Esoteric Buddhism" is founded.

I must now advert to another point invalidating, I think, the whole supposition which struck me at first so plausibly. Would the relative mental prominence of the ideas and phrases to be conveyed, and therefore their relative facility of transference, be such as is alleged in this case?

Certainly, a passage with which I am very familiar -- a favourite one from Shakespeare, for instance -- will stand out in my mind more easily and distinctly than the context of my own words in quoting it. But is that the case when I am dealing controversially with the language of another, however clearly I may have committed it to memory? I think then that my consciousness, my thought, gives as much prominence to my own characterisation of the passage I quote as to the passage itself. Were I a thought-transferer, I doubt if I could pass on the words quoted to the recipient without verbal colour of my own -- unless that was my intention. Or rather, I do not think that could happen when, as in this case, the quotation and the commentary are not kept apart, but the one interlaces the other, so that the quoted words are not allowed to run on continuously, the comment being postponed, but the latter, with its nay, nay, is intruded into the fabric of the sentence. In that case, I submit, there is almost necessarily a mental vehemence or emphasis which must present my own words at least as vividly as mere memory presents the quoted ones. To suppose that in such a mixed composition nearly all that to which I myself attach importance, which is the motive of the whole composition, can be neatly and exactly eliminated as here described, passes my understanding, and therefore, I frankly avow -- having regard to all the facts that seem to me relevant in this case -- my present belief.

I do not presume to follow the question into the mystery of "precipitation," that final process as to which the analogy of our "Thought-transference" experiments will not help us. All these omitted thirty-one lines, consisting of whole long passages, short sentences, fragments of sentences, and single words, though not intelligibly impressed on the chela’s consciousness, nevertheless so far reached it that some trace of them, recognisable by their author, got transferred to the paper. The restoration is not from memory alone of what was dictated, but from memory aided and suggested by a faint and blurred record. That sufficiently appears from Koot Hoomi’s statement of the facts. It further appears that the rapport between Adept and chela is such that the latter can telegraph back to the former, since Koot Hoomi was actually asked "at the time," by his chela, to "look over and correct" the imprint. Being very tired, he declined. But one would have thought that when the chela found the word-pictures or sounds, as the case may be, of whole sentences coming blurred and unintelligible, he would have at once, and before or at the time of precipitation, intimated that fact to his chief, so as to arrest a communication which must prove so defective as a whole. But as to this, we are not qualified by knowledge of all the conditions and circumstances to judge with confidence.

We have finally to consider the value of the evidence of Mr. T. Subba Row and of General Morgan. Both these gentlemen say they have seen the original "precipitation proof" -- "scraps," according to the latter of them -- "in which whole sentences, parenthetical and quotation marks are defaced and obliterated and consequently omitted in the chela’s clumsy transcription." That is to say, they were shewn something -- by whom we do not learn -- which they were told was the original "precipitation proof." How they could possibly know it to be so, except on the assumption of somebody’s good faith -- the chela’s, I suppose -- on an assumption which begs the whole question, I cannot see; and this evidence, therefore, seems to leave the case just where it was.

And what, then, should be our judgment on the whole matter? Most minds will follow a mere bent of inclination in accepting or putting aside the considerations which seem so weighty to me. I am used to adopt a method with myself which I find to be a sort of chemical test, as it were, of prejudice, and to be very effectual in checking hasty conclusions. I imagine that I have to state my opinion before some invisible but infallible tribunal, under a heavy and immediate penalty, something that I should most fear, for being wrong. How sudden a silence would thus fall upon those who "deliver brawling judgments, unashamed, on all things all day long!" But had I to encounter this risk in judging of the case before us, I should commit my fate to the opinion that these passages were copied out of the Banner of Light, everything being excluded which would indicate a Spiritualist origin, and a word or sentence being inserted here and there to adapt them to other ideas; that they were appropriated without any view to general publication (as, indeed, we learn that the letters were not written with such intention, which disposes of the improbability arising from the "stupidity" of the act), and that the defective precipitation and the subsequent "restoration" are alike mythical. It will thus be seen that I do not accept the Thibetan origin of the act or of the letter itself, and that, therefore although I have throughout written of the letter and explanation as "Koot Hoomi’s," that was only for convenience, and to avoid circumlocution. I do not know, and am not prepared to offer any definite theory as to who is responsible for one and the other. Mr. Sinnett’s sense of the absurdity of a "Mahatma," and a Mahatma "who inspired the teachings of ‘Esoteric Buddhism,’" plagiarising, if he will pardon me for saying so, begs the question. It even reminds me of the reasoning of those Christians who are accustomed to meet Biblical criticism with an appeal to "the Word of God." "Esoteric Buddhism" is certainly a remarkable, in some respects, I think, a great book; but sincerely as I respect Mr. Sinnett’s own profound conviction of its origin, I would rather not found any intellectual estoppels on it for the present. I doubt if Mr. Sinnett has fathomed the mystery of his real correspondent.

And as to the "intellectual temptation" of the latter to borrow from Mr. Kiddle -- which Mr. Sinnett thinks so preposterous -- we need not doubt his ability; but every one knows that the best writers quote aptly from others. Nor would there have been anything amiss in that in this case, were it not that the incongruity of a Thibetan Adept making approving extracts from the Banner of Light prevented it being done with due acknowledgment. For no one could suppose that Koot Hoomi "took in" that newspaper, regularly as it is received at the office of the Theosophist. And is it not somewhat curious that whereas Koot Hoomi was intellectually present at Lake Pleasant when the lecture was delivered, and had for some time been in correspondence with Mr. Sinnett, he should have waited to impart his reflections upon these Spiritualistic utterances until after the published report of them had reached India? We learn that "some two months" intervened between the delivery of the lecture and Koot Hoomi’s letter; a period not unimportant in estimating the probability of a very vivid recollection of the exact phrases used. And if, on the one hand, the delay is significant, so, on the other, is the fact that the references occurred so soon after the arrival of the American newspaper containing the report. The lecture was delivered on August 15th, 1880; and Mr. Kiddle tells us that it was reported in the Banner of Light "the same month." Allowing for this slight interval, the date of Koot Hoomi’s letter would probably be found to tally pretty closely with the arrival of the newspaper at Bombay or Madras. The exact dates ought to be ascertained.

There will still be such a thing as common-sense, even when the facts of Occultism are admitted and understood; and that does not point to a Thibetan origin of the celebrated "Kiddle letter."

The evidence for the existence of Adepts -- or "Mahatmas," since that terms is now preferred -- and even of their connection with individual members of the Theosophical Society, need not here concern us. We may, and I do, accept it; and yet see in their methods, or rather in the things that are said and done in their names, such deviations from our Philistine sense of truth and honour as to assure us that something is very wrong somewhere. For this is by no means a singular case. The repeated necessity for explanations -- which are always more formidable than the things to be explained -- must at length tire out the most patient faith, except the faith superseding all intelligence, the credo quia impossibile.

I have only to add that while preserving all the interests, and much of the belief which attracted me to the Theosophical Society, and which have kept me in it up to now, notwithstanding many and growing embarrassments, I do not think that the publication of the conclusions above expressed is consistent with loyal Fellowship. The constitution, no doubt, of the Society is broad enough to include minds more sceptical than my own in regard to the alleged sources of its vitality and influence. But let any one try to realise this nominal freedom, and he will find himself, not only in an uncongenial element, but in an attitude of controversy with his ostensible leaders, with the motive forces of the Society. That is not consistent with the sympathetic subordination or co-operation which is essential to union. If anything could keep me in a position embarrassing or insincere, it would be the noble life and character of the president, my friend, Colonel Olcott. But personal considerations must give way at length; and accordingly, with unabated regard and respect for many from whom it is painful to separate, I am forwarding my resignation of Fellowship to the proper quarters.

July 22nd, 1884.

C. C. MASSEY.

By contrast, Kislingbury was one of the dozen members of Blavatsky’s Inner Group formed in 1890 and continued to be a Theosophist after the death of HPB.

According to the compilers of The Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, Chintamon was in England from 1879 or 1880 through 1883. The Reverend William Alexander Ayton, an early member of the HBofL “claimed very clearly and repeatedly that he had proof of Burgoyne’s being in company with Chintamon.”(HBofL, p. 35) This has led to confusion, because T.H. Burgoyne worked for a time as Max Theon’s medium or seer and it was mistakenly thought that Theon was Chintamon. As their photographs and historical documentation indicate, they were quite distinct individuals, but both had some association with the leaders of the HBofL. Theon and Chintamon were both former associates of Blavatsky who became mentors of Burgoyne, which is part of the complicated relationship between the HBofL and the TS. Next month’s blog post will feature another man who served as the first intermediarybetween the TS and the Arya Samaj, American Spiritualist leader James M. Peebles.

What can we conclude from the brief involvement of Chintamon successively in the Arya Samaj, the TS, and the HBofL? Any simple classification of 19th century occultists as heroes and villains is confounded by this episode. Olcott and Dayananda both entered into the TS/Arya Samaj affiliation in good faith, believing what they were told by HPB and Chintamon respectively. But HPB and Chintamon both acted in bad faith for different reasons and in different ways. Since Dayananda could not read English and the TS founders could not read Hindi, by acting as an intermediary Chintamon had the power to shape each group’s perception of the other. In his enthusiasm to promote the alliance he portrayed each group as being more compatible with the other in goals and beliefs than they actually were; it took several years for the resulting confusion to work itself out in a series of conflicts as Dayananda got better acquainted with Olcott and HPB. HPB approached the situation in bad faith in that her words indicated vast respect for the Swami as a spiritual teacher, yet at the same time she was concocting Mahatma letters to manipulate and deceive her closest supporters in England and intending that the Swami legitimize this fraud by signing the letters.

Chintamon was a whistle-blower in his role as informant to Richard Hodgson, as well as in his involvement with the HBofL founders. One of the greatest influences of his exposure of the 1878 correspondence with Blavatsky is that it drove a wedge between her and Olcott. When Hodgson repeated to him some of the disparaging statements that she had made to Chintamon about Olcott’s credulity, the Colonel was so despondent that he contemplated suicide by drowning. He steered a more independent course thereafter. Whether motivated by revenge or a guilty conscience, Chintamon provided evidence that persuaded the SPR of the fraudulent nature of the Mahatma phenomena. But his attitude was not simply destructive towards the TS; apparently he also wanted to help bring about an alternative that would not be based on Blavatsky. Burgoyne’s writings evince a strong anti-Theosophical bias, and this antagonism was likely encouraged by Chintamon’s revelations. The compilers of the HBofL conclude that in England “Chintamon allied himself with the rising Western opposition to esoteric Buddhism exemplified by Stainton Moses, C.C. Massey, William Oxley, Emma Hardinge Britten, Thomas Lake Harris, and others. From this formidable group, Burgoyne first contracted his hostility to Blavatsky’s enterprise that would mark all his writings.”(HBofL, p. 36) But Chintamon was also the source of genuine Sanskrit learning, and thus was able to serve as an instructor to Burgoyne on Hindu occultism.

When Elbert Benjamine took on the task of reformulating the HBofL teachings as the Brotherhood of Light lessons, he was faced with a legacy of extremely discordant 19th century occultist sources many of whom considered one another enemies. To a remarkable degree he succeeded in creating an integrated harmonious teaching free of sectarian antagonisms. Blavatsky was always treated with friendly respect in his writings and no one is ever vilified in 20th century CofL sources in the manner found in TS and HBofL literature of the 19th century. Now, a century since Benjamine accepted the task of systematizing and restating the Hermetic teachings, we can look back at the 19th century origins of the Church of Light with sympathetic respect for all the conflicting players in the drama. Heroes, villains, mistakes, quarrels, revenge—all standard elements in any melodrama—make the story intriguing, if not always inspiring. But there were genuine spiritual inspirations and aspirations mixed up with all the international intrigue, and the closer we examine any of the major characters in the story the more apparent this becomes.

Additional comment: this post was recently doubly misconstrued as “Church of Light bashes Blavatsky” which requires two emphatic disclaimers on my part. The content of blog posts here is entirely my own and no one in the Church of Light reviews them in advance or necessarily agrees with them. The Church of Light is not the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, 1884-1909. It is not the Earlier Theosophical Society, 1875-1878. It is not a Hermetic lodge in Alexandria, circa 150. Yet it is in various ways the heir of all three of these extinct organizations, as well as now-extinct nineteenth century groups labeled Rosicrucian, Spiritualist, and Masonic. No one is ever bashed in any Church of Light publication, as in the twentieth century this group did not engage in the kind of polemics that its nineteenth century predecessors enjoyed. In the twenty first century, I hope we can look back at the various feuding players of those predecessor organizations without special pleading on behalf of any of them, or the attitude that they can be sorted into mutually exclusive columns of heroes and villains.

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Hurrichund Chintamon
by Maddifycation
September, 2020





Hurrichund Chintamon / Harishchandra Chintaman, was a pioneer of photography in India and who setup an early studio in Bombay (Mumbai) as early as 1860. Hurrichund Chintamon was a disciple of Dayanand and President of the Arya Samaj of Bombay in 1878.He attended the photography class at the Elphinstone Institution under the tuition of W.H.S. Crawford, in 1855, and was awarded the first prize of Rs.50 in the government-sponsored competition held at the end of that year. He showed his photographs to the Bombay Photographic Society in 1856 and also contributed photographs to the Archaeological Survey of India. His Photographs on castes and tribes were exhibited in Paris in 1867.

Dr. Narayan Daji and Hurrichund Chintamon were among the first few from Bombay to master the art of photography. He had established a large studio in the Bombay fort and in due course he also published Marathi books on science of Photography. By the late 1860s, his was the oldest photographic studio in Mumbai.

Carte-de-visite was introduced into India in 1950s, and it became extremely popular, particularly among the wealthy people of Bombay. Chintamon was among the first few who mastered the art successfully and captured carte-de-visite images of literary, political and business figures.









In 1860s photography was a popular means of representation in the princely states. Many princes relied on British photographers such as Bourne and Shepherd or Johnston and Hoffman to take their portraits whenever they visited Calcutta, but a few chose Indian as their official photographer.

Around 1869 Maharaja Malhar Rao of Baroda selected Hurrichund Chintamon;as his official photographer and Chintamon became famous because of his carte-de-visite portrait of the Maharaja of Baroda.

Large body of photography work created by Hurrichund Chintamon, were found thought out British India in 19th century.

Hurrichund Chintamon‘s carte–de-visite albumen prints were a novel way of sharing a photographic studio portrait. Countless prints were sent to places as far away as China, where they may well have been the first photograph many encountered by people.

A carte-de-visite is a piece of thick board measuring 4 ¼” x 2 ½” with a photograph mounted on it. Usually the subject is a single person photographed in studio setting, either standing or sitting; often it’s only a view of the head and shoulders. These prints were immensely popular in the nineteenth century, surpassed only by tintypes (an image mounted on metal) in popularity. The photograph mounted as a carte-de-visite is almost always an albumen print, a photographic process that resulted in a slightly glossy, warm-toned and clear.

Albumen prints are also always mounted on thick cards, because without support they roll up into cylinders. Albumens almost universally fade and yellow with age, and also develop minute cracks. Some experts say that up to 80% of prints, in nineteenth-century historical collections are albumens.

The popularity of cartes-de-visite peaked between 1860 and 1866, when the “cabinet card,” and other forms of card-mounted albumen photographs became more popular. These types of photographs are easily identified by their size. A card-mounted photograph that is 4 ½” x 6 ¼” is called a “cabinet card.” The “Victoria” was 3 ¼” x 5″, the “promenade” was 4″ x 7″; the “boudoir” was 5 ¼” x 8 ½”, the “imperial” was 6 7/8″ x 9 7/8″ and the “panel” was 8 ¼” x 4.”



Full-length standing portrait of Manickjee Antarya, the celebrated Parsee traveler, Bombay.

Reference

Govind Narayan’s Mumbai: An Urban Biography from 1863, By Govinda Nārāyaṇa Māḍagã̄vakara

Photography an Illustrated history, By Martin W. Sandler, 2002, Published by Oxford University Press, USA.

The Indian Princes and their States

By Barbara N. Ramusack, Published by Cambridge University press 2004

https://www.college-optometrists.org/th ... isite.html

History of the Adepts, Spiritual Ancestors of the Brotherhood of Light Lessons (https://adepts.light.org/)

Cartes-de-Visite – the first pocket photographs By Georgen Charnes (https://nha.org/)

https://www.bl.uk/

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The Baroda Crisis
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/5/21

In the year 1870 I made the voyage from New York to Liverpool, and met on board two Hindu gentlemen of Bombay, the late Mr. Mulji Thackersey and his friend, Mr. Tulsidass. I heard no more of them until late in 1877, when from an American gentleman I learned that Mr. Mulji was still alive. The Theosophical Society had then been in existence just two years, and the design to come to India to live and die there had already been formed in my mind. I wrote to Mr. Mulji an account of our Society and its plans, and asked his co-operation and that of other friends of Aryan religious philosophies. He responded, and introduced to me Hurrychund Chintaman, President of the Arya Samaj, "a man of learning, for a long time Political Agent [SPY] at London of the ex-Gaekwar," and author of a commentary on the Bhagwat Gita, "a book full of Aryan philosophy and Aryan thought"; a man who "will be a capital helpmate to our Society," and would give me any information I might need "about Oriental publications."

-- Swami Dayanand's Charges, by Colonel Henry S. Olcott

Illustrations of Malhar Rao Gaekwad and Robert Phayre in The Graphic (1875).

The Baroda Crisis was a political crisis took place in British India between 1872 and 1876 in Baroda, a 21-gun-salute Gujarati princely state.

History

The crisis began when Colonel Robert Phayre was appointed as the British Resident of Baroda. He had an increasingly negative relationship with Malhar Rao Gaekwad, the Gaekwar of Baroda.

Baroda state in 1909

History

• Established: 1721
• Accession to India: 1947

The Gaekwads of Baroda (also spelled as Gaikwads, Guicowars, Gaekwars) (IAST: Gāyǎkǎvāḍǎ) are Hindu Marathas who trace their origins to Dawadi village near Poona (modern Pune) to a Maratha clan by the name of Matre, which means Mantri meaning Minister.[1] Gaekwad dynasty of the Maratha Empire are originally of Kunbi origin. [2] A dynasty belonging to this clan ruled the princely state of Baroda in western India from the early 18th century until 1947.[3] The ruling prince was known as the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda. With the city of Baroda (Vadodara) as its capital, during the British Raj its relations with the British were managed by the Baroda Residency. It was one of the largest and wealthiest princely states existing alongside British India, with wealth coming from the lucrative cotton business as well as rice, wheat and sugar production.[4]

Early History

The Gaekwad rule of Baroda began when the Maratha general Pilaji Rao Gaekwad conquered the city from the Mughal Empire in 1721. The Gaekwads were granted the city as a fief by Chhatrapati Shahu I, the Chhatrapati of the Maratha empire.


