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296
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
sushka-kôtara-vâsinaḥ I
[*] shv-a-tôyâsu [*] [m]-din-ipahirakib (10
35
Yudhishthi
[50] ra mahi[m*] mahimatâm śrêshtha dânâ (nâch-) śrê(=chhrê)yô-nupâlana [m*] || Likhi[] tam-êtan-mayâ sândhivigrahika-pa(?) mâ. . .d-Divâkara-sutê[na Nagavaré-éti Sri-Satyarayadivasya
ARCHEOLOGICAL NOTES.
BY M. J. WALHOUSE, LATE M.C.S. (Continued from p. 153.)
No. XXVI.-Irdhi-Páda.
It is not uncommon in Sanskrit literature, especially when the lives and virtues of renowned sages or ascetics are recounted, to find it told of such personages that they could transport themselves from place to place in some mysterious magical way in a moment. That large section of Hindu literature which deals with magic and the occult arts, such as the Tantras, the Black Veda, &c., too much neglected by European scholars, often refers to this secret power. The Kalai-jñána system for example is copious on the subject. The vastly complicated scheme of Buddhist rites and asceticism holds forth this power as the crown and goal possibly arrived at by the continuous observance of prescribed ceremonies and an inflexibly followed course of moral action. The entrance to this course was through the rite called kasina, of which there were ten kinds, consisting principally of modes of persisting in rigid unbroken meditation till the state called samadhi was attained. Samadhi is described as that which keeps the thoughts together, like the moisture which causes grains of sand to adhere and form a ball; through this the illumination termed nimitta could be reached; fourteen excessively complicated modes of exercising the ten kasinas with this end are specified, and after all had been successfully accomplished, the power of Irdhi might be acquired, though not infallibly. Irdhi is a miraculous power distinguishing a Rahât, one who has passed the Four Paths, and will
[DECEMBER, 1880.
Krishna-sarppa hi(?) jâyantê bhûyatnâd=raksha
33 The lower part of this letter, shoa, was cut out in making the ring-hole.
3 This letter, mi, was entirely cut out at the same time.
35 It is almost impossible to say what these eight letters are. The Pandit suggests dvijânâm dêvatânám cha. The usual reading is sva-dattám paradattâm va.
36 One letter is altogether unintelligible here. The Pandit reads "vigrahik-amatyêna (P) Divakara.
"Flying through the air" is expressly enumerated
at death attain Nirvána. Its special characteristic is the power of instant locomotion and flight through the air from place to place, hence it is called Irdhi-páda, i. e. the Divine Foot, on account of the assistance it renders to those possessing it. Both Brahmanical and Buddhist books, when alluding to this power, always speak of it as something familiar and well-known. Fah-Hian, the Chinese pilgrim to India in the 4th century, observes in a matter-of-course way as though it were nothing unusual that "Rahâts continually fly," and again, "the men of that country frequently see persons come flying to the temple, (some rocktemple,) the religious men occupying the upper chambers are constantly on the wing."-(Beal's Travels of Fah Hian.) People to-day are staggered at the accounts of "mediums" floating out of windows or being transported in a moment from one quarter of London to another, but flights of holy men fluttering, like pigeons, about the high chamber-cells of rock-temples would make even a sturdy spiritualist pause. Cells high up on sheer rocky faces have provoked speculation as to how they were tenanted. Fah Hian's statement may suggest some hint. The same pilgrim at Dardu in Northern India saw an image of wood, 94 feet high, representing Maitreya Bodhisattwa, "the Buddha that is yet to be," to obtain the size and appearance of which a sculptor was "by the power of Irdhi," three times transported up to the Tushita heaven, the Fourth Sphere, wherein rest all births yet to come; a strange and weird idea!
amongst the wonderful acts which could be performed by means of dharani, or occult Indian charms. It was also one of the sorceries ascribed to Simon Magus.
Ses Spence Hardy's East. Monach. pp. 252 ffg. 3 Iddhi (or Irdhi), prosperity, power, majesty, supernatural power, miraculous faculty. There are 10 iddhis, such as the power of passing through the air, of taking any form, of creating or causing to appear anything required. Iddhi is the peculiar attribute of the Arahas." Prof. Childers's Pali Dictionary.
