[INDOLOGY] hiṅgula and cīnapiṣṭa

[Martin Straube]

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 <indology at list.indology.info>:

> 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 <kauzeya at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 21, 2025 7:15 AM
> To: Arlo Griffiths <arlogriffiths at hotmail.com>
> Cc: INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> 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  
> <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>  
> 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
>
>
>
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>
> --
> 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