A print of Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikwad


Laxmi Vilas Palace of the Gaekwad dynasty.

In their early years, the Gaekwads served as subordinates of the Dabhade family, who were the Maratha chiefs of Gujarat and holders of the senapati (commander-in-chief) title. When Umabai Dabhade joined Tarabai's side against Balaji Baji Rao, Pilaji's son Damaji Rao Gaekwad commanded the Dabhade force. He was defeated, and remained under Peshwa's arrest from May 1751 to March 1752. In 1752, he was released after agreeing to abandon the Dabhades and accept the Peshwa's suzerainty. In return, Damaji was made the Maratha chief of Gujarat, and the Peshwa helped him expel the Mughals from Gujarat.[5]

Damaji subsequently fought alongside Sadashiv Rao, Vishwas Rao, Malhar Rao Holkar, Janakoji and Mahadji Shinde in the Third Battle of Panipat (1761). After the Maratha defeat at Panipat, the central rule of the Peshwas was weakened. As a result, the Gaekwads, along with several other powerful Maratha clans, established themselves as virtually independent rulers, while recognizing the nominal authority of the Peshwas and suzerainty of the Bhonsle Maharaja of Satara.

British suzerainty


Sayajirao with Richard Temple, the Governor of Bombay and other members of the court. Circa 1880

The Gaekwads, together with several Maratha chieftains, fought the British in the First Anglo-Maratha War.

On 15 March 1802, the British intervened to defend a Gaekwad Maharaja, Anand Rao Gaekwad, who had recently inherited the throne against rival claimants, and the Gaekwads concluded the Treaty of Cambey with the British that recognized their independence from the Maratha empire and guaranteed the Maharajas of Baroda local autonomy in return for recognizing British suzerainty.

Maharaja Sayaji Rao III, who took the throne in 1875, did much to modernize Baroda, establishing compulsory primary education, a library system and the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He also encouraged the setting up of textile factories, which helped create Baroda's textile industry. He is well known for offering B. R. Ambedkar a scholarship to study at Columbia University.

Upon India attaining its independence in 1947, the last ruling Maharaja of Baroda, Pratapsinhrao, acceded to India. Baroda was eventually merged with Bombay State, which was later divided, based on linguistic principle, into the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1960.

Gaekwad, or Gayakwad, also survives as a fairly common Maratha surname, found mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Gaikwad Maharajas of Baroda


Maharaja Sayajirao I



Nandaji Rao Gaikwad, died May 1721
Kerojirao
Jhingojirao
Pilaji Rao Gaikwad, reigned from 1721, died 14 May 1732
I. Damajirao, Maharaja of Baroda, reigned from 1732, died 18 August 1768
II. Sayajirao I, Maharaja of Baroda, reigned 1768–1778, died 1792
III. Fatehsinhrao I, Maharaja of Baroda, born before April 1751, reigned from 1778, died 26 December 1789
IV. Manajirao, Maharaja of Baroda, born before April 1751, reigned from 1789, died 27 July 1793
Simple silver crown.svg V. Govindrao, Maharaja of Baroda, born 175?, reigned from 1793, died 19 September 1800
VI. Anandrao, Maharaja of Baroda, born 179?, reigned from 1800, died 2 October 1819
Simple silver crown.svg VI. Sayajirao II, Maharaja of Baroda, born 3 May 1800, reigned from 1819, died 28 December 1847
VII. Ganpatrao, Maharaja of Baroda, born 1816, reigned from 1847, died 1856
VIII. Khanderao II Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda GCSI, born 1828, reigned from 1856, died 14 June 1870
IX. Malhar Rao Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda, born 1831, reigned 1870 – 19 April 1875, died in obscurity in 1882
Prataprao (d. 1737 Kavlana branch)
Kalojirao
Gabajirao
Bhikajirao
Kashirao (1832-1877)
X. Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharaja of Baroda GCSI, GCIE, born 10 March 1863, reigned from 1875, died 6 February 1939
Yuvraja Fatehsinhrao (1883-1908)
XI. Pratap Singh Rao Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda GCIE, born 29 June 1908, reigned from 1939, titular Maharaja from 1949, deposed 1951, died 19 July 1968
XII. Fatehsinhrao II, Maharaja of Baroda, born 2 April 1930, titular Maharaja 1951–1971, family head: 1971–1988, died 1 September 1988
XIII. Ranjitsinh Pratapsinh Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda, born 8 May 1938, family head from 1988, died 9 May 2012
XIV. Samarjitsinh Gaekwad, Maharaja of Baroda, born 25 April 1967, family head since 2012

-- Gaekwad dynasty, by Wikipedia

This antagonism culminated in the Baroda Enquiry which found 'serious misgovernment' in the state. However, instead of taking into account the findings of the report, Thomas Baring, the Viceroy of India, instead only gave the Gaekwar a warning. This allowed the increasingly hostile relationship between Phayre and Gaekwad to develop, with Phayre increasingly unwilling to work with Rao.

The situation came to a head in November 1874. Phayre sent the Viceroy a damning report detailing the failings of the governance of the state. On the same day, the Gaekwar sent an urgent request to the Viceroy that Phayre be removed. Northbrook was sympathetic to Gaekwad and, on 12 November sent word to Bombay that Phayre should be replaced.

However, this action was taken too late as, on 9 March, an attempt was made to poison Phayre with a compound of arsenic. This led to the Gaekwar being convicted of high treason. By order of the Secretary of State for India, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Malhar Rao was deposed on 10 April 1875 and exiled to Madras, where he died in obscurity in 1882.[1]

Traditional perspective

Traditionally, most notably put forward by Ian Copland,[2] the Baroda Crisis can be viewed as a demonstration of governmental rivalries of British India. 'Official warfare' had long been occurring between the existing presidencies of Bombay and Calcutta, however, the Baroda crisis intensified the conflicts. [Charles Umpherston Aitchison] Aitchinson, the Foreign Secretary, believed that India should be more centralised, which lead to Calcutta increasingly attempting to break into Bombay's sphere of influence. This was worsened by a series of reforms which meant that Bombay no longer had the power to appoint the Resident of Baroda. Bombay's poor handling of the Baroda crisis allowed Calcutta a convenient excuse to assume all of Bombay's powers.[3]

Bombay's key failing was its indecision, which ultimately allowed the crisis to develop far more that it otherwise would have done. Phayre had been established as unfit for residency long before the crisis began, but due to the volatile political situation, he was allowed to remain. This is because, if Bombay removed Phayre, it would appear that they could not control their staff, and therefore strengthen Calcutta's case for centralisation. When Bombay finally took the decision to remove Phayre, it was made far too late.

Modern perspective

British historian Judith Rowbowman has put forward the view that, when looked at from a postcolonial perspective, the Baroda Crisis should primarily be viewed as a miscarriage of justice. Rowbowman posits that rather being tried by a jury, the Gaekwar of Baroda was convicted via an enquiry, meaning that the Raj was ultimately allowed to decide if he should be convicted. Furthermore, the Gaekwar could be found guilty under reasonable suspicion, rather than the more stringent requirements of a criminal trial. If the Gaekwar had been tried fairly, there is no doubt that the verdict would have been 'innocent'. Rowbotham argues that this verdict could then be used as a warning to princes of other states.[4]

References

1. Cahoon, Ben. "Indian Princely States A-J". http://www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 1 April 2018.
2. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/di ... id=3862496
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
4. Rowbotham, Judith (2007). "Miscarriage of Justice? Postcolonial Reflections on the 'Trial' of the Maharajah of Baroda, 1875". Liverpool Law Review. 28 (3): 377–403. doi:10.1007/s10991-007-9025-2.

Further reading

• Moulton, E.C. "British India and the Baroda Crisis 1874-75: A Problem in Princely Stat Relations." 1968, University of Saskatchewan.

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Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/13/21

-- Devanampriya, by Wikipedia

Devanampiya Tissa, King of Anuradhapura
Mihintale Stone Statue of King Tissa
Reign: 247 BC – 207 BC
Predecessor: Mutasiva
Successor: Uttiya
Consort: Anula
House: House of Vijaya
Father: Mutasiva
Religion: Theravāda Buddhism

Tissa, later Devanampiya Tissa was one of the earliest kings of Sri Lanka based at the ancient capital of Anuradhapura from 247 BC to 207 BC. His reign was notable for the arrival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka under the aegis of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The primary source for his reign is the Mahavamsa, which in turn is based on the more ancient Dipavamsa.

Reign


The Sinhalese Royal Family of King Devanampiya Tissa and Prince Uththiya

Tissa was the second son of Mutasiva of Anuradhapura - a Saivaite Tamil name Muta Siva. The Mahavamsa describes him as being "foremost among all his brothers in virtue and intelligence".[1]

The Mahavamsa mentions an early friendship with Ashoka. Chapter IX of the chronicle mentions that "the two monarchs, Devanampiyatissa and Dhammasoka, already had been friends a long time, though they had never seen each other", Dhammasoka being an alternate name for Ashoka. The chronicle also mentions Tissa sending gifts to the mighty emperor of the Maurya; in reply Ashoka sent not only gifts but also the news that he had converted to Buddhism, and a plea to Tissa to adopt the faith as well. The king does not appear to have done this at the time, instead adopting the name Devānaṃpiya "Beloved of the Gods"[2] and having himself consecrated King of Lanka in a lavish celebration.

Devanampiyatissa is traditionally said to have been succeeded by his younger brothers Uttiya and Mahasiva. His other brother Mahanaga, Prince of Ruhuna was the founder of the Principality of Ruhuna.

Conversion to Buddhism


Mihintale, the traditional location of Devanampiya Tissa's conversion

Emperor Ashoka took a keen interest in the propagation of Buddhism across the known world, and it was decided that his son, Mahinda, would travel to Sri Lanka and attempt to convert the people there. The events surrounding Mahinda's arrival and meeting with the king form one of the most important legends of Sri Lankan history.

According to the Mahavamsa king Devanampiyatissa was out enjoying a hunt with some 40,000 of his soldiers near a mountain called Mihintale. The date for this is traditionally associated with the full moon day of the month of Poson.

Having come to the foot of Missaka, Devanampiyatissa chased a stag into the thicket, and came across Mahinda (referred to with the honorific title Thera); the Mahavamsa has the great king 'terrified' and convinced that the Thera was in fact a 'yakka', or demon. However, Thera Mahinda declared that 'Recluses we are, O great King, disciples of the King of Dhamma (Buddha) Out of compassion for you alone have we come here from Jambudipa'. Devanampiyatissa recalled the news from his friend Ashoka and realised that these are missionaries sent from India. Thera Mahinda went on to preach to the king's company and preside over the king's conversion to Buddhism.

Important religious events

1. Establishment of Buddhism in Sri Lanka due to the arrival of Thera Mahinda and his group.

2. Planting of the Sacred Maha Bodhi (under which the Buddha attained Enlightenment) and the establishment of the Bhikkuni Sasana (order of the Buddhist nuns) due to the arrival of Theri Sangamitta and her group.

3. Offering of the Mahamegavana to the Buddhist monks where the Maha Vihara monastery was built, which became the centre of Theravada Buddhism.[3]

4. Construction of Thuparama, the first historical dagaba which enshrined the right collar bone of the Buddha.[4]

Notable locations


Thuparama in Anuradhapura, believed to have been constructed in Devanampiya Tissa's reign

Given the extremely early date of Devanampiyatissa's reign, the dearth of sources, and the impossibility of archeological inquiry due to current political instability, it is difficult to discern what impact this conversion had, in practical terms, on Devanampiyatissa's reign. For example, whilst there are references to a Tissamahavihara and various other temples constructed by the king, none can be reliably located.

What is fairly certain however is that the site of his initial meeting with Thera Mahinda is one of Sri Lanka's most sacred sites today, going by the name Mihintale. The sacred precinct features the Ambasthala, or 'Mango tree stupa', where the Thera Mahinda asked the king a series of riddles to check his capacity for learning,[5][6] the cave in which Thera Mahinda lived for over forty years, and the Maha Seya, wherein is contained a relic of the Buddha.

The other major site associated with Devanampiyatissa's reign is the planting of the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. The tree was yet another of Emperor Ashoka's gifts to the island and was planted within the precincts of Anuradhapura, and is regarded as the oldest human planted tree in the world.

Devanampiyatissa built Tissa Wewa, which covers 550 acres. The embankment alone is 2 miles long and 25 feet high. It is a major irrigation tank even today and is an essential resource for farmers in Anuradhapura.

Significance

Devanampiyatissa remains one of early Sri Lanka's most significant monarchs, given that his conversion to Buddhism set the kingdoms of the island down a religious and cultural route quite distinct from that of the subcontinent to the north. Later monarchs were to refer back to Devanampiyatissa's conversion as one of the cornerstones of the Anuradhapura polity. The city itself remained capital of a powerful kingdom until the early Middle Ages, when it was eventually subsumed under the Chola invasion and then superseded by Polonnaruwa.

See also

• Mahavamsa
• List of Sri Lankan monarchs
• History of Sri Lanka
• Buddhism in Sri Lanka
• Mahinda Thera
• Ashoka
• Mihintale

Notes

1. [1]
2. See, e.g., Keown, Hodge & Tinti (2003), p. 72, entry for 'Devānampiya Tissa,' where it is translated as 'dear to the gods'.
3. "Further Details". Archived from the original on 2015-04-14. Retrieved 2015-04-14.
4. "Thuparama".
5. Mahanama Thera. "XIV - The Entry into the Capital". The Mahavamsa. Translated by Geiger, Wilhelm Ludwig. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
6. "King Devanampiya Tissa (306 BC – 266 BC)". The Mahavamsa. Retrieved 25 July 2020.

References

• Keown, Damien, Stephen Hodge & Paola Tinti (2003). A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860560-9.

External links

• Mihintale
• The Maha Bodhi
• The Mahavamsa History of Sri Lanka The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka
• Kings & Rulers of Sri Lanka
• Codrington's Short History of Ceylon
• King Devanampiyatissa

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Bodhi Tree
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/13/21


The Mahabodhi Tree at the Sri Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya


Sculpture of the Buddha meditating under the Mahabodhi tree


The Diamond throne or Vajrashila, where the Buddha sat under the Bodhi Tree in Bodh Gaya

The Bodhi Tree or Bodhi Fig Tree ("tree of awakening"[1]), also called the Bo Tree,[2] was a large and ancient sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa[1][3]) located in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, India. Siddhartha Gautama, the spiritual teacher who became known as the Buddha, is said to have attained enlightenment or Bodhi circa 500 BCE under it.[4] In religious iconography, the Bodhi Tree is recognizable by its heart-shaped leaves, which are usually prominently displayed.

The proper term "Bodhi Tree" is also applied to existing sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) trees, also known as bodhi trees.[5] The foremost example of an existing tree is the Mahabodhi Tree growing at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, which is often cited as a direct descendant of the original tree. This tree, planted around 250 BCE, is a frequent destination for pilgrims, being the most important of the four main Buddhist pilgrimage sites.[6]

Other holy bodhi trees with great significance in the history of Buddhism are the Anandabodhi Tree at Jetavana in Sravasti in North India and the Sri Maha Bodhi Tree in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. Both are also believed to have been propagated from the original Bodhi Tree.

Celebrations

Bodhi Day

On December 8, Bodhi Day celebrates Buddha's enlightenment underneath the Bodhi Tree. Those who follow the Dharma greet each other by saying, “Budu saranai!” which translates to "may the peace of the Buddha be yours.”[7] It is also generally seen as a religious holiday, much like Christmas in the Christian west, in which special meals are served, especially cookies shaped like hearts (referencing the heart-shaped leaves of the Bodhi) and a meal of kheer, the Buddha's first meal ending his six-year asceticism.[8]

Origin and descendants

Bodh Gaya


1810 picture of a small temple beneath the Bodhi tree, Bodh Gaya.[9]


The Mahabodhi tree in Bodhgaya today


Illustration of the temple built by Asoka at Bodh-Gaya around the Bodhi tree. Sculpture of the Satavahana period at Sanchi, 1st century CE.

Main article: Mahabodhi Temple

The Bodhi tree at the Mahabodhi Temple is called the Sri Maha Bodhi. Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment (bodhi) while meditating underneath a Ficus religiosa. According to Buddhist texts, the Buddha meditated without moving from his seat for seven weeks (49 days) under this tree. A shrine called Animisalocana cetiya, was later erected on the spot where he sat.[10]

The spot was used as a shrine even in the lifetime of the Buddha. Emperor Ashoka the Great was most diligent in paying homage to the Bodhi tree, and held a festival every year in its honour in the month of Kattika.[11] His queen, Tissarakkhā, was jealous of the Tree, and three years after she became queen (i.e., in the nineteenth year of Asoka's reign), she caused the tree to be killed by means of mandu thorns.[12] The tree, however, grew again, and a great monastery was attached to the Bodhimanda called the Bodhimanda Vihara. Among those present at the foundation of the Mahā Thūpa are mentioned thirty thousand monks from the Bodhimanda Vihara, led by Cittagutta.[13]

The tree was again cut down by King Pushyamitra Shunga in the 2nd century BC, and by King Shashanka in 600 AD. In the 7th century AD, Chinese traveler Xuanzang wrote of the tree in detail.


Bodhi Tree sign, 2013

Every time the tree was destroyed, a new tree was planted in the same place.[14]

In 1862 British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham wrote of the site as the first entry in the first volume of the Archaeological Survey of India:

The celebrated Bodhi tree still exists, but is very much decayed; one large stem, with three branches to the westward, is still green, but the other branches are barkless and rotten. The green branch perhaps belongs to some younger tree, as there are numerous stems of apparently different trees clustered together. The tree must have been renewed frequently, as the present Pipal is standing on a terrace at least 30 feet above the level of the surrounding country. It was in full vigour in 1811, when seen by Dr. Buchanan (Hamilton), who describes it as in all probability not exceeding 100 years of age.[15]

However, the tree decayed further and in 1876 the remaining tree was destroyed in a storm. In 1881, Cunningham planted a new Bodhi tree on the same site.[16][17]

To Jetavana, Sravasti


Ashoka's Mahabodhi Temple and Diamond throne in Bodh Gaya, built circa 250 BCE. The inscription between the Chaitya arches reads: "Bhagavato Sakamunino/ bodho" i.e. "The building round the Bodhi tree of the Holy Sakamuni (Shakyamuni)".[18] Bharhut frieze (circa 100 BCE).

