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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[AUGUST, 1876.
XIII.-Wigs, ascetic and ancient. In a previous Note (X.), at page 39 of this volume, some remarks were ventured upon the close curly hair that distinguishes Jain images and statues of Buddha, and an allusion made to the Siñhalese tradition that when Buddha determined to turn Arhat he cut off his hair with his sword, which thenceforward never grew longer, but always curled to the right hand. The same story is found in the Legend of the Burmese Budha, by the Right Reverend Bishop Bigandet, where at p. 60 the prince, hay. ing resolved to become a Rahan, is represented saying, "These long hairs that cover my head, and my beard too, are superfluities unbecoming the profession of a Rahan! Whereapon with one hand unsheathing his sword, and with the other seizing his comely hairs, he cut them with a single stroke. What remained of his hairs on the head measured about one inch and a half in length. In like manner he disposed of his beard. From that time he never needed shaving; the hairs of his beard and those of his head never grew longer during the remainder of his life." On this passage the learned bishop ob serves in a footnote, "This explains one peculiarity observable in all the statues representing Budha. The head is invariably covered with sharp points resembling those thorns with which the thick envelope of the durian fruit is armed. Often I had inquired asto the motive that induced native sculptors to leave on the heads of all statues these sorts of inverted nails, without being able to obtain any satisfactory answer; only from this passage I was able to account for this singular custom, which is de- signed to remind all Budhists of the ever-continued wonder whereby the hairs that remained on Budha's head never grew longer from the day he cut them with his sword." Nevertheless a doubt may remain whether these stories may not be classed amongst "myths of observation," --that is, stories suggested by the appearances they pretend to account for.
I have, however, lately met with a passage which suggests another explanation of the per
plexing close-curled hair. Very possibly it may have been discovered by other writers, but not to my knowledge. In Sir T. Stamford Raffles' History of Java, vol. II., there is an account of the antiquities at Brambanam, and an ab. stract given of a Report made by "Capt. George Baker, of the Bengal Establishment, employed in the provinces of the native princes to survey, measure, and take drawings of all buildings, images, architectural remains, &c." Captain Baker was accompanied by a Brahman sipahi, who was greatly astonished at the temples and sculptures at Brambanam, and declared they must be the work of the gods, and that "India could in no respect furnish a parallel to them." Captain Baker remarking "certain figures in a sitting cross-legged posture, with long-extended ears and short-curled head of hair," considered they must be Jaina or Buddhist, but the sipahi maintained they were simple Hindu devotees in the act of making tapás, and that Brahmaņs frequently placed such imagos in their temples before their own gods; and he asserted, moreover, that what Captain Baker called curled hair was nothing more than a peculiar kind of cap topi he called it) worn by devotees when in the most sacred act of tapds, which caps, he said, were common in Bengal and Hindustån, and made for the purpose by a particular class of people. (Vol. II. p. 11, ed. 1830.) It is the more particular object of this Note to draw attention to the foregoing passage, and inquire whether any such cap or wig imitating curled hair is now in use anywhere in India, or known by tradition, in any class. I have never met with anything of the sort myself in Madras, but have a vague impression of having somewhere read of a sort of skull. cap by Jogis performing penance. Supposing for a moment that the sipdhi's idea had any foundation, and regarding the curly hair simply as an ascetic cap, it would throw some light on the puzzling circumstance that, whereas the Jainas to-day despise and revile Buddha, they represent their own Tirthankaras wearing the same very peculiar curly locks. It might indeed be
now and then been discovered in the Koimbatur district, and there are records of diamonds having been found in Kingyam. Aquamarines are now occasionally obtained in the Salem and Trichinapalli bazars, and pro- hably still proenred secretly in the Pattilli neighbour. hood. A company has been formed for working the gold diggings under the Nilgirt and Kund& slopes, that rise in full view of the Koimbatür plains; perhaps search
on the latter, scientifically directed, might be rewarded by returns still more valuable than gold. The Times of India of March 31 and April 3 contains most interest. ing account of the diamond mines of Haidari (Golkonda), by Capt. R. F. Burton. The celebrated traveller is of opinion that these mines have been prematurely abandoned, and that, so far from being exhausted, they have been carcely touched.
