[INDOLOGY] Sanskrit inscription in Egypt?

Sat Jul 2 12:36:22 UTC 2022

Sorry. I meant Dr. Bhandare, not Dr. Shailendra. Apologies again.

On Sat, Jul 2, 2022 at 6:03 PM Westin Harris <wlharris at ucdavis.edu> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Indeed, Dr. Silk, your note of caution is wise and well-taken. Despite my
> momentary Stendhal syndrome, I certainly could have qualified my statement
> more carefully--though only the part identifying the image as the Buddha,
> certainly not the "beautiful" part! That said, in my haste I failed to
> mention that there is a fair bit more evidence to support the Buddha
> identification than what is covered in Dr. Sidebotham's earlier lecture.
>
> Dr. Shailendra covers most of this evidence in the lecture linked above.
> For instance, several other representations of the Buddha (a pair of Buddha
> heads and another headless statue) were discovered at the same site. Dr.
> Shailendra theorizes that they are locally-made votives commissioned by
> South Asian merchants.
>
> Nonetheless, "more than a small amount of caution" is always advisable
> under such circumstances. Thank you again for that reminder.
>
> For anyone who is interested (or who has trouble accessing the recorded
> lecture), I've copy-pasted the abstract of Dr. Shailendra's lecture
> (including brief mention of the Buddha representations) below:
>
> *Dr Shailendra Bhandare (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), Prof Marianne Bergmann
>> (GAU Göttingen) and Martina Stoye (Museum für Asiatische Kunst Berlin, SMB,
>> SPK)*
>
> *Indian Dedications at Berenike on the Red Sea *
>
>
>
> Berenike on the Red Sea was one of two ports through which in the Roman
>> Empire the seaborne trade between the Mediterranean Sea and Arabia, East
>> Africa and India passed. Everybody working or living there was directly or
>> indirectly engaged in trade or in ensuring the relevant taxes for the Roman
>> government. Activity was in sync with the monsoons. Excavations at Berenike
>> begun in 1994 are ongoing by the Universities of Delaware (S.E.
>> Sidebotham), Heidelberg (R. Ast), Leiden (O.E. Kaper) under the auspices of
>> the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology. This joint presentation
>> focuses on a number of figural representations and one Brahmi inscription,
>> connected with Gandharan culture. Most of them were found recently in the
>> context of the settlement’s main temple, a temple of the Egyptian goddess
>> Isis, where they had been dedicated as votives. Four of them are fragments
>> of representations of Buddha: two heads and two headless statuettes. They
>> were not imported, but made locally on commission, using different
>> materials, of different quality and by local workshops as well as by
>> seasonally working sculptors. Especially the statuettes are interesting,
>> which translate the rarer of the two main Gandharan types of the standing
>> Buddha, the one used on Kanishka’s gold coins, into the styles of the
>> ‘copyists’. Most probably they were commissioned by traders from India. As
>> many other votives in the temple, the Buddha-votives seem to have served
>> the dual purpose of representing the traders to others at probably the most
>> public place of the settlement and of expressing thanks and prayers for a
>> safe journey. A terracotta warrior in Greco-Roman armour with parallels in
>> the region of Ter, however, is an import and represents the Satavahana
>> region of the Indian trade. A votive stele featuring the Indic triad of
>> Vasudeva-Balarama and Ekānamśa is a very significant find. Here again,
>> comparisons with the occurrence of these deities from Gandhara provides a
>> worthwhile context.
>
>
> On Sat, Jul 2, 2022 at 5:29 PM Christophe Vielle via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Thanks to Charles DiSimone for the link. I attach screenshots of the
>> relevant 3 slides for the ones who could not watch the video.
>>
>> Le 2 juil. 2022 à 09:29, Charles DiSimone via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :
>>
>> Dear Rich,
>>
>> The talk alluded to in the Facebook post Madhav appears to be here
>> <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.carc.ox.ac.uk%2FGandharaConnections%2Fwebcasts%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1Annmu8GN0F8gkN1BYeB5FPXkXtQk0wQnJNWp8ljuMFEfYi9RwBJUq_NQ&data=05%7C01%7Cchristophe.vielle%40uclouvain.be%7C04413a7bc51b4c672ac908da5bfcc49b%7C7ab090d4fa2e4ecfbc7c4127b4d582ec%7C0%7C0%7C637923438428050112%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7g0RL19bWTQdpXXrAh14eY1JQOzmbkQEpo8XKMLcA8k%3D&reserved=0> in
>> session 5 of the Gandharan Art in its Buddhist Context: international
>> workshop: Dr Shailendra Bhandare (Ashmolean Museum), and Martina Stoye
>> (Museum für Asiatische Kunst Berlin, SMB, SPK)Indian Dedications at
>> Berenike on the Red Sea. There's a video available but I have always found
>> the Gandhāra Connections website to be very finicky and have not been able
>> to get it to play on my computer but only on my phone. Hopefully you have
>> more luck!
>>
>> All my best,
>> Charlie
>>
>> Dr. Charles DiSimone
>> Department of Languages and Cultures
>> Ghent University
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jul 2, 2022 at 9:24 AM Asko Parpola via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>>> Excavations have been carried out at Berenike from the early 1990s under
>>> Steven Sidebotham, who in 2011 published the following book:
>>> Sidebotham, Steven E., 2011. Berenike and the ancient maritime spice
>>> route. (The California World History Library 18.) Berkeley: University of
>>> California Press. xviii, 434 pp., ill.
>>> Steven E. Sidebotham is Professor of History at the University of
>>> Delaware, email ses at udel.edu <ses at udel.edu>
>>>
>>> Best regards, Asko
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2. Jul 2022, at 1.23, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <
>>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Rich,
>>>
>>>      I see a March 29 message on FaceBook by Shailen Bhandare:
>>>
>>> "The recording of our presentation on interesting "transcultural"
>>> findings from the excavations at Berenike is now on-line. I present an
>>> exciting discovery - the first ever Sanskrit inscription found in Egypt,
>>> dated in the reign of Roman Emperor Philip 'the Arab'! It is a dedicatory
>>> inscription left by a Kshatriya named Vasula, and undoubtedly of a Buddhist
>>> nature as indicated by its colophon. Thanks again to Steve Sidebotham and
>>> Team Berenike!"
>>>
>>> Shailen Bhandare will be the best source of information on this topic.
>>>
>>> Madhav
>>>
>>> Madhav M. Deshpande
>>> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
>>> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
>>> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
>>> Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore,
>>> India
>>>
>>> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jul 1, 2022 at 1:13 PM Richard G. Salomon via INDOLOGY <
>>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Dear colleagues,
>>>>
>>>> Some weeks ago I saw a reference on Facebook to the recent discovery of
>>>> a Sanskrit inscription in Egypt, said to be dated to the reign of the Roman
>>>> emperor Philip "the Arab" (244-249 CE). But I haven't been able to find any
>>>> further information about this. Has anyone heard any more about this?
>>>>
>>>> Rich Salomon
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
>
> --
> *Sincerely,*
>
> *Westin Harris*
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Study of Religion
> University of California, Davis
> https://religions.ucdavis.edu/people/westin-harris
>
> 2021 Dissertation Fellow,
> The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies
>
> Sarva Mangalam.
>

-- 
*Sincerely,*

*Westin Harris*
Ph.D. Candidate
Study of Religion
University of California, Davis
https://religions.ucdavis.edu/people/westin-harris

2021 Dissertation Fellow,
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies

Sarva Mangalam.
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