Buddhism recounts that while the Buddha was still alive, in order that people might make their offerings in the name of the Buddha when he was away on pilgrimage, he sanctioned the planting of a seed from the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya in front of the gateway of Jetavana Monastery near Sravasti. For this purpose Moggallana took a fruit from the tree as it dropped from its stalk before it reached the ground. It was planted in a golden jar by Anathapindika with great pomp and ceremony. A sapling immediately sprouted forth, fifty cubits high, and in order to consecrate it, the Buddha spent one night under it, rapt in meditation. This tree, because it was planted under the direction of Ananda, came to be known as the Ananda Bodhi.

To Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

King Asoka's daughter, Sanghamittra, brought a piece of the tree with her to Sri Lanka where it is continuously growing to this day in the island's ancient capital, Anuradhapura.[16] This Bodhi tree was originally named Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, and was a piece of another Bodhi tree planted in the year 245 B.C.[19] Although the original Bodhi tree deteriorated and died of old age, the descendants of the branch that was brought by Emperor Ashoka's son, Mahindra, and his daughter, Sanghmittra, can still be found on the island.[20]

According to the Mahavamsa, the Sri Maha Bodhi in Sri Lanka was planted in 288 BC, making it the oldest verified specimen of any angiosperm. In this year (the twelfth year of King Asoka's reign) the right branch of the Bodhi tree was brought by Sanghamittā to Anurādhapura and placed by Devānāmpiyatissa [Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura] his left foot in the Mahāmeghavana. The Buddha, on his death bed, had resolved five things, one being that the branch which should be taken to Ceylon should detach itself.[11] From Gayā, the branch was taken to Pātaliputta, thence to Tāmalittī, where it was placed in a ship and taken to Jambukola, across the sea; finally it arrived at Anuradhapura, staying on the way at Tivakka. Those who assisted the king at the ceremony of the planting of the Tree were the nobles of Kājaragāma and of Candanagāma and of Tivakka.

The Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi is also known to be the most sacred Bodhi tree. This came upon the Buddhists who performed rites and rituals near the Bodhi tree. The Bodhi tree was known to cause rain and heal the ill. When an individual became ill, one of his or her relatives would visit the Bodhi tree to water it seven times for seven days and to vow on behalf of the sick for a speedy recovery.[21]

To Honolulu, Hawaii

In 1913, Anagarika Dharmapala took a sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi to Hawaii, where he presented it to his benefactor, Mary Foster, who had funded much Buddhist missionary work. She planted it in the grounds of her house in Honolulu, by the Nuʻuanu stream. On her death, she left her house and its grounds to the people of Honolulu, and it became the Foster Botanical Garden.

To Chennai, India


Sapling of the Maha bodhi tree planted in the year 1950 at Theosophical society

In 1950, Jinarajadasa took three saplings of the Sri Maha Bodhi to plant two saplings in Chennai, one was planted near the Buddha temple at the Theosophical Society another at the riverside of Adyar Estuary. The third was planted near a meditation center in Sri Lanka.[22]

To Thousand Oaks, California, USA

In 2012, Brahmanda Pratap Barua, Ripon, Dhaka, Bangladesh, took a sapling of Bodhi tree from Buddha Gaya, Maha Bodhi to Thousand Oaks, California, where he presented it to his benefactor, Anagarika Glenn Hughes, who had funded much Buddhist work and teaches Buddhism in the USA. He and his students received the sapling with a great thanks, later they planted the sapling in the ground in a nearby park.

To Nihon-ji, Japan

In 1989, the government of India presented Nihon-ji with a sapling from the Bodhi Tree as a gesture of world peace.

The trees of the previous Buddhas

According to the Mahavamsa,[23] branches from the Bodhi trees of all the Buddhas born during this kalpa were planted in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) on the spot where the sacred Bodhi tree stands today in Anurādhapura. The branch of Kakusandha's tree was brought by Rucānandā, Konagamana's by Kantakānandā (or Kanakadattā), and Kassapa's by Sudhammā.

See also


Terracotta Bodhi leaf with dragon decoration, 13th-14th century, Vietnam

• Bodhi
• Atamasthana

References

1. Gethin, Rupert (1998). The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. p. 22. ISBN 9780192892232.
2. Library, C. N. N. "Buddhism Fast Facts". CNN. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
3. Simon Gardner, Pindar Sidisunthorn and Lai Ee May, 2011. Heritage Trees of Penang. Penang: Areca Books. ISBN 978-967-57190-6-6
4. Gopal, Madan (1990). K.S. Gautam (ed.). India through the ages. Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. p. 176.
5. "Ficus religiosa - Plant Finder". http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
6. "Botanic Notables: The Bodhi Tree - Garden Design". GardenDesign.com. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
7. "University of Hawaii".[dead link]
8. Prasoon, Shrikant (2007). Knowing Buddha : [life and teachings]. [Delhi]: Hindoology Books. ISBN 9788122309638.
9. Bodhi Tree British Library.
10. Animisalocana cetiya
11. "CHAPTER XVII_The Arrival Of The Relics". Mahavamsa, chap. 17, 17.
12. "CHAPTER XX_The Nibbana Of The Thera". Mahavamsa, chap. 20, 4f.
13. "CHAPTER XXIX_The Beginning Of The Great Thupa". Mahavamsa, chap. 29, 41.
14. J. Gordon, Melton; Martin, Baumann (2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, Second edition. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara. p. 358. ISBN 978-1598842043.
15. Archaeological Survey of India, Volume 1, Four Reports Made During the Years 1862-63-64-66
16. "Buddhist Studies: Bodhi Tree". Buddhanet.net. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
17. Mahâbodhi, or the great Buddhist temple under the Bodhi tree at Buddha-Gaya, Alexander Cunningham, 1892: "I next saw the tree in 1871 and again in 1875, when it had become completely decayed, and shortly afterwards in 1876 the only remaining portion of the tree fell over the west wall during a storm, and the old pipal tree was gone. Many seeds, however, had been collected and the young scion of the parent tree were already in existence to take its place."
18. Luders, Heinrich (1963). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol.2 Pt.2 Bharhut Inscriptions. p. 95.
19. K.H.J. Wijayadasa. "Śrī Maha Bodhi". Srimahabodhi.org. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
20. George Boeree. "History of Buddhism". Webspace.ship.edu. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
21. "Rain-makers: The Sacred Bodhi Tree Part 2". Srimahabodhi.org. 2003-04-24. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
22. Madhavan, Chitra. "Buddhist shrine in Adyar". Madras Musings. Madras Musings. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
23. "CHAPTER XV_The Acceptance Of The Mahavihara". For example, chap 15.

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A Review on Ficus Religiosa -- An Important Medicinal Plant
by Shailendra Singh *, S. K. Jain, Shashi Alok, Dilip Chanchal and Surabhi Rashi
Published: January 31, 2016
© 2015 by International Journal of Life Sciences and Review

*Department of Pharmacognosy, Institute of Pharmacy, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi- 284128, Uttar Pradesh, India.

ABSTRACT: Ficus religiosa Linn. is a large evergreen tree found throughout India, wild as well as cultivated, it is widely branched tree with leathery, heart-shaped, long tipped leaves. It is a sacred plant in India. It is one of the most versatile plants having a wide variety of medicinal activities, therefore, used in the treatment of several types of diseases, e.g., diarrhea, diabetes, urinary disorders, burns, hemorrhoids, gastrohelcosis, skin diseases, convulsions, tuberculosis, fever, paralysis, oxidative stress, bacterial infections, etc. This is a unique source of various types of compounds having diverse chemical structure (phenolics, sterols etc.). In this article, we will review the knowledge regarding peepal.

Keywords: Ficus religiosa, Different Species of Ficus, Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, Pharmacological activities, Medicinal uses

INTRODUCTION: Medicinal plants are naturally gifted with invaluable bioactive compounds which form the backbone of traditional medicines 1. To increase the wide range of medicinal usages, the present day entails new drugs with more potent and desired activity with less or no side effects against particular disease 2. The use of plants as medicines antedates history 1. Medicinal plants have served through ages, as a constant source of medicaments for the exposure of a variety of diseases, as they have curative properties due to the presence of various complex chemical substances of different composition, which are found as secondary plant metabolites in one or more parts of these plants 3.

The history of herbal medicine is almost as old as human civilization 4, 5, and traditional medicines from plants have attracted major attention worldwide because of their potential pharmaceutical importance 6. The material medica provides a great deal of information on the folklore practices and traditional aspects of therapeutically important natural products. Indian traditional medicine is based on various systems including Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, and Homoeopathy 8. Any part of the plant may contain active components like bark, leaves, flowers, roots, fruits, seeds, etc. 9 The beneficial medicinal effects of plant materials typically result from the combinations of secondary products present in the plant.

Ficus: It is a genus of about 800 species and 2000 varieties, which are woody trees, shrubs and vines in the family Moraceae occurring in most tropical and subtropical forests worldwide 10. It is collectively known as fig trees, and the most well-known species in the genus is the common fig which produces commercial fruit called fig 11. Ficus is one of the most loved bonsai. It is an excellent tree for beginners, as most species of Ficus are fast growers, tolerant of most any soil and light conditions. About half of the species of Ficus are monoecious, and the rest are functionally dioecious 12. Many Ficus species are commonly used in traditional medicine to cure various diseases. They have long been used in folk medicine as astringents carminatives, stomachics, vermicides, hypotensives, antihelmintics and anti-dysentery drugs 13. Many species are cultivated for shade and ornament in gardens. Several species produce edible figs of varying palatability. All species possess latex-like material within their vasculatures that provide protection and self-healing from physical assaults 14. The fig is a very nourishing food and used in industrial products.

Figs contained water, fats, high amounts of amino acids, such as leucine, lysine, valine, and arginine, and minerals, such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, phosphorus and Vitamins 15.

Taxonomy of Ficus:

Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Euphyllophytina
Infraphylum: Radiatopses
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Dilleniidae
Superorder: Urticanae
Order: Urticales
Family: Moraceae
Genus: Ficus

Various Species of Ficus are: 16

Ficus altissima (council tree)
Ficus aspera (clown fig)
Ficus auriculata, [Leaves, fruits, bark] syn. Ficus roxburghii
Ficus asperifolia [Young stems]
Ficus benghalensis (Indian banyan) [Wood, leaves, bark, roots]
Ficus benjamina (weeping fig) [Fruits]
Ficus benjamina ‘Exotica
Ficus benjamina ‘Comosa
Ficus binnendykii (narrow-leaf ficus)
Ficus carica (common edible fig) [Fruit latex, leaves]
Ficus celebinsis (willow ficus)
Ficus capensis [Leaves, stem bark]
Ficus deltoidea (mistletoe fig) syn. Ficus diversifolia [Leaves]
Ficus elastica (Indian rubber tree) [Young stems]
Ficus elastica ‘Abidjan’
Ficus elastica ‘Asahi’
Ficus elastica ‘Decora’
Ficus elastica ‘Gold’
Ficus elastica ‘Schrijveriana’
Ficus exasperate [Leaves]
Ficus glomerata [Bark]
Ficus lacor (pakur tree)
Ficus lingua (box-leaved fig) syn. Ficus buxifolia
Ficus lyrata (fiddle-leaf fig) [Leaves, fruit latex]
Ficus macrophylla (Moreton Bay fig)
Ficus microcarpa (Chinese banyan)
Ficus microcarpa var. crassifolia (wax ficus)
Ficus microcarpa ‘Variegata.’
Ficus nitida [Wood, bark, leaves, young stems]
Ficus palmata [Leaves, fruits, bark, root]
Ficus pseudopalma (Philippine fig)
Ficus pumila (creeping fig) syn. Ficus repens
Ficus polita [Roots]
Ficus racemosa [Roots, bark]
Ficus religiosa (bo tree or sacred fig) [Bark, fruits, leaves]
Ficus retusa [Aerial parts]
Ficus rubiginosa (Port Jackson fig or rusty fig)
Ficus rubiginosa ‘Variegata.’
Ficus sagittata ‘Variegata’, syn. Ficus radicans ‘Variegata’
Ficus saussureana, syn. Ficus dawei
Ficus stricta
Ficus subulata, syn. Ficus salicifolia
Ficus sycomorus [Fruits]
Ficus tikoua (Waipahu fig)
Ficus tsiela [Leaves]

Ficus religiosa: Ficus religiosa Linn. (Moraceae) commonly known as ‘Peepal tree’ is a large widely branched tree with leathery, heart-shaped, long tipped leaves on long slender petioles and purple fruits growing in pairs 17, 18, 19.

It is a large perennial tree, glabrous when young, found throughout the plains of India up to 170 m altitudes in the Himalayas 20 and is one of the most revered trees in Asia.


FIG. 1: PLANT OF FICUS RELIGIOSA

It is also known as, the sacred fig tree or Bo tree and is the most planted tree species near religious or spiritual places in Indian cities and villages. It grows up to elevations of 5,000 feet 21.

History: Ficus religiosa has got mythological, religious and medicinal importance in Indian culture. References to Ficus religiosa are found in several ancient holy texts like Arthasastra, Puranas, Upanisads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavadgita and Buddhistic literature, etc. 22 The Brahma Purana and the Padma Purana, relate how once, when the demons defeated the Gods, Vishnu hide in the peepal. The Skanda Purana also considers the peepal, a symbol of Vishnu. He is believed to have been born under this tree. Some believe that the tree houses the Trimurti, the roots being Brahma, the trunk Vishnu and the leaves Shiva. The Gods are said to hold their councils under this tree and so it is associated with spiritual understanding. The peepal is also closely linked to Krishna.

In the Bhagavad Gita, he says: "Among trees, I am the ashvattha." Krishna is believed to have died under this tree, after which the present Kali Yuga is said to have begun. According to the Skanda Purana, if one does not have a son, the peepal should be regarded as one. As long as the tree lives, the family name will continue. To cut down a peepal is considered a sin equivalent to killing a Brahmin, one of the five deadly sins or Panchapataka. According to the Skanda Purana, a person goes to hell for doing so. Some people are particular to touch the peepal only on a Saturday. The Brahma Purana explains why saying that Ashvattha and peepala were two demons who harassed people.

Ashvattha would take the form of a peepal and peepala the form of a Brahmin. The fake Brahmin would advise people to touch the tree, and as soon as they did, Ashvattha would kill them. Later they were both killed by Shani. Because of his influence, it is considered safe to touch the tree on Saturdays. Lakshmi is also believed to inhabit the tree on Saturdays. Therefore it is considered auspicious to worship it. Women ask the tree to bless them with a son tying a red thread or red cloth around its trunk or on its branches 23.

Nomenclature: 'Ficus' is the Latin word for 'Fig,' the fruit of the tree. 'Religiosa' refers to 'religion' because the tree is sacred in both Hinduism and Buddhism and is very frequently planted in temples and shrines of both faiths. 'Bodhi' or its short form 'Bo' means 'supreme knowledge' or 'awakening' in the old Indian languages, (Bo-Tree) is a well-known symbol for happiness, prosperity, longevity and good luck. The name ‘Sacred Fig’ was given to it because it is considered sacred by the followers of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism 24.

'Pipal' relates (I believe) to the same ancient roots which give rise to English words like 'Pip' and 'Apple' and therefore mean something like 'fruit-bearing tree.' 'Ashwattha' and 'Ashvattha' come from an ancient Indian root word "Shwa" means 'morning' or 'tomorrow.' This refers to the fact that Ashwattha is the mythical Hindu world tree, both indestructible and yet ever-changing: the same tree will not be there tomorrow 25.

Taxonomy/Botanical Classification: 26

Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Spermatophytina
Infraphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Dilleniidae.
Super order: Urticanae
Order: Urticales
Family: Moraceae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Tribe: Ficeae
Genus: Ficus (FY-kus) L.
Specific epithet: religiosa L.

Common Names: 24

Assamese: Ahant
Bengali: Asvattha, Ashud, Ashvattha.
English: Pipal tree.
Gujrati: Jari, Piparo, Pipalo, Piplo.
Hindi: Pipal, Pipali.
Kannada: Arlo, Ranji, Basri, Ashvatthanara, Ashwatha, Aralimara, Aralegida, Ashvathamara, Basari, Ashvattha.
Kanarese: Arani, Ashwatha mara, Pippala, Ragi.
Kashmiri: Bad.
Malayalam: Arayal
Marathi: Pimpal, Pipal, Pippal.
Oriya: Aswatha.
Punjabi: Pipal, Pippal
Sanskrit: Ashvattha, Bodhidruma, Pippala, Shuchidruma, Vrikshraj, yajnika.
Tamil: Ashwarthan, Arasamaram, Arasan, Arasu, Arara.
Telgu: Ravichettu.

Habitat: Ficus religiosa is known to be a native Indian tree and thought to be originating mainly in Northern and Eastern India, where it widely found in uplands and plane areas and grows up to about 1650 meters or 5000 ft in the mountainous areas. It is also found growing elsewhere in India and throughout the subcontinent and Southern Asia, especially in Buddhist countries, wild or cultivated.

It is a familiar sight in Hindu temples, Buddhist monasteries and shrines, villages and at roadsides. People also like to grow this sacred tree in their gardens. Ficus religiosa has also been widely planted in many hot countries all over the world from South Africa to Hawai and Florida, but it is not able to naturalize away from its Indian home, because of its dependence on its pollinator wasp, Blastophaga quadraticeps. An exception to this rule is Israel where the wasp has been successfully introduced 27.

Microscopy: An external feature of bark shows that bark differentiated into thick outer periderm and inner secondary phloem. The periderm is differentiated into phellem and phelloderm. Phellem zone is 360 mm thick, wavy, uneven in transection. Phellem cells are organized into thin tangential membranous layers, and older layers exfoliate in the form of thin membranes, whereas phelloderm zone is broad and distinct and are turned into lignified sclereids. Secondary phloem differentiated into inner narrow non collapsed zone which consists of radial files of sieve tube membranes, axial parenchyma, gelatinous fibers, and outer collapsed phloem consists of dilated rays, crushed, obliterated sieve tube membranes, thick walled and lignified fibers, abundant tannin filled parenchyma cells 28.

Transverse section of bark shows rectangular to cubical, thick-walled cork cells and dead elements of the secondary cortex, consist of masses of stone cells; cork cambium distinct with rows of the newly formed secondary cortex, mostly composed of stone cells towards the periphery. Stone cells found scattered in large groups, rarely isolated; most of the parenchymatous cells of secondary cortex contain numerous starch grains and few prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate; secondary phloem a wide zone, consisting of sieve elements, phloem fibers in singles or groups of two and non lignified; numerous crystal fibers also present; in outer region sieve elements mostly collapsed while in inner region intact; phloem parenchyma mostly thick-walled; stone cells present in single or in small groups similar to those in secondary cortex; a number of ray-cells and phloem parenchyma filled with brown pigments; prismatic crystals of calcium oxalate and starch grains present in a number of parenchymatous cells; medullary rays uni to multiseriate, wider towards outer periphery composed of thick-walled cells with simple pits; in tangential section ray cells circular to oval in shape; cambium when present, consists of 2-4 layers of thin-walled rectangular cells 29.

