Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 96

92
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JUNE, 1919
representing himself and the rest of his rank. During the performance of the Homage, medals of gold and silver struck for the occasion were thrown among the people, and if there were any general pardon, it was read publicly by the Lord Chancellor.3s
13. In the Holy Communion, the Sovereign advanced towards the altar after the commencement of the Communion Service and made an offering of bread and wine. Then a wedge of gold, called a mark, weighing eight ounces, was received by the Archbishop from the Sovereign and laid upon the altar. This constituted the second oblation.
The Sovereign then returned to Westminster Hall attended by the clergy and others marshalled as before.
14. A noticeable feature of the Coronation Feast held in the Westminster Hall was the proclamation of a challenge to the effect that if anyone dared deny the rightful claim of the present Sovereign to the throne, he was a liar and false traitor, and the Champion was there to fight a duel with him to prove the falsity of his assertion. The Champion threw down his gauntlet, which after a short time was taken up by the Herald. Until the completion of the arrangements for the feast, the Sovereign reposed in the Court of Wards. Several tables were placed in the Hall, the royal table being set on a raised platform. Special duties in connection with this feast were allotted to special officers ur noblemen: the royal table, for instance, was covered by the sergeant and gentleman of the ewery; the first course of hot meat was served up with the combined assistance of the sergeant of the silver scullery, and two gentlemen-at-arms or two Knights of the Bath, and other dishes were brought with a procession composed of several officers. A full delineation of this coronation being outside the scope of this section, details of this as well as other functions, which may have value for other purposes, have been omitted.
In the evening were held a general illumination, a display of fire-works in Hyde Park, the principal theatres being opened free to the public.
The features, common to the two systems of coronation of India and Europa may now be summed up. The commonnees is due in some instances to the very nature of the ceremony, and in others, to other causes.
Both the systems are endued with a religious character, difference lying cnly in the degree. In the one, God, His Son, and the Holy Ghost were solicited by prayers and offerings to bless the Sovereign and secure the welfare of his kingdom, while in the other, the divinities together with various natural and supernatural forces credited with powers for good or evil, were for the same purpose entreated or propitiated through a multiplicity of prayers, offerings and other religious rites.
The coronation of the Hindus, in its later form, lost all traces of its connection with the elective principle pointed out elsewhere 39 to have boen operative in the epic period, in which it could be traced in the recognition forming part of the installation ceremony. In the European form of coronation, it was traceable in the formulary of election expunged in later times, 26 algo in particular functions incorporated in the coronations of various European countries pointing to some form of election as their origin, e.g., the practice of elevating a sovereign on a shield among the later Romans, and the custom of having stone circles to serve as seats for electors and a large stone in the centre for the Sovereign.co
3 The rites in which the Quoon Consort took part have been omitted. 31 See the Modern Review, 1916 (Sept.), p. 307. 40 See Chapters on Coronatione, chy. I & IX, p. 99.