The book of the pearl : the history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems / by George Frederick Kunz ... and Charles Hugh Stevenson.

  • George Frederick Kunz
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The book of the pearl : the history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems / by George Frederick Kunz ... and Charles Hugh Stevenson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/816 page 4
    more before the Christian era, as the word krisana and its derivatives —which occur a half dozen times in the Rigveda, the oldest of the Vedas—are generally translated as signifying “pearl.” Even if this interpretation of the term be called into question on the ground that the Hindus of the Pan jab were not well acquainted with the sea, there can be little or no doubt that the Atharvaveda, at least five hundred years before the Christian era, alludes to an amulet made of pearls and used as a sort of talisman in a hymn^ of magic formulas. Those two great epics of ancient India, the Ramayana and the Ma- habharata, refer to pearls. The Ramayana speaks of a necklace of twenty-seven pearls, and has pearl drillers to accompany a great mili- tary expedition.^ An old myth recounts the ofiferings made by the ele- ments as gifts worthy of the deity: the air offered the rainbow, the fire a meteor, the earth a ruby, and the sea a pearl. The rainbow formed a halo about the god, the meteor served as a lamp, the ruby decorated the forehead, and the pearl was worn upon the heart. The literature of Hinduism frequently associates the pearl with Krishna, the eighth avatar or incarnation of Vishnu, the most popular god of Hindu worship. One legend credits its discovery to the ador- able Krishna, who drew it from the depths of the sea to adorn his daughter Pandaia on her nuptial day. Another version makes the pearl a trophy of the victory of Krishna over the monster Pankagna, and it was used by the victor as a decoration for his bride. In the classic period of Sanskrit literature, about the first century of the Christian era, there were abundant references to pearls, generally called mukta (literally “the pure”); and there are dozens of words for pearl necklaces, circlets, strings, and ornamental festoons, particularly in the dramas of Kalidasa—the Hindu Shakspere, who lived about the third century a.d.—and of his successors. In the Mahavansa and the Dipavansa, the ancient chronicle his- tories of Ceylon in the Pali language, are several early Cingalese rec- ords of pearl production and estimation.^ The Mahavansa lists pearls among the native products sent from Ceylon about 550 b.c.. King Wijayo sending his father-in-law gifts of pearls and chanks to the value of two lacs of rupees; and notes that about 300 b.c., several varieties of Ceylon pearls were carried as presents by an embassy to India. In the ancient civilization of China, pearls were likewise esteemed; this is evidenced by the frequent mention of them in traditional his- tory, their employment in the veneration of idols, and as tribute by See pp. 301, 302. ^Geiger, “Dipavansa und Mahavansa, die 2 See Jacobi, “Das Ramayana,” Bonn, beiden Chroniken der Insel Ceylon,” Erl- 1893. angen, igoi.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3