Phytochemistry: Phytochemistry is the chemistry of plants or chemical constituents of plants. Phytochemistry understood in pharmacy as the chemistry of natural products used as drugs or of drugs plants with the emphasis on biochemistry. The constituents are therapeutically active or inactive. The inactive constituents are structural constituents of the plants like starch, sugars, or proteins. The inactive constituents have however pharmaceutical uses. The active constituents are secondary metabolites, like alkaloids glycosides, volatile oils, tannins etc. They are single substances or usually mixtures of several substances. The secondary products of metabolism are formed from primary products and the plant is not able to reutilize them, and they are deposited in the cells and so are called secondary metabolites 30.

TABLE 1: CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS CONTAINED BY DIFFERENT PARTS OF F. RELIGIOSA

S. no Plant part Compound present
1 Roots Tannins, wax, saponin, leucoanthocyanins, delphinindin-3-O-α-Lrhamnoside (II), Pelargonidin-3-O-α-Lrhamnoside, Leucocyanidine-3-O-β-D-galactosyl-cellobioside (III), Leucoanthocyanidin-20-tetratriaconten-2-one, pentatriacontan-5-one, 6 heptatria content-10-one, mesoanisosital 31
2 Bark Phenols, tannins, steroids, alkaloids, flavonoids, β-sitosteryl-d-glucoside, vitamin K, noctacosanol, methyl oleanolate, lanosterol, stigmasterol, lupen-3-one 31
3 Fruits Proteins (4.9 %), essential amino acids (isoleucine and phenylalanine), flavonols (kaempeferol, quercetine, myricetin), also contain good amount of total phenolic contents, total flavonoids, percent inhibition of linoleic acid 32, asgaragine, tyrosine, undecane, tridecane, tetradecane, (e)-β-ocimene, α-thujene, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-terpinene, limonene, dendrolasine, α-ylangene, α-copaene, β-bourbonene, β-caryophyllene, α-trans bergamotene, aromadendrene, α-humulene, alloaromadendrene, germacrene, δ-cadinene, γ-cadinene
4 Seeds Phytosteroline, β-sitosterol and its glycoside, albuminoids, carbohydrates, fatty matter, colouring matter, caoutchoue 0.7-1.5% 33
5 Leaves Campestrol, stigmasterol, isofucosterol, α-amyrin, lupeol, tannic acid, arginine, serine, aspartic acid, glycine, threonine, alanine, proline, tryptophan, tyrosine, methionine, , valine, isoleucine, leucine, n-nonacosane, n-hentricontanen, hexa-cosanol 34-36

F. religiosa releases oxygen all the time, which makes it different from other plants. Most of the plants largely uptake Carbon dioxide (CO2) and release oxygen during the day (photosynthesis) and uptake oxygen and release CO2 during the night (respiration). Some plants such as F. religiosa (peepal) can uptake CO2 during the night also like a day because of their ability to perform a type of photosynthesis called Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM). Peepal is a hemiepiphyte in its native habitat, i.e. the seeds germinate and grow as an epiphyte on other trees and then when the host tree dies, they establish on the soil. It has been suggested that when they live as an epiphyte, they use CAM pathway to produce carbohydrates and when they live on soil, they switch to C3 type photosynthesis 37.

Ethnopharmacology:

TABLE 2: ETHNOMEDICINAL USES OF DIFFERENT PARTS

Plant parts Traditional uses (as/in)
Bark Astringent, cooling, aphrodisiac, antibacterial against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, gonorrhea, diarrhea, dysentery, hemorrhoids, gastrohelcosis, anti-inflammatory, burns 38
Leaves and tender shoots Purgative, wounds, skin diseases 38
Fruits Asthma, laxative, digestive 38
Seeds Refrigerants, laxative 38
Latex Neuralgia, inflammation, haemorrhages 38
Leaf juice Asthma, cough, sexual disorders, diarrhea, haematuria, toothache, migraine, eye troubles, gastric problems, scabies 38-40
Dry fruit Tuberculosis, fever, paralysis, hemorrhoids 41

Pharmacological Activities:


FIG. 2: PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF FICUS RELIGIOSA

Anti-diabetic Activity: Aqueous extract in a dose of 50 and 100 mg/kg shows pronounced reduction in blood glucose levels in normal, glucose-loaded hyperglycemic and streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and effect was compared with glibenclamide (a well known hypoglycaemic drug). Aqueous extract of F. religiosa showed a significant increase in serum, insulin, body weight, glycogen content in liver and skeletal muscle of STZ induced diabetic rats. The results suggested potential traditional use of F. religiosa 42.

Anti-inflammatory Activity: A study was investigated for the effect of methanol extract of F. religiosa leaf on lipopolysaccharide-induced production of NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin beta (IL) and IL-6 in BV-2 microglial cells, a microglial mouse line. The methanol extract of leaf inhibited LPS-induced production of NO and proinflammatory cytokines in a dose-dependent manner 43. The methanolic extract of stem bark has shown significant anti-inflammatory activities orally. A significant anti-inflammatory effect has been observed in acute and chronic models of inflammation, the extract also protected mast cells from degradation induced by various degranulators 44, a paste of powdered bark is a good absorbent for inflammatory swellings and can be used to treat burns 45, 46.

Analgesic Activity: This activity of stem bark methanolic extract using the acetic acid-induced writhing (extension of the hind paw) model in mice. Aspirin was used as standard drugs. It exhibited a reduction in the number of writhing. This suggested that extract showed the analgesic effect probably by inhibiting synthesis or action of prostaglandins 47.

Antioxidant Activity: The ethanolic extract of leaves of Ficus religiosa was evaluated for antioxidant (DPPH) activity. The tested extract of different dilutions in the range 200 µg/ml to 1000 µg/ml shows antioxidant activity in a range of 6.34% to 13.35% 48. Root extracts showed significant antioxidant activity against carbon tetrachloride induced liver injury in rats 49. A recent study has also revealed that the methanol extract contains high total phenolic and total flavonoids contents, exhibits high antioxidant activity 50.

The antioxidant activity of the aqueous extract of F. religiosa was investigated in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Since the oxidative stress is the major cause and consequence of Type 2 diabetes. Free radicals generated during oxidative stress damage the insulin receptors and thereby decrease the number of sites available for insulin function. The aqueous extract drug reported to contain tannins, flavonoids, and polyphenols. At doses 100 and 200 mg/kg of aqueous extracts of F. religiosa shows significant decrease in fasting blood glucose and an increase in body weight of diabetic rats as compared to untreated rats. The results are suggesting that the F. religiosa, a Rasayana group of plant drug having antidiabetic along with antioxidant potential, was beneficial in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes 51.

Anticonvulsant Activity: The methanol extract of figs (fruits) exhibits dose-dependent anticonvulsant activity against maximum electroshock and picrotoxin-induced convulsions through serotonergic pathways modulation. The anticonvulsant activity of the extract is studied in strychnine-, pentylenetetrazole, picrotoxin- and isoniazid-induced seizures in mice 52. Acute toxicity, neurotoxicity, and potentiation of phenobarbitone induced sleep by extract were also studied 53.

Antimicrobial Activity: The antimicrobial activity of ethanolic extracts of F. religiosa (leaves) was examined using the agar well diffusion method. The test was performed against four bacteria: Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and against two fungi: Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. The results showed that 25mg/ml of the extract was active against all bacterial strains and effect against the two fungi was comparatively much less 54. F. religiosa (leaves) demonstrated the more antibacterial activity with less antifungal activity 55. F. religiosa bark methanolic extract was 100% lethal for Haemonchus. contortus worms during in vitro testing 56. The chloroform extracts of F. religiosa showed a strong inhibitory activity against growth infectious Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium and Proteus vulgaris at a MIC of 39, 5 and 20 µg/ml respectively 57.

Wound Healing: The wound healing activity was investigated by excision and incision wound models using F. religiosa leaf extracts, prepared as an ointment (5 and 10%) were applied on Wistar albino strain rats. Povidine iodine 5% was used as a Standard drug. The high rate of wound contraction, decrease in the period for epithelialization, high skin breaking strength were observed in animals treated with 10% leaf extract ointment when compared to the control group of animals. It has been reported that tannins possess the ability to increase the collagen content, which is one of the factors for the promotion of wound healing 48, 2. The ethanol bark extract was reported to possess wound healing 58.

Anti-amnesia Activity: The anti-amnesic activity was investigated using methanol extract of figs on scopolamine-induced anterograde and retrograde amnesia in mice. Figs were known to contain a high serotonergic content, and modulation of serotonergic neurotransmission plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of amnesia 59.

Anti-acetylcholinesterase Activity: Methanolic extract of the stem bark of F. religiosa found to inhibit the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, thereby prolonging the half-life of acetylcholine. It was reported that most accepted strategies in Alzheimer's diseases treatment are the use of cholinesterase inhibitors. The calculated 50% inhibitory dose (ID50) value was 73.69 µg/ml, respectively. The results confirm and justify the popular traditional use of this plant for the treatment of Alzheimer's diseases 60.

Proteolytic Activity: A comparison of the proteolytic activity of the latex of 46 species of Ficus has been done by electrophoretic and chromatographic properties of the protein components, and F. religiosa has shown a significant proteolytic activity 61.

Bronchospasm Activity: The in-vivo studies of histamine-induced bronchospasm in guinea pigs and in vitro isolated guinea pig tracheal chain and ileum preparation were performed. Pre-treatment of guinea pigs with ketotifen (1 mg/kg, p.o.), has significantly delayed the onset of histamine aerosol-induced pre convulsive dyspnea, compared with vehicle control (281.8 ± 11.7 vs112.2 ± 9.8). The administration of the methanolic extract (125, 250, and 500 mg/kg, p.o.) did not produce any significant effect on latency to develop histamine-induced pre-convulsive dyspnea. Methanolic extract of fruits at doses (0.5, 1 and 2 mg/ml) has significantly potentiated the EC50 doses of both histamine and acetylcholine in isolated guinea pig tracheal chain and ileum preparation. HPLC analysis of methanolic extract showed the presence of high amounts of serotonin (2.89% w/w) 62.

Immunomodulatory Activity: The immuno-modulatory effect of alcoholic extract of the bark of F. religiosa (Moraceae) in mice was investigated. The study was carried out by various hematological and serological tests. Administration of extract remarkably ameliorated both cellular and tic rats while there was humoral antibody response. It is concluded that the test extract possessed promising immunostimulant properties 63.

Antibacterial and Antitumor Activity: The aqueous, methanol and chloroform extracts of the leaves of Ficus religiosa were evaluated for their antibacterial and antitumor activities. These extracts showed an elevated level of antibacterial activity and reduced antifungal activity. The most sensitive organisms S. typhi, P. vulgaris, S. typhimurium, and E. coli were inhibited even at lowest concentrations of the chloroform extracts. Aqueous and methanolic extracts were found to be less active. The antitumor activity conducted by crown gall potato disc assay proved that all the three extracts are efficient in reducing the tumors formed 64.

Antiulcer Activity: The antiulcer potential of the ethanol extract of stem bark of Ficus religiosa against in vivo indomethacin, cold restrained stress-induced gastric ulcer, and pylorus ligation assays were validated. The extract (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg) significantly (P<0.05) reduced the ulcer index in all assays used. The extract also significantly increased the pH of gastric acid while at the same time reduced the volume of gastric juice, free and total acidities. The study provides preliminary data on the antiulcer potential of Ficus religiosa stem bark and supports the traditional uses of the plant for the treatment of gastric ulcer 65.

Antifungal Activity: The benzene extract of both the plants, i.e. Ficus infectoria Roxb. and Ficus religiosa Linn. afforded furanocoumarins, bergapten, and bergaptol. The isolated compounds of both the plants were assayed against its microorganisms Staphylococcus aureus, E scherichia coli, Penicillium gluacum, and Paramecium at a concentration of 0.2% for aqueous bark extracts and 1x10-2 M for the isolated compounds. The results indicate bacterial activity of both the compounds bergapten and bergaptol against S. aureus and E. coli. Antifungal activity of the compounds against P. gluacum was also observed 66.

Anthelmintic Activity: Ficus religiosa has been used to treat parasitic infections in man and animals. The anthelmintic effect of methanolic bark extract of F. religiosa on the adult Haemonchus contortus Worm. Adult motile H. Contortus was collected from the gastrointestinal tract of sheep slaughtered at Faisalabad slaughterhouse. It was found that ficin is responsible for the anthelmintic effect in the methanolic extract of F. religiosa 67. Further, studies show that the aqueous extract of the fruit of F. religiosa has shown potent Anthelmintic activity as compared to other species of Ficus against Pheretima posthuma (earthworms).

CONCLUSION: India is the largest producer of medicinal herbs and is rightly called the botanical garden of the world. The study of herbal medicine spans the knowledge of pharmacology, history, source, physical and chemical nature, mechanism of action, traditional medicinal, and therapeutic use of the drug.

F. religiosa is a widely branched deciduous tree with leathery, heart-shaped, long tipped leaves used in the Indian system of medicine since very ancient times. It is one of the versatile plant having a wide variety of medicinal activities therefore used in the treatment of several types of diseases, for example, Diarrhoea, diabetes, urinary disorders, burns, hemorrhoids, gastrohelcosis, skin diseases, convulsion, tuberculosis, fever, paralysis, oxidative stress, bacterial infection, etc.

Presently, there is an increasing interest worldwide in herbal medicines accompanied by increased laboratory investigation into the pharmacological properties of the bioactive ingredients and their ability to treat various diseases. With the availability of primary information, further studies can be carried out like phyto pharmacology of different extracts, standardization of the extracts, identification and isolation of active principles and pharmacological studies of isolated compound. These may be followed by development of lead molecules as well as it may serve for the purpose of use of specific extract in specific herbal formulation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: The authors would like to thank Bundelkhand Central Library and Department of Pharmacognosy, Bundelkhand University, Jhansi, India.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Nil

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How to cite this article:

Singh S, Jain SK, Alok S, Chanchal D and Rashi S: A review on Ficus religiosa - An important medicinal plant. Int J Life Sci & Rev 2016; 2(1): 1-11. doi: 10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.IJLSR.2(1).1-11.

All © 2015 are reserved by International Journal of Life Sciences and Review. This Journal licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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Cyril de Zoysa
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/13/21


Sir Cyril de Zoysa
ශ්‍රිමත් සිරිල් ද සොයිසා
President of the Senate of Ceylon
In office: 1960 - 1965
Personal details
Born: 26 October 1896, Galle, British Ceylon
Died: 2 January 1978 (aged 81), Nationality Ceylonese
Alma mater: Royal College, Colombo, Richmond College, St. Thomas' College, Matara
Profession Proctor

Sir Cyril de Zoysa (Sinhala: ශ්‍රිමත් සිරිල් ද සොයිසා) (26 October 1896 – 2 January 1978) was a Sri Lankan industrialist, Senator and a philanthropist. The President of the Senate of Ceylon from 1960 to 1965, he was a leader in the Buddhist revival movement in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 20th century. He was distantly related to Sri Lankan tycoon Sir Ernest de Silva.[1]

Early life and education

He was born on 26 October 1896 to Solomon and Harriet de Zoysa in Galle, and was their second son. His brother V. T. De Zoysa, who became an advocate, established Air Ceylon.[2] He was educated at St. Thomas' College, Matara [3] for his primary studies and then moved on to Richmond College in Galle.[3] His father was a notary public and for this reason de Zoysa moved many times during childhood. He completed his secondary education at Royal College, Colombo, where his contemporaries included Sir Nicholas Attygalle and Sir John Kotelawala. At the young age of twenty, he began pursuing his legal studies at Ceylon Law College.[4] In 1921, he qualified as a proctor and started his legal practice at the police magistrates courts of Balapitiya. In 1926 he moved to Kalutara after five successful years of practice in Balapitiya. He was the President of the Law Society of Ceylon.[5][6]

Activism in Kalutara

The town of Kalutara was a centre of Buddhist learning and a pilgrimage site where people came to view the Kalutara Bodhi. He was the founder of Kalutara Vidyalaya and the Kalutara Balika Vidyalaya. In violation of colonial law, he began lighting lamps at the Kalutara Bodhi. The Bodhi tree was one of 32 allegedly brought to Sri Lanka by King Devanampiyatissa,[7] as a scion of the Sri Maha Bodhi of Anuradhapura.[8] When the colonial authorities came, they attempted to corral devotees away from the tree. They accosted De Zoysa, and De Zoysa challenged them to arrest him. He invested much of his own money into the project, and created pilgrimage facilities for worshippers.[4]

Business ventures

De Zoysa was a successful businessman having a diverse array of ventures. During law school he earned money by tutoring, and used his first earnings to buy a buggy cart. He later reminisced that "I gifted this to my father, who blessed me for this act of love and generosity. I perceived that this gift I gave my father brought him immense joy. Likewise this brought me too unforgettable joy.”[2] In 1942, he established the South Western Bus Company, which was reconstituted as the South Western Omnibus Company Limited in 1952. It was nationalized in 1958, when the Ceylon Transport Board was formed. He established Associated Motorways Limited in 1949, which is one of the largest conglomerates of Ceylon. It used to manufacture Sisil refrigerators and motor vehicle tyres. He also established Associated Rubber Industries, Associated Batteries, Associated Vacu-lat and Associated Cables.[9][6]

Political career

De Zoysa was the Chairman of the Kalutara Urban Council and was elected to the Senate of Ceylon in 1947. He was elected Deputy President and Chairman of Committees in 1951 and served till 1955. He was elected President of the Senate of Ceylon in 1955 succeeding Sir Nicholas Attygalle and served till his retirement in 1961. He was made a Knights Bachelor in the 1955 Birthday Honours.[4][6]

References

1. He owned much but gave away even more Sunday Times - 20 May 2007
2. A tireless servant of the Dhamma Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Colombo Daily News - 27 October 2007
3. Sir Cyril de Zoysa’s contribution to uplifting Buddha Sasana
4. Sir Cyril De Zoysa - Buddhist devotee and philanthropist Archived 5 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Sunday Observer - 20 October 2002
5. Sir Cyril de Zoysa - a noble personality Archived 28 January 2007 at the Wayback Machine Colombo Daily News - 7 January 2003
6. Wijenayake, Walter. "Sir Cyril de Zoysa – a personality of courage". Island. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
7. Sir Cyril - great Buddhist and exemplary philanthropist Rootsweb - 23 October 2003
8. Gateway to the South Archived 17 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine Colombo Daily News - 2 January 2006
9. Al-Futtaim acquires majority stake in leading Sri Lankan public company Archived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine Manufacturing Business Technology - 27 July 2008

External links

• 105th Commemoration of Sir Cyril de Zoysa
• Sir Cyril de Zoysa by Ven. Kosgoda Siri Sudhamma Thera
• Sir Cyril - great Buddhist and exemplary philanthropist, by Ven. Weligama Gnanaratana Maha Nayake Thera
• Gateway to the South, BY PRASAD Abu Bakr
• Amara Samara in Sinhala
• Sir Cyril de Zoysa in Sinhala 1
• Sir Cyril de Zoysa in Sinhala 2
• Sir Cyril de Zoysa, the great Buddhist devotee

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Barlaam and Josaphat
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/13/21

The strange parallel between Buddhistic ritual, discipline, and costume, and those which especially claim the name of CATHOLIC in the Christian Church, has been often noticed; and though the parallel has never been elaborated as it might be, some of the more salient facts are familiar to most readers. Still many may be unaware that Buddha himself, Siddhárta the son of Súddodhana, has found his way into the Roman martyrology as a Saint of the Church.

