Dear Arlo,
one of the marks of a mahāpurisa listed in Pali canonical texts (D II
17; M II 136) is suvaṇṇavaṇṇo "having a golden complexion". This is
explained by Buddhaghosa as:
suvaṇṇa-vaṇṇo ti jāti-hiṅgulakena majjitvā dīpi-dāṭhāya ghaṃsitvā
geruka-parikammaṃ katvā ṭhapita-ghana-suvaṇṇa-rūpa-sadiso ti attho (Sv
II 447,18 foll.; Ps III 377,23 foll.; v.l. -rūpaka-)
like a massive golden statue that has been errected after having been
wiped with natural vermillion, rubbed/grinded with a leopard's tooth
(?) and treated/finished with red ochre
Gold whiped with jāti-hiṅgula(ka) is mentioned at other places as well.
Best wishes
Martin
Zitat von Arlo Griffiths via INDOLOGY <[email protected]>:
Thanks Jonathan.
But this only answers my question 3, and I don't know if
translations by the 84 000 Project are on the whole reliable. In
this case, the translation, made from the Tibetan, matches well
enough with Konow's reconstruction of the Sanskrit, though the word
cinnabar is not used where I expect it.
<https://84000.co/translation/toh11#UT22084-031-002-402/%5Bdata-glossary-id%3D%22UT22084-031-002-4022%22%5D<https://www.google.com/url?q=https://84000.co/translation/toh11%23UT22084-031-002-402/%255Bdata-glossary-id%253D%2522UT22084-031-002-4022%2522%255D&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1737457578679165&usg=AOvVaw0jqiOgDs7IGGlmtfhyf9pX>>
(78) The lord buddhas are endowed with markings, as if they were
drawn in the colors of vermilion, realgar, minium, indigo bark, and
verdigris.
In my understanding, vermillion is a derivative of cinnabar, but not
the same as cinnabar. I will be happy to be corrected if I am wrong.
Best,
Arlo
________________________________
From: Jonathan Silk <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2025 7:15 AM
To: Arlo Griffiths <[email protected]>
Cc: INDOLOGY <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] hiṅgula and cīnapiṣṭa
My my Arlo, the wonders of one minute with google:
https://84000.co/translation/toh11
On Tue, Jan 21, 2025 at 7:43 AM Arlo Griffiths via INDOLOGY
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
wrote:
Colleagues,
In Hemacandra's Abhidhānacintāmaṇi, we read:
sindūraṃ nāgajaṃ nāgaṃ raktaṃ śṛṅgārabhūṣaṇam |
cīnapiṣṭaṃ haṃsapādakuruvinde tu hiṅgulaḥ || 1061 ||
According to Böhtlingk
<https://archive.org/details/hemaandrasabhid00hemagoog/page/n219/mode/2up>,
who was apparently relying on a commentary, the words up to and
including cīnapiṣṭa mean Mennig, i.e. "read lead", while the other
words mean Zinnober, i.e. cinnabar.
In the GRETIL e-text for "Dasasahasrika Prajnaparamita, chapter 1
and 2 translated from the Tibetan"
<https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.281348/page/n109/mode/2up>,
§57, I find some of the terms listed by Hemacandra combined:
buddhānāṃ bhagavatāṃ
hiṅgula-manaḥśilā-cīnapiṣṭa-vaiḍūrya-tāmrakiṭṭa-varṇair likhitānīva
lakṣaṇāni
1.
Can anyone tell me more about this Sanskrit text apparently not
preserved as such in Sanskrit?
2.
Is Konow's reconstruction reliable?
3.
Has the text been translated into a Western language?
I would like to know especially
1.
whether there is any reason to believe that in some contexts
cīnapiṣṭa and hiṅgula could refer to the same substance
2.
whether there is any other, perhaps more solid, Indian textual
evidence for the use of cinnabar in worship of Buddha images
Thanks in advance for your learned comments.
Arlo Griffiths
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
--
Prof. dr. J.A. Silk
Leiden University
Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
Herta Mohr building 2.142
Witte Singel 27A
2311 BG Leiden
The Netherlands
website: www.OpenPhilology.eu<http://www.OpenPhilology.eu>
copies of my publications may be found at
https://leidenuniv.academia.edu/JASilk
--
Martin Straube
Research Fellow in Pali Lexicography
The Pali Text Society
https://palitextsociety.org
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
[email protected]
https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
