Indian Antiquary Vol 03

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 21

JANUARY, 1874.]
also the honour of being a Masonic symbol. It is called by some Germans the dragon-foot, "Drachenfuss," and goes in India by the name of Swastika, but is among Moslems known as the seal of Solomon, the son of David.
The first character of the so-called trilingual amulet, which is worn also on the arm to ward off diseases and all kinds of misfortunes, is the seal of Solomon the prophet. This amulet is also believed to contain the ineffable name of God, but the strangest thing about it is, that, although short, it is stated to contain five verses from the Pentateuch, five from the Qorân, five from the Psalms of David, and five from the Evangel, i. e. New Testament. If the amulet engraved on this cup be compared with its description in books, which is as follows, it will be found to be a perfectly faithful representation:-"The seal of Solomon, three perpendicular strokes, the letter, a ladder with three cross bars; then four perpendicular strokes, the letters in the shape of a blacksmith's bellows with the spout turned downwards; and lastly, the letter upside down with its tail prolonged over the whole upper part of the amulet, leaving a break only over the ladder." To the right of this amulet are the two intersecting magic circles already mentioned, inscribed with characters known perhaps to the maker of the Talisman alone, but more likely having no meaning whatever, and intended only for a "hocus-pocus."
The numbers inscribed on the two magic squares between which an incantation (to be explained presently) is inserted, are such that their sum in any direction makes fifteen. Magic squares were unknown in Europe before the fourteenth century, but have afterwards been greatly enlarged, and books have been written on them, which must now be regarded merely as arithmetical play-things.
The two magic squares on this cup are as follows:
6
1
8
ARABIC TALISMANIC MEDICINE-CUP.
7 2
5
9
3
4.
4 9 2
3
5
7
8 1
6
A magic square of this kind is in Arabic
13
called Shekel Turabi
and its numbers can by means of the Abujad be easily converted into the letters of the alphabet; but on doing so with the squares here shown no sense will appear unless some mystic signification be attributed to the words so formed. Thus the second of the above squares will give the words without any sense, unless we insist on interpreting these artificial words according to the "science of letters" pl in which case a will mean Ahmed (another form of the name Muhammad), Davul, and Hasan, the letter standing for the first, b for the second, and for the third of these. The same process may be applied also to the other numbers.
The incantation inscribed between the two magic squares is as follows:
سارا سارا رای سارا ساراکا را تور بور و نوی تابين باما ارضا اصاد یا طو طو طو طو كاطو ماموران ایلموس با سرکای کافی طو او الموس کا یا و یوداس ومن يتوكل على الله فهو حسبه إن الله بالغ امره و الصلاة [العلوة for] والسلام على سيدنا محمد و اله الطاهرين
Translation:
Sârà sarà râî sârâ sâràkâ tur [or iur, or bur] iur wa nui tâbin) [or iabin or batin, &c.] ià mà ârsâ ârsâd âsâd ia [or ta, &c., and so on with all the other words having no points, and no sense] tu tu tu tu katu sâmurn ailmurs iasrkâi kahn tu tu ailmûs kà ia na iudâs "and who trusts in God, He will be his sufficient support; verily God will cause him to attain his object; (Qorân LXV. 3.)" benediction and salutation to our lord Muhammad and to his pure family.
The gibberish of this incantation is believed to consist of Syriac or Hebrew words; and the word Sârâ, which occurs several times, is considered to refer to Sarah, the wife of Abraham, who obtained a happy childbirth in her old age, and after despair.
After the incantation just described comes the following passage, two portions of which are (as will be seen from the translation) verses of the Qoran, and some of the writer's own composition:
الله الرحمن الرحمان اذا السما انشقت واذنت بسم
The mystic cross is also called by this name. (See Ind. Ant. vol. II. p. 135.)