In the first edition a mere allusion was made to this singular story, for it had recently been treated by Professor Max Müller, with characteristic learning and grace. (See Contemporary Review for July, 1870, p. 588.) But the matter is so curious and still so little familiar that I now venture to give it at some length.

The religious romance called the History of BARLAAM and JOSAPHAT was for several centuries one of the most popular works in Christendom. It was translated into all the chief European languages, including Scandinavian and Sclavonic tongues. An Icelandic version dates from the year 1204; one in the Tagal language of the Philippines was printed at Manilla in 1712.[2] The episodes and apologues with which the story abounds have furnished materials to poets and story-tellers in various ages and of very diverse characters; e.g. to Giovanni Boccaccio, John Gower, and to the compiler of the Gesta Romanorum, to Shakspere, and to the late W. Adams, author of the Kings Messengers. The basis of this romance is the story of Siddhárta.

The story of Barlaam and Josaphat first appears among the works (in Greek) of St. John of Damascus, a theologian of the early part of the 8th century, who, before he devoted himself to divinity had held high office at the Court of the Khalif Abu Jáfar Almansúr. The outline of the story is as follows:—

St. Thomas had converted the people of India to the truth; and after the eremitic life originated in Egypt many in India adopted it. But a potent pagan King arose, by name ABENNER, who persecuted the Christians and especially the ascetics. After this King had long been childless, a son, greatly desired, is born to him, a boy of matchless beauty. The King greatly rejoices, gives the child the name of JOSAPHAT, and summons the astrologers to predict his destiny. They foretell for the prince glory and prosperity beyond all his predecessors in the kingdom. One sage, most learned of all, assents to this, but declares that the scene of these glories will not be the paternal realm, and that the child will adopt the faith that his father persecutes.

This prediction greatly troubled King Abenner. In a secluded city he caused a splendid palace to be erected, within which his son was to abide, attended only by tutors and servants in the flower of youth and health. No one from without was to have access to the prince; and he was to witness none of the afflictions of humanity, poverty, disease, old age, or death, but only what was pleasant, so that he should have no inducement to think of the future life; nor was he ever to hear a word of CHRIST or His religion. And, hearing that some monks still survived in India, the King in his wrath ordered that any such, who should be found after three days, should be burnt alive.

The Prince grows up in seclusion, acquires all manner of learning, and exhibits singular endowments of wisdom and acuteness. At last he urges his father to allow him to pass the limits of the palace, and this the King reluctantly permits, after taking all precautions to arrange diverting spectacles, and to keep all painful objects at a distance. Or let us proceed in the Old English of the Golden Legend.[3] "Whan his fader herde this he was full of sorowe, and anone he let do make redy horses and joyfull felawshyp to accompany him, in suche wyse that nothynge dyshonest sholde happen to hym. And on a tyme thus as the Kynges sone wente he mette a mesell and a blynde man, and whã he sawe them he was abasshed and enquyred what them eyled. And his seruautes sayd: These ben passions that comen to men. And he demaunded yf the passyons came to all men. And they sayd nay. Thã sayd he, ben they knowen whiche men shall suffre…. And they answered, Who is he that may knowe ye aduentures of men. And he began to be moche anguysshous for ye incustomable thynge hereof. And another tyme he found a man moche aged, whiche had his chere frouced, his tethe fallen, and he was all croked for age…. And thã he demaunded what sholde be ye ende. And they sayd deth…. And this yonge man remembered ofte in his herte these thynges, and was in grete dyscõforte, but he shewed hy moche glad tofore his fader, and he desyred moche to be enformed and taught in these thyges." [Fol. ccc. lii.]

At this time BARLAAM, a monk of great sanctity and knowledge in divine things, who dwelt in the wilderness of Sennaritis, having received a divine warning, travels to India in the disguise of a merchant, and gains access to Prince Josaphat, to whom he unfolds the Christian doctrine and the blessedness of the monastic life. Suspicion is raised against Barlaam, and he departs. But all efforts to shake the Prince's convictions are vain. As a last resource the King sends for a magician called Theudas, who removes the Prince's attendants and substitutes seductive girls, but all their blandishments are resisted through prayer. The King abandons these attempts and associates his son with himself in the government. The Prince uses his power to promote religion, and everything prospers in his hand. Finally King Abenner is drawn to the truth, and after some years of penitence dies. Josaphat then surrenders the kingdom to a friend called Barachias, and proceeds into the wilderness, where he wanders for two years seeking Barlaam, and much buffeted by the demons. "And whan Balaam had accomplysshed his dayes, he rested in peas about ye yere of Our Lorde. cccc. &. Ixxx. Josaphat lefte his realme the xxv. yere of his age, and ledde the lyfe of an heremyte xxxv. yere, and than rested in peas full of vertues, and was buryed by the body of Balaam." [Fol. ccc. lvi.] The King Barachias afterwards arrives and transfers the bodies solemnly to India.

This is but the skeleton of the story, but the episodes and apologues which round its dimensions, and give it its mediaeval popularity, do not concern our subject. In this skeleton the story of Siddhárta, mutatis mutandis is obvious.

The story was first popular in the Greek Church, and was embodied in the lives of the saints, as recooked by Simeon the Metaphrast, an author whose period is disputed, but was in any case not later than 1150. A Cretan monk called Agapios made selections from the work of Simeon which were published in Romaic at Venice in 1541 under the name of the Paradise, and in which the first section consists of the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. This has been frequently reprinted as a popular book of devotion. A copy before me is printed at Venice in 1865.[4]

From the Greek Church the history of the two saints passed to the Latin, and they found a place in the Roman martyrology under the 27th November. When this first happened I have not been able to ascertain. Their history occupies a large space in the Speculum Historiale of Vincent of Beauvais, written in the 13th century, and is set forth, as we have seen, in the Golden Legend of nearly the same age. They are recognised by Baronius, and are to be found at p. 348 of "The Roman Martyrology set forth by command of Pope Gregory XIII., and revised by the authority of Pope Urban VIII., translated out of Latin into English by G.K. of the Society of Jesus…. and now re-edited … by W.N. Skelly, Esq. London, T. Richardson & Son." (Printed at Derby, 1847.) Here in Palermo is a church bearing the dedication Divo Iosaphat.

Professor Müller attributes the first recognition of the identity of the two stories to M. Laboulaye in 1859. But in fact I find that the historian de Couto had made the discovery long before.[5] He says, speaking of Budão (Buddha), and after relating his history:

"To this name the Gentiles throughout all India have dedicated great and superb pagodas. With reference to this story we have been diligent in enquiring if the ancient Gentiles of those parts had in their writings any knowledge of St. Josaphat who was converted by Barlam, who in his Legend is represented as the son of a great King of India, and who had just the same up-bringing, with all the same particulars, that we have recounted of the life of the Budão…. And as a thing seems much to the purpose, which was told us by a very old man of the Salsette territory in Baçaim, about Josaphat, I think it well to cite it: As I was travelling in the Isle of Salsette, and went to see that rare and admirable Pagoda (which we call the Canará Pagoda[6]) made in a mountain, with many halls cut out of one solid rock … and enquiring from this old man about the work, and what he thought as to who had made it, he told us that without doubt the work was made by order of the father of St. Josaphat to bring him up therein in seclusion, as the story tells. And as it informs us that he was the son of a great King in India, it may well be, as we have just said, that he was the Budão, of whom they relate such marvels." (Dec. V. liv. vi. cap. 2.)

Dominie Valentyn, not being well read in the Golden Legend, remarks on the subject of Buddha: "There be some who hold this Budhum for a fugitive Syrian Jew, or for an Israelite, others who hold him for a Disciple of the Apostle Thomas; but how in that case he could have been born 622 years before Christ I leave them to explain. Diego de Couto stands by the belief that he was certainly Joshua, which is still more absurd!" (V. deel, p. 374.)

[Since the days of Couto, who considered the Buddhist legend but an imitation of the Christian legend, the identity of the stories was recognised (as mentioned supra) by M. Edouard Laboulaye, in the Journal des Débats of the 26th of July, 1859. About the same time, Professor F. Liebrecht of Liége, in Ebert's Jahrbuch für Romanische und Englische Literatur, II. p. 314 seqq., comparing the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph with the work of Barthélemy St. Hilaire on Buddha, arrived at the same conclusion.

In 1880, Professor T.W. Rhys Davids has devoted some pages (xxxvi.-xli.) in his Buddhist Birth Stories; or, Jataka Tales, to The Barlaam and Josaphat Literature, and we note from them that: "Pope Sixtus the Fifth (1585-1590) authorised a particular Martyrologium, drawn up by Cardinal Baronius, to be used throughout the Western Church.". In that work are included not only the saints first canonised at Rome, but all those who, having been already canonised elsewhere, were then acknowledged by the Pope and the College of Rites to be saints of the Catholic Church of Christ. Among such, under the date of the 27th of November, are included "The holy Saints Barlaam and Josaphat, of India, on the borders of Persia, whose wonderful acts Saint John of Damascus has described. Where and when they were first canonised, I have been unable, in spite of much investigation, to ascertain. Petrus de Natalibus, who was Bishop of Equilium, the modern Jesolo, near Venice, from 1370 to 1400, wrote a Martyrology called Catalogus Sanctorum; and in it, among the 'Saints,' he inserts both Barlaam and Josaphat, giving also a short account of them derived from the old Latin translation of St. John of Damascus. It is from this work that Baronius, the compiler of the authorised Martyrology now in use, took over the names of these two saints, Barlaam and Josaphat. But, so far as I have been able to ascertain, they do not occur in any martyrologies or lists of saints of the Western Church older than that of Petrus de Natalibus. In the corresponding manual of worship still used in the Greek Church, however, we find, under 26th August, the name 'of the holy Iosaph, son of Abener, King of India.' Barlaam is not mentioned, and is not therefore recognised as a saint in the Greek Church. No history is added to the simple statement I have quoted; and I do not know on what authority it rests. But there is no doubt that it is in the East, and probably among the records of the ancient church of Syria, that a final solution of this question should be sought. Some of the more learned of the numerous writers who translated or composed new works on the basis of the story of Josaphat, have pointed out in their notes that he had been canonised; and the hero of the romance is usually called St. Josaphat in the titles of these works, as will be seen from the Table of the Josaphat literature below. But Professor Liebrecht, when identifying Josaphat with the Buddha, took no notice of this; and it was Professor Max Müller, who has done so much to infuse the glow of life into the dry bones of Oriental scholarship, who first pointed out the strange fact—almost incredible, were it not for the completeness of the proof—that Gotama the Buddha, under the name of St. Josaphat, is now officially recognised and honoured and worshipped throughout the whole of Catholic Christendom as a Christian saint!" Professor T.W. Rhys Davids gives further a Bibliography, pp. xcv.-xcvii.

M.H. Zotenberg wrote a learned memoir (N. et Ext. XXVIII. Pt. I.) in 1886 to prove that the Greek Text is not a translation but the original of the Legend. There are many MSS. of the Greek Text of the Book of Barlaam and Joasaph in Paris, Vienna, Munich, etc., including ten MSS. kept in various libraries at Oxford. New researches made by Professor E. Kuhn, of Munich (Barlaam und Joasaph. Eine Bibliographisch-literargeschichtliche Studie, 1893), seem to prove that during the 6th century, in that part of the Sassanian Empire bordering on India, in fact Afghanistan, Buddhism and Christianity were gaining ground at the expense of the Zoroastrian faith, and that some Buddhist wrote in Pehlevi a Book of Yûdâsaf (Bodhisatva); a Christian, finding pleasant the legend, made an adaptation of it from his own point of view, introducing the character of the monk Balauhar (Barlaam) to teach his religion to Yûdâsaf, who could not, in his Christian disguise, arrive at the truth by himself like a Bodhisatva. This Pehlevi version of the newly-formed Christian legend was translated into Syriac, and from Syriac was drawn a Georgian version, and, in the first half of the 7th century, the Greek Text of John, a monk of the convent of St. Saba, near Jerusalem, by some turned into St. John of Damascus, who added to the story some long theological discussions. From this Greek, it was translated into all the known languages of Europe, while the Pehlevi version being rendered into Arabic, was adapted by the Mussulmans and the Jews to their own creeds. (H. Zotenberg, Mém. sur le texte et les versions orientales du Livre de Barlaam et Joasaph, Not. et Ext. XXVIII. Pt. I. pp. 1-166; G. Paris, Saint Josaphat in Rev. de Paris, 1'er Juin, 1895, and Poèmes et Légendes du Moyen Age, pp. 181-214.)

Mr. Joseph Jacobs published in London, 1896, a valuable little book, Barlaam and Josaphat, English Lives of Buddha, in which he comes to this conclusion (p. xli.): "I regard the literary history of the Barlaam literature as completely parallel with that of the Fables of Bidpai. Originally Buddhistic books, both lost their specifically Buddhistic traits before they left India, and made their appeal, by their parables, more than by their doctrines. Both were translated into Pehlevi in the reign of Chosroes, and from that watershed floated off into the literatures of all the great creeds. In Christianity alone, characteristically enough, one of them, the Barlaam book, was surcharged with dogma, and turned to polemical uses, with the curious result that Buddha became one of the champions of the Church. To divest the Barlaam-Buddha of this character, and see him in his original form, we must take a further journey and seek him in his home beyond the Himalayas."

[Illustration: Sakya Muni as a Saint of the Roman Martyrology. "Wie des Kunigs Son in dem aufscziechen am ersten sahe in dem Weg eynen blinden und eyn aufsmörckigen und eyen alten krummen Man."[7]]

Professor Gaston Paris, in answer to Mr. Jacobs, writes (Poèmes et Lég. du Moyen Age, p. 213): "Mr. Jacobs thinks that the Book of Balauhar and Yûdâsaf was not originally Christian, and could have existed such as it is now in Buddhistic India, but it is hardly likely, as Buddha did not require the help of a teacher to find truth, and his followers would not have invented the person of Balauhar-Barlaam; on the other hand, the introduction of the Evangelical Parable of The Sower, which exists in the original of all the versions of our Book, shows that this original was a Christian adaptation of the Legend of Buddha. Mr. Jacobs seeks vainly to lessen the force of this proof in showing that this Parable has parallels in Buddhistic literature."—H.C.]

-- The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition

A Christian depiction of Josaphat, 12th century manuscript

Barlaam and Josaphat are legendary Christian martyrs and saints. Their life story is very likely to have been based on the life of the Gautama Buddha.[1] It tells how an Indian king persecuted the Christian Church in his realm. When astrologers predicted that his own son would some day become a Christian, the king imprisoned the young prince Josaphat, who nevertheless met the hermit Saint Barlaam and converted to Christianity. After much tribulation the young prince's father accepted the Christian faith, turned over his throne to Josaphat, and retired to the desert to become a hermit. Josaphat himself later abdicated and went into seclusion with his old teacher Barlaam.[2] The tale derives from a second to fourth century Sanskrit Mahayana Buddhist text, via a Manichaean version,[3] then the Arabic Kitāb Bilawhar wa-Būd̠āsaf (Book of Bilawhar and Budhasaf), current in Baghdad in the eighth century, from where it entered into Middle Eastern Christian circles before appearing in European versions. The two were entered in the Eastern Orthodox calendar with a feast-day on 26 August,[4] and in the Roman Martyrology in the Western Church as "Barlaam and Josaphat" on the date of 27 November.[5]

Background: the Buddha


Depiction of a parable from Barlaam and Josaphat at the Baptistery of Parma, Italy

The story of Barlaam and Josaphat or Joasaph is a Christianized and later version of the story of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha.[6] In the Middle Ages the two were treated as Christian saints, being entered in the Greek Orthodox calendar on 26 August,[4] and in the Roman Martyrology in the Western Church as "Barlaam and Josaphat" on the date of 27 November.[5] In the Slavic tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church, these two are commemorated on 19 November (corresponding to 2 December on the Gregorian calendar).[7][8]

The first Christianized adaptation was the Georgian epic Balavariani dating back to the 10th century. A Georgian monk, Euthymius of Athos, translated the story into Greek, some time before he died in an accident while visiting Constantinople in 1028.[9] There the Greek adaptation was translated into Latin in 1048 and soon became well known in Western Europe as Barlaam and Josaphat.[10] The Greek legend of "Barlaam and Ioasaph" is sometimes attributed to the 7th century John of Damascus, but Conybeare argued it was transcribed by the Georgian monk Euthymius in the 11th century.[11]

The story of Barlaam and Josaphat was popular in the Middle Ages, appearing in such works as the Golden Legend, and a scene there involving three caskets eventually appeared, via Caxton's English translation of a Latin version, in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice".[12] The poet Chardri produced an Anglo-Norman version, La vie de seint Josaphaz, in the 13th century.

