Amulet Wearing

[Guest guest]

Prof Kirkpatrick writes on Indology

 

> Also, I don't know of any evidence that the Greeks

> of this period wore amulets, even though their

> esthetics/conventions influenced Gandharan design.

> Did the Hindus of this period wear amulets?

 

The answer to the last question should probably be in

the affirmative.

 

For example, in the Classical and post Classical Tamil

texts, the amulets are attested but invariably in

connection with children. There's also an attestation in the play

abhijn~anazAkuntalam of Kalidasa.

 

1. Tamil attestation:

 

The amulet is called "tAli"

or "aimpaTai", which stands for "pancAyudha" or the

five weapons of Vishnu viz., the zankha, cakra, gadA,

khaDga and the sArnga. These weapons seem to have been

embossed on some material and worn by means of a cord

around their necks by (male) children. It would appear

that the ritual was to be performed on the 5th day

after birth.

 

The relevant references are:

 

tAli kaLaintan2Rum ilan2E (puRanAn2URu 77) - here the

extreme youth of a king in battle is brought out with

some deft descriptions: his children's anklet has

barely given place to the warrior's anklet, that his

amulet has still not been removed, also that he has

just moved from milk to solid diet! etc

 

You may want to consult Hart and Heifetz (400 Poems of

War, Columbia U Press, 1999) for an authoritative

translation of this verse.

 

The post Classical Buddhist text MaNimekalai has a

couple references, one of them calls it by its full

name viz., "aimpaTai tAli":

 

cintupU cin2n2Ir aimpaTai nan2aippa (maNi 3.138) and

 

amaLit tuJcum aimpaTait tAlik kutalaic cevvAyk

kuRunaTaip putalvar (maNi 7.56-7)

 

The Vaishnava devotional poet PeriyAzvAr also refers

to the "aimpaTai" amulet "azakiya aimpaTaiyum Aramum"

(periyAzvAr tirumozi 1.3.5).

 

Kampan's Ramayanam has at least one reference to

the "aimpaTai" tAli.

 

2. abhijn~AnazAkuntalam

 

Act 7. aho rakSAkaraNDakamasya maNibandhe na dRSyate

(Ah, the protecting amulet is not seen on his wrist)

 

The reference is to the boy sarvadamana who drops the amulet "on

account of his wrestling with the lion's cub". (M R Kale,

abhijn~AnazAkuntalam, Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi, 1994, p. 275)

 

Hope this helps,

 

Lakshmi Srinivas

[Guest guest]

Prof Kirkpatrick writes on Indology

 

> Also, I don't know of any evidence that the Greeks

> of this period wore amulets, even though their

> esthetics/conventions influenced Gandharan design.

> Did the Hindus of this period wear amulets?

 

Additional data to LS' mail.

 

Ancient tamil sangam texts also regularly tell

about children wearing amulets made of tiger teeth.

 

'puli pal kOtta pulampu maNi tAli' -akanAn2URu 7-18

 

'puli pal tAli pun2 talai ciRAar' -puRanAn2URu 374-9

 

'puli pal tAli putalvan2 pulli' -kuRuntokai 161-3

 

This can be seen in the art also. Sculptures of child-gods

come with amulets made of 'aimpaTai' (the 5 weapons of Vishnu)

or tiger teeth to ward off evil spirits causing disease, etc.

Usually Murukan(Skanda) is shown wearing them near his

mother, Parvati. Manjusri, the Buddhist equivalent of

Skanda-Murukan, is a Bodhisattva represented in his youth.

See the beautiful bronze of Manjusri (having Pallava influences)

and wearing tiger-teeth amulet around his neck

(on the Cover page as well as inside, in

Art of Southeast Asia / by Maud Girard-Geslan ... [et al.] ;

New York : Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998).

 

Kamban mentions children wearing Narayana's "aimpaTai-tAli":

 

tAli aimpaTai tazuvu mArpiTai

mAlai vAyamutu ozuku makkaLaip

pAlin2 UTTuvAr ceGkai paGkayam

vAlnilA uRak kuviva mAn2umE

 

Regards,

N. Ganesan