Indian Antiquary Vol 07

SR No.: 032499
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 386
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1878.
friend to all, of good descent, of the highest in the third year of the great wealth increased religious merit, praising the feet of the adorable by himself, the month Srâvaņa. . . . . to the Vishņa,—what more the Yudhishthira of the Somayaji Vasa sarmmaņa, a resident Kali yaga, Srimat Konga ni maharaj &, of Mahasenapura.....
ARCHÆOLOGICAL NOTES. BY M. J. WALHOUSE, LATE M.C.S.
(Continued from p. 129.) No. XX.-Trojan and Indian Prehistoric Pottery, and the Svastika symbol. While lately looking over the extraordinary numbers; and miniature urns and utensils collection of antiquities disinterred by Dr. have also been largely found in the Coorg Schliemann at Hissarlik, the supposed site of graves. Examples are figured in the Indian old Troy, now in the South Kensington Mu- Antiquary above referred to, and a passage is seum, I was struck by likenesses between some quoted from Mr. Fergusson's Rude Stone Monnof the pottery and the earthenware found in ments, in which he observes that such miniaIndian cairns. In some remarks on “Minia- ture pottery was probably made and placed in ture and Prehistoric Pottery," chiefly from the tombs as symbols of traditions and primegraves in Coorg, in vol. IV., pp. 12 and 13, of val usages that had died out. I ventured the Indian Antiquary, I have mentioned certain rather to dissent from this hypothesis, which urns or jars standing upon three or, occasion- hardly seems strengthened by the quantity of ally, four legs-specimens are figured in the miniature vessels discovered in ancient Troy. plate at the place referred to,--and observed They are smaller even than the Indian dwarfthat modern Hindu pottery is generally with- ware, and their use more problematical, unless out feet. Indeed I knew of no other prehis indeed they were the toys of Astyanax and his toric pottery with any but the slightest indica- playmates! Chattis of the true Indian form tions of feet, and that very rarely. But in Dr. also appear in the Schliemann collection, and Schliemann's collection one is struck by the there is one mediam-sized black chat perfectly number of vessels, of all shapes and sizes, that corresponding with those often found in Madras are supported on legs. Three or four large cairns. There are also two or three vessels urns, figured at pp. 152-3 of the doctor's with side-sponts like that numbered 7 in the book, Troy and its Remains, especially recall plate in the Indian Antiquary, vol. IV. previously the legged Coorg Vases, differing chiefly in the mentioned. Earthenware platters or saucers, legs being longer and the bodies rounder and so abundant in Indian cairns, are also frequent, fuller, and moreover in being furnished with a of the same shape and size, amongst the pottery loop-handle, a feature never seen in Indian from Hissarlik, as well as heads of oxen and cairn-pottery, and very rare in European. In other animals in terra-cotta; and similar objects the Trojan collection, however, legged vessels of the same size have been found in scores are most abundant and various in shape, and in the cairns on the Nilgiri Hills; while the frequently have handles on one or both sides. quaint pieces in the Museum, termed by Dr. Some of the most striking are figured at Schliemann" Juno and Minerva idols", strongly pp. 166, 229, 282, 285 of the doctor's book. recall some clay figures depicted by Captain Even miniature vessels no larger than coffee- Congreve and Mr. Breeks in their works on the cups are furnished with legs; but, as far as I antiquities of the Nilgiris. could see, the number never exceeded three, Far surpassing the rest of the fictile assemwhereas the Indian urns not unfrequently have blage in bulk and height, a very Ajax Telamon four.
in earthenware, an immense jar is conspicuous Another resemblance was the large amount in the Museum. Nearly six feet high and taperof miniature pottery : cups, jugs, and vases no ing from the shoulders, where it is 44 feet larger than walnut-shells are exhibited in lacross, to a point at bottom, it is marked as Vesela standing on round bottom-rims, m in modern basins, occur in the Trojan ware Dever, I think, in Indian,
Ancient or modern.