Two Middle High German versions were produced: one, the "Laubacher Barlaam", by Bishop Otto II of Freising and another, Barlaam und Josaphat, a romance in verse, by Rudolf von Ems. The latter was described as "perhaps the flower of religious literary creativity in the German Middle Ages" by Heinrich Heine.[13]

The story of Josaphat was re-told as an exploration of free will[14] and the seeking of inner peace through meditation in the 17th century.[citation needed]

The legend

According to the legend, King Abenner or Avenier in India persecuted the Christian Church in his realm, founded by the Apostle Thomas. When astrologers predicted that his own son would some day become a Christian, Abenner had the young prince Josaphat isolated from external contact. Despite the imprisonment, Josaphat met the hermit Saint Barlaam and converted to Christianity. Josaphat kept his faith even in the face of his father's anger and persuasion. Eventually Abenner converted, turned over his throne to Josaphat, and retired to the desert to become a hermit. Josaphat himself later abdicated and went into seclusion with his old teacher Barlaam.[2]

Name

Ioasaph (Georgian Iodasaph, Arabic Yūdhasaf or Būdhasaf) is derived from the Sanskrit Bodhisattva.[5][6][15] The Sanskrit word was changed to Bodisav in Persian texts in the 6th or 7th century, then to Budhasaf or Yudasaf in an 8th-century Arabic document (possibly Arabic initial "b" ﺑ changed to "y" ﻳ by duplication of a dot in handwriting).[16] This became Iodasaph in Georgia in the 10th century, and that name was adapted as Ioasaph in Greece in the 11th century, and then was assimilated to Iosaphat/Josaphat in Latin.[17]

Feast day

Although Barlaam and Josaphat were never formally canonized, they were included in earlier editions of the Roman Martyrology (feast day 27 November)[18][19] — though not in the Roman Missal — and in the Eastern Orthodox Church liturgical calendar (26 August in Greek tradition etc.[4] / 19 November in Russian tradition).[7][8]

Texts


A page from the 1896 edition by Joseph Jacobs at the University of Toronto (Click on image to read the book)

There are a large number of different books in various languages, all dealing with the lives of Saints Barlaam and Josaphat in India. In this hagiographic tradition, the life and teachings of Josaphat have many parallels with those of the Buddha. "But not till the mid-nineteenth century was it recognised that, in Josaphat, the Buddha had been venerated as a Christian saint for about a thousand years."[20] The authorship of the work is disputed. The origins of the story seem to be a Central Asian manuscript written in the Manichaean tradition. This book was translated into Georgian and Arabic.

Greek manuscripts

The best-known version in Europe comes from a separate, but not wholly independent, source, written in Greek, and, although anonymous, attributed to a monk named John. It was only considerably later that the tradition arose that this was John of Damascus, but most scholars no longer accept this attribution. Instead much evidence points to Euthymius of Athos, a Georgian who died in 1028.[21]

The modern edition of the Greek text, from the 160 surviving variant manuscripts (2006), with introduction (German, 2009) is published as Volume 6 of the works of John the Damascene by the monks of the Abbey of Scheyern, edited by Robert Volk. It was included in the edition due to the traditional ascription, but marked "spuria" as the translator is the Georgian monk Euthymius the Hagiorite (ca. 955–1028) at Mount Athos and not John the Damascene of the monastery of Saint Sabas in the Judaean Desert. The 2009 introduction includes an overview.[22]

English manuscripts

Among the manuscripts in English, two of the most important are the British Museum MS Egerton 876 (the basis for Ikegami's book) and MS Peterhouse 257 (the basis for Hirsh's book) at the University of Cambridge. The book contains a tale similar to The Three Caskets found in the Gesta Romanorum and later in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.[21]

Editions

Arabic

• E. Rehatsek – The Book of the King's Son and the Ascetic – English translation (1888) based on the Halle Arabic manuscript
• Gimaret – Le livre de Bilawhar et Budasaf – French translation of Bombay Arabic manuscript

Georgian

• David Marshall Lang: The Balavariani: A Tale from the Christian East California University Press: Los Angeles, 1966. Translation of the long version Georgian work that probably served as a basis for the Greek text. Jerusalem MS140
• David Marshall Lang: Wisdom of Balahvar – the short Georgian version Jerusalem MS36, 1960
• The Balavariani (Georgian and Arabic ბალავარიანი, بلوریانی)

Greek


First page of the Barlam and Josephat manuscript at the Biblioteca Nacional de España, 14th or 15th century

• Robert Volk, Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos VI/1: Historia animae utilis de Barlaam et Ioasaph (spuria). Patristische Texte und Studien Bd. 61. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2009. Pp. xlii, 596. ISBN 978-3-11-019462-3.
• Robert Volk, Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos VI/2: Historia animae utilis de Barlaam et Ioasaph (spuria). Text und zehn Appendices. Patristische Texte und Studien Bd. 60. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2006. Pp. xiv, 512. ISBN 978-3-11-018134-0.
• Boissonade – older edition of the Greek
• G.R. Woodward and H. Mattingly – older English translation of the Greek Online Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1914
• S. Ioannis Damasceni Historia, de vitis et rebvs gestis SS. Barlaam Eremitae, & Iosaphat Indiæ regis. Iacobo Billio Prunæo, S. Michaëlis in eremo Cœnobiarcha interprete. Coloniae, In Officina Birckmannica, sumptibus Arnoldi Mylij. Anno M. D. XCIII. – Modern Latin translation of the Greek.
• Vitæ et res gestæ SS. Barlaam eremitæ, et Iosaphat Indiæ regis. S. Io. Damasceno avctores, Iac. Billio Prunæo interprete. Antverpiæ, Sumptibus Viduæ & hæredum Ioannis Belleri. 1602. – Modern Latin translation of the Greek.
• S. Ioannis Damasceni Historia, de vitis et rebvs gestis SS. Barlaam Eremitæ, & Iosaphat Indiæ regis. Iacobo Billio Prvnæo, S. Michaëlis in eremo Cœnobiarcha, interprete. Nune denuò accuratissimè à P. Societate Iesv revisa & correcta. Coloniæ Agrippinæ, Apud Iodocvm Kalcoven, M. DC. XLIII. – Modern Latin translation of the Greek.

Latin

• Codex VIII B10, Naples

Ethiopic

• Baralâm and Yĕwâsĕf. Budge, E.A. Wallis. Baralam and Yewasef : the Ethiopic version of a Christianized recension of the Buddhist legend of the Buddha and the Bodhisattva. Published: London; New York: Kegan Paul; Biggleswade, UK: Distributed by Extenza-Turpin Distribution; New York: Distributed by Columbia University Press, 2004.

Old French

• Jean Sonet, Le roman de Barlaam et Josaphat (Namur, 1949–52) after Tours MS949
• Leonard Mills, after Vatican MS660
• Zotenberg and Meyer, after Gui de Cambrai MS1153

Catalan

• Gerhard Moldenhauer Vida de Barlan MS174

Provencal

• Ferdinand Heuckenkamp, version in langue d'Oc
• Jeanroy, Provençal version, after Heuckenkamp
• Nelli, Troubadours, after Heuckenkamp
• Occitan, BN1049

Italian

• G.B. Bottari, edition of various old Italian MS.
• Georg Maas, old Italian MS3383

Portuguese

• Hilário da Lourinhã. Vida do honorado Infante Josaphate, filho del Rey Avenir, versão de frei Hilário da Lourinhã: e a identificação, por Diogo do Couto (1542–1616), de Josaphate com o Buda. Introduction and notes by Margarida Corrêa de Lacerda. Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, 1963.

Serbian

• "Barlaam and Josaphat" in the Eastern Orthodox version comes from John of Damascus, copied and translated into Old Church Slavonic by anonymous monk-scribes from the 9th-11th centuries, and in modern Serbian by Ava Justin Popović ("Lives of the Saints" for November, pp. 563-590), an abridged version of which is given in the Ohrid Prologue of Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović.

English

• Hirsh, John C. (editor). Barlam and Iosaphat: a Middle English life of Buddha. Edited from MS Peterhouse 257. London; New York: Published for the Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-19-722292-7
• Ikegami, Keiko. Barlaam and Josaphat : a transcription of MS Egerton 876 with notes, glossary, and comparative study of the Middle English and Japanese versions, New York: AMS Press, 1999. ISBN 0-404-64161-X
• John Damascene, Barlaam and Ioasaph (Loeb Classical Library). David M. Lang (introduction), G. R. Woodward (translator), Harold Mattingly (translator)• Publisher: Loeb Classical Library, W. Heinemann; 1967, 1914. ISBN 0-674-99038-2
• MacDonald, K.S. (editor). The story of Barlaam and Joasaph : Buddhism & Christianity. With philological introduction and notes to the Vernon, Harleian and Bodleian versions, by John Morrison. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1895.

Old Norse

Further information: Barlaams saga ok Jósafats

• Magnus Rindal (editor). Barlaams ok Josaphats saga. Oslo: Published for Kjeldeskriftfondet by Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-insitutt, 1981. ISBN 82-7061-275-8
• Keyser, R.; Unger, C. R. (1851). Barlaams ok Josaphats saga: En religiös romantisk fortælling om Barlaam og Josaphat. Christiania.

Tibetan

• Rgya Tch'er Rol Pa – ou: Développement des jeux, Philippe Édouard Foucaux (1811–1894) 1847. Lalitavistara

Hebrew

• Avraham ben Shmuel ha-Levi Ibn Hasdai, Ben hammelekh vehannazir (13th century)
• Habermann, Avraham Meir (ed.), Avraham ben Hasdai, Ben hammelekh vehannazir, Jerusalem: Mahberot lesifrut – Mossad haRav Kook 1950 (in Hebrew).
• Abraham ben Shemuel Halevi ibn Hasdai, Ben hamelekh vehanazir, Ed. by Ayelet Oettinger, Universitat Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv 2011 (in Hebrew).

See also

• Gautama Buddha in world religions
• Thomas the Apostle
• Buddhism and Christianity
• Josaphat (disambiguation)
• Barlaams saga ok Jósafats
• Greco-Buddhism
• Life is a Dream, Spanish play incorporating the theme of the imprisoned prince

Notes and references

1. John Walbridge The Wisdom of the Mystic East: Suhrawardī and Platonic Orientalism Page 129 – 2001 "The form Būdhīsaf is the original, as shown by Sogdian form Pwtysfi and the early New Persian form Bwdysf. ... On the Christian versions see A. S. Geden, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, s.v. "Josaphat, Barlaam and," and M. P. Alfaric, ..."
2. The Golden Legend: The Story of Barlaam and Josaphat Archived 16 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine
3. Wilson, Joseph (2009). "The Life of the Saint and the Animal: Asian Religious Influence in the Medieval Christian West". The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture. 3 (2): 169–194. doi:10.1558/jsrnc.v3i2.169. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
4. Great Synaxaristes (in Greek): Ὁ Ὅσιος Ἰωάσαφ γιὸς τοῦ βασιλιὰ τῆς Ἰνδίας Ἄβενιρ. 26 Αυγούστου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
5. Macdonnel, Arthur Anthony (1900). " Sanskrit Literature and the West.". A History of Sanskrit Literature. New York: D. Appleton and Co. p. 420.
6. Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Barlaam and Josaphat" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
7. November 19/December 2 Archived 1 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Orthodox Calendar (Pravoslavie.ru).
8. Venerable Joasaph the Prince of India. OCA – Feasts and Saints.
9. "St. Euthymius of Athos the translator", Orthodox Church in America
10. William Cantwell Smith, "Towards a World Theology" (1981)
11. F.C. Conybeare, "The Barlaam and Josaphat Legend in the Ancient Georgian and Armenian Literatures" (Gorgias Press)
12. Sangharakshita, "From Genesis to the Diamond Sutra – A Western Buddhist's Encounters with Christianity" (Windhorse Publications, 2005), p.165
13. Die Blüte der heiligen Dichtkunst im deutschen Mittelalter ist vielleicht »Barlaam und Josaphat«... See Heinrich Heine, Die romantische Schule (Erstes Buch) at heinrich-heine.net. (in German).
14. Cañizares Ferriz, Patricia (1 January 2000). "La Historia de los dos soldados de Cristo, Barlaan y Josafat, traducida por Juan de Arce Solorzeno (Madrid 1608)" (PDF). Cuadernos de Filología Clásica. Estudios Latinos (in Spanish). 19: 260. ISSN 1988-2343. Retrieved 21 February 2021. y que ya en el s. XVI se convirtiera en un arma defensora de la validez de la vida monástica y del libre albedrío frente a la doctrina luterana. [and that, already in the 16th century, it would become a weapon defending the validity of monastic life and free will} against Lutheran doctrine.]
15. Kevin Trainor (ed), "Buddhism" (Duncan Baird Publishers, 2001), p. 24
16. Emmanuel Choisnel Les Parthes et la Route de la soie 2004 Page 202 "Le nom de Josaphat dérive, tout comme son associé Barlaam dans la légende, du mot Bodhisattva. Le terme Bodhisattva passa d'abord en pehlevi, puis en arabe, où il devint Budasaf. Étant donné qu'en arabe le "b" et le "y" ne different que ..."
17. D.M. Lang, The Life of the Blessed Iodasaph: A New Oriental Christian Version of the Barlaam and Ioasaph Romance (Jerusalem, Greek Patriarchal Library: Georgian MS 140), BSOAS 20.1/3 (1957):
18. Martyrologium Romanum 27 Novembris Apud Indos, Persis finitimos, sanctorum Barlaam et Josaphat, quorum actus mirandos sanctus Joannes Damascenus conscripsit.
19. Emmanuel Choisnel Les Parthes et la Route de la soie 2004 – Page 202 "Dans l'Église grecque orthodoxe, Saint Josaphat a été fêté le 26 août et, dans l'Église romaine, le 27 novembre a été la ... D. M. Lang, auteur du chapitre « Iran, Armenia and Georgia » dans la Cambridge History of Iran, estime pour sa part ..."
20. Barlaam and Ioasaph, John Damascene, Loeb Classical Library 34, Introduction by David M. Lang
21. Barlaam and Ioasaph, John Damascene, Loeb Classical Library 34, at LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
22. Pieter W. van der Horst, Utrecht – Review of 2006/2009 Robert Volk edition

External links

• Asmussen, J. P. (1988). "BARLAAM AND IOSAPH". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 8. p. 801.
• Barlaam and Ioasaph (Legend in form attributed to St John of Damascus)
• "Barlaam and Josaphat" . Catholic Encyclopedia. 1913.
• Barlaam and Josaphat in Jewish Encyclopedia
• Barlaam et Josaphat. Augsburg, Günther Zainer, ca. 1476. From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress
• "Barlaam and Josaphat" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.

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Mahavamsa
by Wikipedia
Accessed: 3/13/21

Highlights:

The contents of the Mahavamsa can be broadly divided into four categories:[2]

The Buddha's Visits to Sri Lanka: This material recounts three legendary visits by the Buddha to the island of Sri Lanka. These stories describe the Buddha subduing or driving away the Yakkhas (Yakshas) and Nagas that were inhabiting the island and delivering a prophecy that Sri Lanka will become an important Buddhist center. These visits are not mentioned in the Pali Canon or other early sources….

Genealogies and lineages of kings of Sri Lanka... This material may have been derived from earlier royal chronicles and king lists that were recorded orally in vernacular languages…

History of the Buddhist Sangha: This section of the Mahavamsa deals with the mission sent by Emperor Ashoka to Sri Lanka, the transplantation of the bodhi tree, and the founding of the Mahavihara. It includes the names of prominent monks and nuns in the early Sri Lankan sangha. It also includes accounts of the early Buddhist councils and the first recording of the Pali canon in writing….

Chronicles of Sri Lanka…

Authorship of the Mahavamsa is attributed to a monk called Mahānāma by the Mahavamsa-tika. Mahānāma is described as residing in a monastery belonging to general Dighasanda and affiliated with the Mahavihara…

A companion volume, the Culavamsa "Lesser Chronicle", compiled by Sinhala monks, covers the period from the 4th century to the British takeover of Sri Lanka in 1815. The Culavamsa was compiled by a number of authors of different time periods…

The combined work, [is] sometimes referred to collectively as the Mahavamsa…

It is very important in dating the consecration of the Maurya Emperor Ashoka…

The Mahavamsa first came to the attention of Western readers around 1809 CE, when Sir Alexander Johnston, Chief Justice of the British colony in Ceylon, sent manuscripts of it and other Sri Lankan chronicles to Europe for publication. Eugène Burnouf produced a Romanized transliteration and translation into Latin in 1826... Working from Johnston's manuscripts, Edward Upham published an English translation in 1833, but it was marked by a number of errors in translation and interpretation, among them suggesting that the Buddha was born in Sri Lanka and built a monastery atop Adam's Peak. The first printed edition and widely read English translation was published in 1837 by George Turnour, an historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service…

Historiographical sources are rare in much of South Asia…

The Mahavamsa has, especially in modern Sri Lanka, acquired a significance as a document with a political message. The Sinhalese majority often use Manavamsa as a proof of their claim that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation from historical time…

Early Western scholars like Otto Franke dismissed the possibility that the Mahavamsa contained reliable historical content…

Wilhelm Geiger was one of the first Western scholars to suggest that it was possible to separate useful historical information from the mythic and poetic elaborations of the chronicle…. Geiger hypothesized that the Mahavamsa had been based on earlier Sinhala sources that originated on the island of Ceylon. While Geiger did not believe that the details provided with every story and name were reliable, he broke from earlier scholars in believing that the Mahavamsa faithfully reflected an earlier tradition that had preserved the names and deeds of various royal and religious leaders, rather than being a pure work of heroic literary fiction. He regarded the early chapters of the Culavamsa as the most accurate, with the early chapters of the Mahavamsa being too remote historically and the later sections of the Culavamsa marked by excessive elaboration.

Geiger's Sinhala student G. C. Mendis was more openly skeptical about certain portions of the text, specifically citing the story of the Sinhala ancestor Vijaya as being too remote historically from its source and too similar to an epic poem or other literary creation to be seriously regarded as history. The date of Vijaya's arrival is thought to have been artificially fixed to coincide with the date for the death of Gautama Buddha around 543 BCE. The Chinese pilgrims Fa Hsien and Hsuan Tsang both recorded myths of the origins of the Sinhala people in their travels that varied significantly from the versions recorded in the Mahavamsa…

The story of the Buddha's three visits to Sri Lanka are not recorded in any source outside of the Mahavamsa tradition. Moreover, the genealogy of the Buddha recorded in the Mahavamsa describes him as being the product of four cross cousin marriages. Cross-cousin marriage is associated historically with the Dravidian people of southern India -- both Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhala practiced cross-cousin marriage historically -- but exogamous marriage was the norm in the regions of northern India associated with the life of the Buddha. No mention of cross-cousin marriage is found in earlier Buddhist sources…

The historical accuracy of Mahinda converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism is also debated. Hermann Oldenberg, a German scholar of Indology who has published studies on the Buddha and translated many Pali texts, considers this story a "pure invention". V. A. Smith (Author of Ashoka and Early history of India) also refers to this story as "a tissue of absurdities". V. A. Smith and Professor Hermann came to this conclusion due to Ashoka not mentioning the handing over of his son, Mahinda, to the temple to become a Buddhist missionary and Mahinda's role in converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism, in his 13th year Rock Edicts, particularly Rock-Edict XIII. Sources outside of Sri Lanka and the Mahavamsa tradition do not mention Mahinda as Ashoka's son….

The Mahavamsa is believed to have originated from an earlier chronicle known as the Dipavamsa... The Dipavamsa is much simpler and contains less information than the Mahavamsa and probably served as the nucleus of an oral tradition that was eventually incorporated into the written Mahavamsa.

Regarding the Vijaya legend, Dipavamsa has tried to be less super-natural than the later work, Mahavamsa in referring to the husband of the Kalinga-Vanga princess, ancestor of Vijya, as a man named Sinha who was an outlaw that attacked caravans en route. In the meantime, Sinha-bahu and Sinhasivali, as king and queen of the kingdom of Lala (Lata), "gave birth to twin sons, sixteen times." The eldest was Vijaya and the second was Sumitta. As Vijaya was of cruel and unseemly conduct, the enraged people requested the king to kill his son. But the king caused him and his seven hundred followers to leave the kingdom, and they landed in Sri Lanka, at a place called Tamba-panni, on the exact day when the Buddha passed into Maha Parinibbana.

-- Dipavamsa, by Wikipedia

The Dipavamsa is believed to have been the first Pali text composed entirely in Ceylon.

A subsequent work sometimes known as Culavamsa extends the Mahavamsa to cover the period from the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura (277–304 CE) until 1815, when the entire island was surrendered to the British throne. The Culavamsa contains three sections composed by five different authors (one anonymous) belonging to successive historical periods….

A commentary on the Mahavamsa, known as the Mahavamsa-tika, is believed to have been composed before the first additions composing the Culavamsa were written… This commentary provides explanations of ambiguous Pali terms used in the Mahavamsa, and in some cases adds additional details or clarifies differences between different versions of the Mahavamsa…

-- Mahavamsa, by Wikipedia

The identification of Raja Priyadarsin with Raja Asoka was based entirely upon Ceylonese Buddhist chronicles. Talboys Wheeler wrote in 1874, "The identification of Raja Priyadarsin of the Edicts with Raja Asoka of the Buddhist chronicles was first pointed out by Mr. Turnour who rested it upon a passage in the Dipavamsa. The late Prof. [Horace Hayman] Wilson objected to this identification."1 [History of India, Hindu, Buddhist and Brahmanical, 280.] Prof. Rhys Davids declared, "It is not too much to say that without the help of the Ceylon Books, the striking identification of the King Piyadassi of the edicts with the king Asoka of history would never have been made."2 [Buddhist India, 273.] But the Ceylon chronicles are admitted to be utterly worthless as history, and according to Wheeler, "the Buddhist chronicles might be dismissed as a monkish jumble of myths and names,3 [EHI, 171] and even Vincent Smith in the preface to his Asoka himself said, "I reject absolutely the Ceylonese chronology...... The undeserved credit given to the monks of Ceylon has been a great hindrance to the right understanding of ancient Indian history." And yet it is on such undeserved credit that the identity of Priyadarsin with Asoka Maurya rests to this day.

-- History of Classical Sanskrit Literature, by Kavyavinoda, Sahityaratnakara M. Krishnamachariar, M.A., M.I., Ph.D., Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of London (Of the Madras Judicial Service), Assisted by His Son M. Srinivasachariar, B.A., B.L., Advocate, Madras, 1937

Mahāvaṃsa
Type: Post-canonical text; Chronicle
Composition: 5th Century CE
Attribution: Mahānāma
Commentary: Mahavamsa-tika
PTS Abbreviation: Bv
Pāli literature

The Mahavamsa ("Great Chronicle", Pali Mahāvaṃsa) (5th century CE) is the meticulously kept historical chronicle of Sri Lanka written in the style of an epic poem written in the Pali language.[1] It relates the history of Sri Lanka from its legendary beginnings up to the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura (A.D. 302) covering the period between the arrival of Prince Vijaya from India in 543 BCE to his reign (277–304 CE) and later updated by different writers. It was composed by a Buddhist monk at the Mahavihara temple in Anuradhapura about the fifth century A.D.

Prince Vijaya (Sinhala: විජය කුමරු) was the traditional first Sinhalese king of Sri Lanka, mentioned in the Pali chronicles, including Mahavamsa. According to these chronicles, he is the first recorded King of Sri Lanka. His reign is traditionally dated to 543–505 BCE. According to the legends, he and several hundred of his followers came to Lanka after being expelled from an Indian kingdom. According to Mahavamsa, in Lanka, they defeated a Yakkha colony near to "Thammena" (Thambapanni) and displaced the island's original inhabitants (Yakkhas), from their city of "Sirisavatthu" with the support of princess Kuveni and established a kingdom and became ancestors of the modern Sinhalese people.

-- Prince Vijaya, by Wikipedia

Contents

The contents of the Mahavamsa can be broadly divided into four categories:[2]

• The Buddha's Visits to Sri Lanka: This material recounts three legendary visits by the Buddha to the island of Sri Lanka. These stories describe the Buddha subduing or driving away the Yakkhas (Yakshas) and Nagas that were inhabiting the island and delivering a prophecy that Sri Lanka will become an important Buddhist center. These visits are not mentioned in the Pali Canon or other early sources.
• Chronicles of Kings of Sri Lanka: This material consists of genealogies and lineages of kings of Sri Lanka, sometimes with stories about their succession or notable incidents in their reigns. This material may have been derived from earlier royal chronicles and king lists that were recorded orally in vernacular languages, and are a significant source of material about the history of Sri Lanka and nearby Indian kingdoms.
• History of the Buddhist Sangha: This section of the Mahavamsa deals with the mission sent by Emperor Ashoka to Sri Lanka, the transplantation of the bodhi tree, and the founding of the Mahavihara. It includes the names of prominent monks and nuns in the early Sri Lankan sangha. It also includes accounts of the early Buddhist councils and the first recording of the Pali canon in writing. This is a significant source of material about the development of the early Buddhist community, and includes the names of missionaries dispatched to various regions of South and Southeast Asia, some of which have been confirmed by inscriptions and other archaeological evidence.
• Chronicles of Sri Lanka: This material begins with the immigration of Prince Vijaya from India with his retinue and continues until the reign of King Mahasena, recounting wars, succession disputes, building of stupas and reliquaries, and other notable incidents. An extensive chronicle of the war between the Sinhala King Dutthagamani and Tamil invader, and later king, Elara (861 verses in the Mahavamsa compared with 13 verses in the Dipavamsa) may represent the incorporation of a popular epic from the vernacular tradition.[2]

While much of the contents of the Mahavamsa is derived from expansions of the material found in the Dipavamsa, several passages specifically dealing with the Abhayagiri vihara are omitted, suggesting that the Mahavamsa was more specifically associated with the Mahavihara.[2]

History

Buddhist monks of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya maintained chronicles of Sri Lankan history starting from the third century BCE. These annals were combined and compiled into a single document in the 5th Century while Dhatusena of Anuradhapura was ruling the Anuradhapura Kingdom. It was written based on prior ancient compilations known as the Atthakatha (sometimes Sinhalaatthakatha), which were commentaries written in Sinhala.[3] An earlier document known as the Dipavamsa (4th century CE) "Island Chronicles" is much simpler and contains less information than the Mahavamsa and was probably compiled using the Atthakatha on the Mahavamsa as well.

Authorship of the Mahavamsa is attributed to a monk called Mahānāma by the Mahavamsa-tika (see #Related Works). Mahānāma is described as residing in a monastery belonging to general Dighasanda and affiliated with the Mahavihara, but no other reliable biographical information is known.[2]

The commentator of the Mahavamsa says that Dighasanda was a nickname of a certain general of King Devanampiya Tissa and that he built the monastery known after his name.

-- Mahanama in the Pali Literature, by R. Siddhartha, The Indian Historical Quarterly

Mahānāma introduces the Mahavamsa with a passage that claims that his intention is to correct repetitions and shortcomings that afflicted the chronicle compiled by the ancients- this may refer either to the Dipavamsa or to the Sinhala Atthakatha.[2]

A companion volume, the Culavamsa "Lesser Chronicle", compiled by Sinhala monks, covers the period from the 4th century to the British takeover of Sri Lanka in 1815. The Culavamsa was compiled by a number of authors of different time periods.

The combined work, sometimes referred to collectively as the Mahavamsa, provides a continuous historical record of over two millennia, and is considered one of the world's longest unbroken historical accounts.[4] It is one of the few documents containing material relating to the Nāga and Yakkha peoples, indigenous inhabitants of Lanka prior to the legendary arrival of Prince Vijaya from Singha Pura of Kalinga.

As it often refers to the royal dynasties of India, the Mahavamsa is also valuable for historians who wish to date and relate contemporary royal dynasties in the Indian subcontinent. It is very important in dating the consecration of the Maurya Emperor Ashoka, which is related to the synchronicity with the Seleucid Empire and Alexander the Great.

Indian excavations in Sanchi and other locations, confirm the Mahavamsa account of the empire of Ashoka. The accounts given in the Mahavamsa are also amply supported by the numerous stone inscriptions, mostly in Sinhala, found in Sri Lanka.[5] K. Indrapala [6] has also upheld the historical value of the Mahavamsa. If not for the Mahavamsa, the story behind the large stupas in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, such as Ruwanwelisaya, Jetavanaramaya, Abhayagiri vihāra and other works of ancient engineering would never have been known.

The Mahavamsa first came to the attention of Western readers around 1809 CE, when Sir Alexander Johnston, Chief Justice of the British colony in Ceylon, sent manuscripts of it and other Sri Lankan chronicles to Europe for publication.[7] Eugène Burnouf produced a Romanized transliteration and translation into Latin in 1826, but these garnered relatively little attention.[8]:86 Working from Johnston's manuscripts, Edward Upham published an English translation in 1833, but it was marked by a number of errors in translation and interpretation, among them suggesting that the Buddha was born in Sri Lanka and built a monastery atop Adam's Peak.[8]:86 The first printed edition and widely read English translation was published in 1837 by George Turnour, an historian and officer of the Ceylon Civil Service.[8]:86

NOTE 2.—The general correctness with which Marco has here related the legendary history of Sakya's devotion to an ascetic life, as the preliminary to his becoming the Buddha or Divinely Perfect Being, shows what a strong impression the tale had made upon him. He is, of course, wrong in placing the scene of the history in Ceylon, though probably it was so told him, as the vulgar in all Buddhist countries do seem to localise the legends in regions known to them.

Sakya Sinha, Sakya Muni, or Gautama, originally called Siddhárta, was the son of Súddhodhana, the Kshatriya prince of Kapilavastu, a small state north of the Ganges, near the borders of Oudh...

-- The Travels of Marco Polo, by Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa

A German translation of Mahavamsa was completed by Wilhelm Geiger in 1912. This was then translated into English by Mabel Haynes Bode, and revised by Geiger.[9]

Wilhelm Ludwig Geiger (21 July 1856 to 2 September 1943) was a German orientalist in the fields of Indo-Iranian languages and the history of Iran and Sri Lanka. He was known as a specialist in Pali, Sinhala language and the Dhivehi language of the Maldives. He is especially known for his work on the Sri Lankan chronicles Mahāvaṃsa and Cūlavaṃsa of which he made critical editions of the Pali text and English translations with the help of assistant translators.

He was born in Nuremberg, the son of an evangelical clergyman, and was educated especially at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg under the Iranian scholar Friedrich von Spiegel. During his studies, he joined the fraternity Uttenruthia. After completing his Ph.D. thesis in 1878, he became a lecturer on ancient Iranian and Indian philology and then a master at a gymnasium . In 1891 he was offered a chair in Indo-European Comparative Philology at the University of Erlangen, succeeding Spiegel. His first published works were on ancient Iranian history, archeology and philology.

He traveled to Ceylon in 1895 to study the language. [2] [3]

He died in Neubiberg.

Among his children were the physicist Hans Geiger, inventor of the Geiger counter, and the meteorologist Rudolf Geiger.

-- Wilhelm Geiger, by Wikipedia

Historical and literary significance

Historiographical sources are rare in much of South Asia. As a result of the Mahavamsa, comparatively more is known about the history of the island of Ceylon and neighboring regions than that of most of the subcontinent. Its contents have aided in the identification and corroboration of archaeological sites and inscriptions associated with early Buddhism, the empire of Ashoka, and the Tamil kingdoms of southern India.[2]

The Mahamvasa covers the early history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, beginning with the time of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism. It also briefly recounts the history of Buddhism in India, from the date of the Buddha's death to the 3rd Buddhist council where the Dharma was reviewed. Every chapter of the Mahavamsa ends by stating that it is written for the "serene joy of the pious". From the emphasis of its point-of-view, and being compiled to record the good deeds of the kings who were patrons of the Anuradhapura Maha Viharaya,[10] it has been said to support Sinhalese nationalism.[11][12]

Besides being an important historical source, the Mahavamsa is the most important epic poem in the Pali language. Its stories of battles and invasions, court intrigue, great constructions of stupas and water reservoirs, written in elegant verse suitable for memorization, caught the imagination of the Buddhist world of the time. Unlike many texts written in antiquity, it also discusses various aspects of the lives of ordinary people, how they joined the King's army or farmed. Thus the Mahavamsa was taken along the Silk Road to many Buddhist lands.[13] Parts of it were translated, retold, and absorbed into other languages. An extended version of the Mahavamsa, which gives many more details, has also been found in Southeast Asia.[14][2] The Mahavamsa gave rise to many other Pali chronicles, making Sri Lanka of that period probably the world's leading center in Pali literature.

Political significance

The Mahavamsa has, especially in modern Sri Lanka, acquired a significance as a document with a political message.[15] The Sinhalese majority often use Manavamsa as a proof of their claim that Sri Lanka is a Buddhist nation from historical time. The British historian Jane Russell[16] has recounted how a process of "Mahavamsa bashing" began in the 1930s, especially from within the Tamil Nationalist movement. The Mahavamsa, being a history of the Sinhala Buddhists, presented itself to the Tamil Nationalists and the Sinhala Nationalists as the hegemonic epic of the Sinhala people. This view was attacked by G. G. Ponnambalam, the leader of the Nationalist Tamils in the 1930s. He claimed that most of the Sinhala kings, including Vijaya, Kasyapa, and Parakramabahu, were Tamils. Ponnambalam's 1939 speech in Nawalapitiya, attacking the claim that Sri Lanka is a Sinhalese, Buddhist nation was seen as an act against the notion of creating a Buddhist only nation. The Sinhala majority responded with a mob riot, which engulfed Nawalapitiya, Passara, Maskeliya, and even Jaffna.[16]:148[17] The riots were rapidly put down by the British colonial government, but later this turned through various movements into the civil war in Sri Lanka which ended in 2009.

Historical accuracy

Early Western scholars like Otto Franke dismissed the possibility that the Mahavamsa contained reliable historical content, but subsequent evidence from inscriptions and archaeological finds have confirmed that there is a factual basis for many of the stories recorded in the Mahavamsa, including Ashoka's missionary work and the kings associated with founding various monasteries and stupas.[8]:47,90

Questions of authorship

According to some scholars such as Christopher I. Beckwith, Ashoka, whose name only appears in the Minor Rock Edicts, should be differentiated from the ruler Piyadasi, or Devanampiya Piyadasi (i.e. "Beloved of the Gods Piyadasi", "Beloved of the Gods" being a fairly widespread title for "King"), who is named as the author of the Major Pillar Edicts and the Major Rock Edicts. Beckwith also highlights the fact that [neither] Buddhism nor the Buddha are mentioned in the Major Edicts, but only in the Minor Edicts. Further, the Buddhist notions described in the Minor Edicts (such as the Buddhist canonical writings in Minor Edict No.3 at Bairat, the mention of a Buddha of the past Kanakamuni Buddha in the Nigali Sagar Minor Pillar Edict) are more characteristic of the "Normative Buddhism" of the Saka-Kushan period around the 2nd century CE.

This inscriptional evidence may suggest that Piyadasi and Ashoka were two different rulers. According to Beckwith, Piyadasi was living in the 3rd century BCE, probably the son of Chandragupta Maurya known to the Greeks as Amitrochates, and only advocating for piety ("Dharma") in his Major Pillar Edicts and Major Rock Edicts, without ever mentioning Buddhism, the Buddha or the Samgha. Since he does mention a pilgrimage to Sambhodi (Bodh Gaya, in Major Rock Edict No.8) however, he may have adhered to an "early, pietistic, popular" form of Buddhism. Also, the geographical spread of his inscription shows that Piyadasi ruled a vast Empire, contiguous with the Seleucid Empire in the West.

On the contrary, for Beckwith, Ashoka himself was a later king of the 1st-2nd century CE, whose name only appears explicitly in the Minor Rock Edicts and allusively in the Minor Pillar Edicts, and who does mention the Buddha and the Samgha, explicitly promoting Buddhism. He may have been an unknown or possibly invented ruler named Devanampriya Asoka, with the intent of propagating a later, more institutional version of the Buddhist faith. His inscriptions cover a very different and much smaller geographical area, clustering in Central India. According to Beckwith, the inscriptions of this later Ashoka were typical of the later forms of "normative Buddhism", which are well attested from inscriptions and Gandhari manuscripts dated to the turn of the millennium, and around the time of the Kushan Empire. The quality of the inscriptions of this Ashoka is significantly lower than the quality of the inscriptions of the earlier Piyadasi.

-- Edicts of Ashoka, by Wikipedia

Wilhelm Geiger was one of the first Western scholars to suggest that it was possible to separate useful historical information from the mythic and poetic elaborations of the chronicle. While other scholars had assumed that the Mahavamsa had been assembled from borrowed material from Indian Pali sources, Geiger hypothesized that the Mahavamsa had been based on earlier Sinhala sources that originated on the island of Ceylon. While Geiger did not believe that the details provided with every story and name were reliable, he broke from earlier scholars in believing that the Mahavamsa faithfully reflected an earlier tradition that had preserved the names and deeds of various royal and religious leaders, rather than being a pure work of heroic literary fiction. He regarded the early chapters of the Culavamsa as the most accurate, with the early chapters of the Mahavamsa being too remote historically and the later sections of the Culavamsa marked by excessive elaboration.[8]:90–92

Geiger's Sinhala student G. C. Mendis was more openly skeptical about certain portions of the text, specifically citing the story of the Sinhala ancestor Vijaya as being too remote historically from its source and too similar to an epic poem or other literary creation to be seriously regarded as history.[8]:94 The date of Vijaya's arrival is thought to have been artificially fixed to coincide with the date for the death of Gautama Buddha around 543 BCE.[18][19] The Chinese pilgrims Fa Hsien and Hsuan Tsang both recorded myths of the origins of the Sinhala people in their travels that varied significantly from the versions recorded in the Mahavamsa -- in one version, the Sinhala are descended from naga or nature spirits who traded with Indian merchants, and in another the Sinhala progenitor is a prince exiled for patricide who then slays a wealthy merchant and adopts his 500 children.[8]:58–9

The story of the Buddha's three visits to Sri Lanka are not recorded in any source outside of the Mahavamsa tradition.[8]:48 Moreover, the genealogy of the Buddha recorded in the Mahavamsa describes him as being the product of four cross cousin marriages. Cross-cousin marriage is associated historically with the Dravidian people of southern India -- both Sri Lankan Tamils and Sinhala practiced cross-cousin marriage historically -- but exogamous marriage was the norm in the regions of northern India associated with the life of the Buddha.[20] No mention of cross-cousin marriage is found in earlier Buddhist sources, and scholars suspect that this genealogy was created in order to fit the Buddha into conventional Sri Lankan social structures for noble families.[8]:48–9[20]

The historical accuracy of Mahinda converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism is also debated. Hermann Oldenberg, a German scholar of Indology who has published studies on the Buddha and translated many Pali texts, considers this story a "pure invention". V. A. Smith (Author of Ashoka and Early history of India) also refers to this story as "a tissue of absurdities". V. A. Smith and Professor Hermann came to this conclusion due to Ashoka not mentioning the handing over of his son, Mahinda, to the temple to become a Buddhist missionary and Mahinda's role in converting the Sri Lankan king to Buddhism, in his 13th year Rock Edicts, particularly Rock-Edict XIII.[21] Sources outside of Sri Lanka and the Mahavamsa tradition do not mention Mahinda as Ashoka's son.[8]

There is also an inconsistency with the year on which Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to Sri Lanka. According to the Mahavamsa, the missionaries arrived in 255 BCE, but according to Edict 13, it was five years earlier in 260 BCE.[21]

Related works

The Mahavamsa is believed to have originated from an earlier chronicle known as the Dipavamsa (4th century CE) ("Island Chronicles"). The Dipavamsa is much simpler and contains less information than the Mahavamsa and probably served as the nucleus of an oral tradition that was eventually incorporated into the written Mahavamsa. The Dipavamsa is believed to have been the first Pali text composed entirely in Ceylon.[2]

A subsequent work sometimes known as Culavamsa extends the Mahavamsa to cover the period from the reign of Mahasena of Anuradhapura (277–304 CE) until 1815, when the entire island was surrendered to the British throne. The Culavamsa contains three sections composed by five different authors (one anonymous) belonging to successive historical periods.[2]

In 1935, Buddhist monk Yagirala Pannananda published Mahavamsa Part III, a Sinhala language continuation of the Mahavamsa that covers the period from the end of the Culavamsa up until 1935.[8]:95–104 While not authorized or supported by any government or religious organization, this continuation of the Mahavamsa was later recognized by the government of Sri Lankan Prime Minister JR Jayawardene.

A commentary on the Mahavamsa, known as the Mahavamsa-tika, is believed to have been composed before the first additions composing the Culavamsa were written, likely some time between AD 1000 and AD 1250. This commentary provides explanations of ambiguous Pali terms used in the Mahavamsa, and in some cases adds additional details or clarifies differences between different versions of the Mahavamsa. Unlike the Mahavamsa itself, which is composed almost entirely from material associated with the Mahavihara, the Mahavamsa-tika makes several references to commentaries and alternate versions of the chronicle associated with the Abhayagiri vihara tradition.[2]

In Southeast Asia, a Pali work referred to as the 'Extended Mahavamsa' includes not only the text of the Sri Lankan Mahavamsa, but also elements of the Thupavamsa, Buddhavamsa, Mahavamsa commentaries, and quotations from various jatakas.[14][2] It is sometimes referred to in academic literature as the 'Kambodian Mahavamsa' or 'Khmer Mahavamsa' because it is distinguished by being recorded in the Khmer script. Its composition is attributed to an otherwise unknown monk called Moggallana and its exact date of composition and origin are unknown, but suspected to be Burma or Thailand.[2]

See also

• History of Sri Lanka
• Anuradhapura

References

1. Sailendra Nath Sen (1 January 1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International. p. 91. ISBN 978-81-224-1198-0.
2. Von Hinüber, Oskar (1997). A Handbook of Pali Literature (1st Indian ed.). New Delhi: Munishiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. 87–93. ISBN 81-215-0778-2.
3. Oldenberg 1879.
4. Tripāṭhī, Śrīdhara, ed. (2008). Encyclopaedia of Pali Literature: The Pali canon. 1. Anmol. p. 117. ISBN 9788126135608.
5. Geiger's discussion of the historicity of the Mahavamsa;Paranavitana and Nicholas, A concise history of Ceylon(Ceylon University Press) 1961
6. K. Indrapala, Evolution of an Ethnicity, 2005
7. Harris, Elizabeth (2006). Theravada Buddhism and the British Encounter: Religious, Missionary and Colonial Experience in Nineteenth Century Sri Lanka (1st ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 12. ISBN 0415544424.
8. Kemper, Steven (1992). The Presence of the Past: Chronicles, Politics, and Culture in Sinhala Life(1st ed.). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 33. ISBN 0801423953.
9. Mahavamsa. Ceylon Government. 1912.
10. In general, regarding the Mahavamsa's point-of-view, see Bartholomeusz, Tessa J. (2002). In Defense of Dharma: Just-war Ideology in Buddhist Sri Lanka. London: RoutledgeCurzon. ISBN 978-0-7007-1681-4.
11. Senewiratne, Brian (4 February 2012). "Independence Day: A Day For Action, Not Mourning". Colombo Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 July 2016. Retrieved 12 July 2016.
12. E. F. C. Ludowyk's discussion of the connection between religion in the Mahavamsa and state-power is discussed in Scott, David (1994). "Historicizing Tradition". Formations of Ritual: Colonial and Anthropological Discourses on the Sinhala Yaktovil. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. pp. 191–192. ISBN 978-0-8166-2255-9..
13. "Mahavamsa, the great chronicle". Sunday Observer. 29 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
14. Dr. Hema Goonatilake, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka. 2003
15. H. Bechert, "The beginnings of Buddhist Historiography in Ceylon, Mahawamsa and Political Thinking", Ceylon Studies Seminar, Series 2, 1974
16. Communal politics under the Donoughmore Constitution, 1931–1947, Tissara Publishers, Colombo 1982
17. Hindu Organ, June 1, 1939 issue (Newspaper archived at the Jaffna University Library)
18. Rhoads Murphey (February 1957). "The Ruin of Ancient Ceylon". The Journal of Asian Studies. Association for Asian Studies. 16 (2): 181–200. doi:10.2307/2941377. JSTOR 2941377.
19. E.J. Thomas. (1913). BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES. Available: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/busc/busc03.htm. Last accessed 26 03 10.
20. Thomas R. Trautmann. “Consanguineous Marriage in Pali Literature.” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 93, no. 2, 1973, pp. 158–180. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/598890. Accessed 14 May 2020.
21. Wilhelm Geiger (1912). Mahavamsa: Great Chronicle of Ceylon. New Dehli: Asian Educational Services. 16-20.

Bibliography

• Malalasekera, Gunapala Piyasena (2003). Dictionary of Pali Proper Names. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-1823-7.
• Oldenberg, Hermann (1879). Dipavamsa. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0217-5.

Editions and translations

• Geiger, Wilhelm; Bode, Mabel Haynes (transl.); Frowde, H. (ed.): The Mahavamsa or, the great chronicle of Ceylon, London : Pali Text Society 1912.
• Guruge, Ananda W.P.: Mahavamsa. Calcutta: M. P. Birla Foundation 1990 (Classics of the East).
• Guruge, Ananda W. P. Mahavamsa: The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka, A New Annotated Translation with Prolegomena, ANCL Colombo 1989
• Ruwan Rajapakse, Concise Mahavamsa, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2001
• Sumangala, H.; Silva Batuwantudawa, Don Andris de: The Mahawansha from first to thirty-sixth Chapter. Revised and edited, under Orders of the Ceylon Government by H. Sumangala, High Priest of Adam's Peak, and Don Andris de Silva Batuwantudawa, Pandit. Colombo 1883.
• Turnour, George (C.C.S.): The Mahawanso in Roman Characters with the Translation Subjoined, and an Introductory Essay on Pali Buddhistical Literature. Vol. I containing the first thirty eight Chapters. Cotto 1837.

Early translation of a Sinhalese version of the text

• Upham, Edward (ed.): The Mahavansi, the Raja-ratnacari, and the Raja-vali : forming the sacred and historical books of Ceylon; also, a collection of tracts illustrative of the doctrines and literature of Buddhism: translated from the Singhalese. London : Parbury, Allen, and Co. 1833; vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3

External links

• Geiger/Bode Translation of the Mahavamsa
• The Mahavamsa: The Great Chronicle of Sri Lanka
• "Concise Mahavamsa" on-line version of: Ruwan Rajapakse, P.E. (2003). Concise Mahavamsa: History of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. Maplewood, NJ : Ruwan Rajapakse. ISBN 0-9728657-0-5.
• History of Sri Lanka
• Original Pali Text in Devanagari (अन्य > महावंस > पथमपरिच्छेद to तिसट्ठिम परिच्छेद )

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Mahanama in the Pali Literature
by R. Siddhartha
The Indian Historical Quarterly 8:3 1932.09 pp.462--465 p.462

Mahanama in the Pali Literature

There are four persons by the name of Mahanama in the Pali literature of whom one is a king; the second is said to be the resident monk of the Dighasanda monastery at Anuradhapura, to whom king Moggallana (497-515 A.C.) offered a monastery called Pabbata Vihara built by him (Mahavamsa, ch. 39. v. 42);

In Southeast Asia, a Pali work referred to as the 'Extended Mahavamsa' includes not only the text of the Sri Lankan Mahavamsa, but also elements of the Thupavamsa, Buddhavamsa, Mahavamsa commentaries, and quotations from various jatakas. It is sometimes referred to in academic literature as the 'Kambodian Mahavamsa' or 'Khmer Mahavamsa' because it is distinguished by being recorded in the Khmer script. Its composition is attributed to an otherwise unknown monk called Moggallana and its exact date of composition and origin are unknown, but suspected to be Burma or Thailand.

-- Mahavamsa, by Wikipedia

the third is mentioned in the concluding lines of the commentary on the Patisambhidamagga as the author of that work who lived in the reign of Kumara Dhatusena, son of king Moggallana (515-524 A.C.);

The Patisambhidamagga (paṭisambhidā-; Pali for "path of discrimination"; sometimes called just Patisambhida for short; abbrevs.: Paṭis, Pṭs) is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. It is included there as the twelfth book of the Sutta Pitaka's Khuddaka Nikaya. Tradition ascribes it to the Buddha's disciple Sariputta. It comprises 30 chapters on different topics, of which the first, on knowledge, makes up about a third of the book.

Tradition ascribes the Patisambhidamagga to the Buddha's great disciple, Sariputta. It bears some similarities to the Dasuttarasutta Sutta of the Digha Nikaya, which is also attributed to Sariputta.

According to German tradition of Indology this text was likely composed around the 2nd century CE. Indications of the relative lateness of the text include numerous quotations from the Sutta and Vinaya Pitaka, as well as an assumed familiarity with a variety of Buddhist legends and stories -- for example, the names of various arahants are given without any discussion of their identities. The term patisambhida does not occur in the older sutra and vinaya texts, but does appear in both the Abhidhamma and several other Khuddaka Nikaya texts regarded as relatively late. A variant form, pratisamvid, occurs in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit and suggests that the concept itself was shared with other, non-Theravada sects. The Patisambhidamagga is also included in the Dipavamsa in a list of texts rejected by the Mahasanghikas. On the basis of this reference and certain thematic elements, AK Warder suggested that some form of the text may date to the 3rd Century BCE, the traditional date ascribed to the schism with the Mahasanghikas. L. S. Cousins associated it with the doctrinal divisions of the Second Buddhist Council and dated it to the first century BCE.

The Patisambhidamagga has been described as an "attempt to systematize the Abhidhamma" and thus as a possible precursor to the Visuddhimagga. The text's systematic approach and the presence of a matika summarizing the contents of the first section are both features suggestive of the Abhidhamma, but it also includes some features of the Sutta Pitaka, including repeated invocation of the standard sutta opening evaṃ me suttaṃ ('thus have I heard'). Its content and aspects of its composition overlap significantly with the Vibhanga, and A.K. Warder suggested that at some stage in its development it may have been classified as an Abhidhamma text.

Noa Ronkin suggests that the Patisambhidamagga likely dates from the era of the Abhidhamma's formation, and represents a parallel development of the interpretive traditions reflected by the Vibhanga and Dhammasangani...

The Patisambhidamagga was one of the last texts of the Pali Canon to be translated into English. Its technical language and frequent use of repetition and elision presented a challenge to translators and interpreters. A first translation by Bhikkhu Nanamoli was published posthumously, following extensive editing and reworking by AK Warder.

-- Paṭisambhidāmagga, by Wikipedia

and the fourth occurs in the concluding passage of the commentary on the Mahavamsa as the author of the original work. The last two of these four Mahanamas were undoubtedly great Pali scholars. Let us first see who were the three Mahanama Theras.

The commentator of the Patisambhidamagga says that he finished his work in the third year after the death of king Moggallana. So he must have lived at the time of king Moggallana and his son Kumara Dhatusena. His reference to the dead king Moggallana but not to the reigning king Kumara Dhatusena indicates his close association with the former. So it seems that he was the Thera Mahanama to whom king Moggallana presented a monastery called the Pabbata Vihara. Again, as he was a resident of the Dighasanda monastery he might have also been the author of the Mahavamsa as its commentator attributes that work to Mahanama Thera of the Dighasanda monastery. It is, however, difficult to identify these two theras because the thera Mahanama to whom the Pabbata monastery was presented was living at the Dighasanda monastery at the time when that presentation was made, and afterwards he must have been living at the new monastery built by the king. But the Thera Mahanama who wrote the commentary on the Patisambhidamagga lived, according to his own words, in a monastery known as the Uttaramanti Parivena. It is probable that the thera Mahanama who resided at one time at the Dighasanda monastery left it again for the Uttaramanti Parivena where he wrote the commentary on the Patisambhidamagga. It may also be that these two names, Dighasanda Parivena and Uttaramanti Parivena referred to one and the same monastery where Mahanama thera lived both during the life-time and after the death of king Moggallana. The commentator of the Mahavamsa says that Dighasanda was a nickname of a certain general of King Devanampiya Tissa and that he built the monastery known after his name.

In the Culavamsa (ch. 38, v. 16-17) it is stated that king Dhatusena in his boyhood lived as a novice under a thera who was his mother's brother and who was residing at the Dighasanda monastery. Here the name of the thera is not given. Is he the thera Mahanama to whom king Moggallana made a gift of the Pabbata Vihara, and is he also the author of the Mahavamsa?

According to a statement in the Culavamsa (ch. 38, v. 59) it seems that king Dhatusena was a lover of history and he was instrumental for the compilation of the Mahavamsa. The statement referred to is that king Dhatusena at the end of an anniversary celebration held in honour of the great Mahinda thera, who introduced Buddhism into Ceylon, ordered the promulgation of the chronicle of Ceylon throughout the Island, and for that purpose he gave a thousand coins. This indicates that a new work had come into existence which was not yet become popular, and this must have been the composition of Mahanama of the Dighasanda Parivena. All these facts go to show that the thera Mahanama of the Dighasanda monastery who wrote the Mahavamsa and the thera Mahanma of the Dighasanda monastery who was the favourite monk of king Moggallana, son of king Dhatusena, and the resident thera of the Dighasanda monastery were one and the same person. King Dhatusena is said to have come to the throne in 1006 B.E. (i.e. 463 A.D.) and king Moggallana died in 1060 B.E. (i.e. 517 A.D.). Now from the accession of king Dhatusena to the death of king Moggallana there were only 54 years. King Dhatusena did not die an old man. He met with an unnatural death at the hands of his eldest son, king Kassapa of Sigiriya fame. So when Dhatusena came to the throne he could not have been an old man. Then at the time of king Moggallana's death the age of Mahanama there could be between 79 and 89.(1) [I am, however, not inclined to accept that the thera Mahanama who wrote the commentary on the Patisambhidamagga was the same person as the author of the Pali Mahavamsa because a work of the former kind cannot be expected from such an old person, however clever he might have been.]

The view that the uncle of King Dhatusena was the author of the Mahavamsa could be proved further by the following fact:

The Mahavamsa stops abruptly in the middle of the 37th chapter without concluding it in the usual way with a verse in a different metre. This indicates that the author either could not finish his work owing to some unexpected trouble or died before he could complete it. Or, it might have been that the original work in Sinhalese ended there and he did not add anything to it. He only put into Pali verse what he found in the original Sinhalese version and stopped there.

The first two arguments cannot be the reasons for this abrupt ending because he had only one verse to compose to conclude it in the usual way, and this he could have done very easily. If the last one was the actual reason, it is difficult to understand why he did not finish it in the usual way. Its commentator also has not given any reason for this abrupt ending. That the old Sinhalese Mahavamsa ended just at the point where the Pali Mahavamsa stops is proved by the earlier Pali work, I mean, the Dipavamsa. It also stops exactly at the same place. His abrupt ending, I think, is due to the fact that Mahanama thera translated the Sinhalese Mahavamsa into Pali but as he wanted to write the chronicle further and bring the history up to his time he did not conclude it in the usual way. But before he could do so his benefactor king Dhatusena was put to death by his own son, Kassapa, and consequently there was much trouble in the country and the bhikkhus could not fufil his desire and the work remained unfinished till thera Dhammakitti took up the work after about seven centuries. This shows very clearly that king Dhatusena was instrumental for the writing of the Mahavamsa, and the chronicle of Ceylon which he ordered for promulgation was none but this work. Of course, the word used for the work in narration is Dipavamsa. But I do not think that it was used to indicate the work now known by that name. It was not used here as the special title of a particular book, but as denoting "the Vamsa of the Dipa," i.e. the chronicle of the Island. It could not be that king Dhatusena wanted to propagate that work called the Dipavamsa because it was defective and the defects were well-known. And moreover it was already popular in spite of its defects. So it is certain that the chronicle which king Dhatusena wanted to promulgate was not the work which we now call Dipavamsa. Therefore the Dipavamsa, that is the chronicle of the island, which he wanted to propagate was either the Sinhalese Mahavamsa preserved in the Mahavihara or the new work in Pall composed by Mahanama thera. But, as that Sinahlese work was also already popular surely it must have been this new work that he wanted to propagate.

It should be noted here that the word Mahavamsa was also not the name given to the book written by Mahanama thera. It was always referred to by its commentator as the Padyapadoruvamsa. This term mean the Mahavamsa in verse (Padyapada = metrical lines and uruvamsa = mahavamsa). This name shows also the nature of the book. It is Mahavamsa, but unlike the then existing Mahavamsa it is in metrical form. This shows again that the history of Ceylon that existed in prose was known as the Mahavamsa and the new work composed in Pali was given the name of Padyapadoruvamsa just to distinguish it from the first one. I have found that the commentator has used this name in no less than 12 places but never the name Mahavamsa.

It is noteworthy here that the author of the Pali Mahavamsa in his opening verse uses the term Mahavamsa. But the commentator says that the author referred by that word to the then existing Sinhalese Mahavamsa and not to the one composed in Pali.

R. SIDDHARTHA