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1/16
Isis and Pattin: The Transmission of a Religious Idea from Roman Egypt to IndiaAuthor(s): R. C. C. FynesSource: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Nov., 1993), pp. 377-391
Published by: Cambridge University Presson behalf of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britainand IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25182764.
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2/16
Isis
and
PattinT:
The Transmission
of
a
Religious
Idea
from
Roman
Egypt
to
India
R.
C.
C.
FYNES
Attempts
to
show that
similarities between the
religious
cults of
different
places
are
due
to a transmission of ideas often have litt le basis in fact: the similarities may be more
apparent
than
real,
and
may
be
more
convincingly
explained by
other
factors.
Nevertheless,
there
is
strong,
albeit
not
conclusive,
evidence
for the
following
suggestion
of
an
example
of cultural
transmission
from
the
Graeco-Roman world
to
India.
As
long
ago
as
1784,
SirWilliam
Jones
suggested
that the
cult of Isis had
travelled
from
ancient
Egypt
to
India.
He identified the
Egyptian
Osiris
and Isis
with the Indian
"Iswara"
and
"IsT",
arguing
that
they
represented
the
powers
of
nature
considered
as
male and
female.1
One of the
explanations Jones
gave
for
the
apparent
resemblances
between
the
Indian and
western
gods
was
the
hypothesis
that
during
the
period
now
known
as
the
Old
Kingdom
Egyptian
priests
had
settled
in
India,
bringing
their
native cults with
them.
Few,
if
any,
scholars
today
would
accept
this
hypothesis,
yet
I
intend
to
argue
that Indian
religion
was
affected
by
influences
from
Egypt,
not
in
the
time of
the
Old
Kingdom
as
Jones
thought,
but under
Egypt's
period
of
Roman
rule,
when
there
was
direct
trading
contact
between
Egypt
and India. These
influences
can
be
traced
in
the
resemblances
between
a
hellenistic
and
an
Indian
goddess
cult: it is
my
hypothesis
that certain
elements
of the
hellenistic
cult of Isis
were
taken
to
India,
where
they
formed the
core
of
the
myth
and cult
of the
Indian and Sri
Lankan
goddess
PattinT.
I shall begin by briefly discussing some of the western influences which scholars have
seen
in
certain
Indian
representations
of
mother
goddesses
dating
from the time
when there
was
trading
contact
between
India and the
Mediterranean
world,
and
then
turn
to
my
point,
a
discussion
of the
relationship
between
the
goddess
Isis
and the
south
Indian and
Sinhalese
goddess
PattinT.
Representations
of female
figures
in
terracotta
and
stone
have
been found
at
sites
which
were
under
the
influence
of
the
Western
Ksatrapas
and
Satavahanas
at
a
time
when there
was
direct
trading
contact
with
Roman
Egypt;
it has been
suggested
that
these
figures
represent
goddesses.
Terracotta
figurines
of
a
seated
female
figure,
naked
or
wearing
a
diaphanous
garment,
have
been
found
in
levels
assigned by
the
excavators
to
the
period
of
the
Satavahanas and
the
Western
Ksatrapas
in
excavations
at
Nasik,
Nevasa, Ter,
1
Sir
William
Jones
(1788),
p.
253.
In
actual fact the
feminine of IsVara
(Lord
or
Master)
is
Is'varl.
JRAS,
Series
3,
3,
3
(1993),PP-
377-391
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3/16
378
R.
C.
C.
Fynes
Tripuri
and
Nagarjunakonda.2
These
figures
seem
to
show
western
influences both
in
their
style
and
in
their
method of
manufacture,
since
they
are
cast
in
a
double
mould,
a
technique
which
was
in
use
in
contemporary
Alexandria,
and
was
probably
introduced
into India
as a
result
of
trade with Roman
Egypt.3
Figurines
from
Nagarjunakonda
can
be
dated
to
the latter
part
of
the
first
century
a.d.,
since
they
were
found
in
association
with
moulds for
counterfeiting
coins of
the Satavahana
ruler
Gautamlputra
Satakarni,
who is
now
known
to
have been
ruling
at
that
time.4
Among
the
goddesses
represented
by
these
figurines
is
Harltl,
a
protectress
of
children,
and
Sankalia
suggested
that
contemporary
Roman
influences also
inspired figures
of
Harltl
from
Mathura
and
Gandhara.5
These
figures,
often
carved
in
sandstone
or
schist,
usually
depict
Harltl
with
five
small
children.
However,
it
does
not
seem
safe
to
argue
for
a
specific
Roman influence on these figures, since the motif of amother with five children does not
appear
in
classical
art.
This,
of
course,
is
not to
deny
the
general
classical influence
the
figures
from Gandhara share
with all
examples
of
Gandharan
art.
Sankalia
also
thought
that
stone
mother and
child
sculptures
from
north
Gujarat
were
inspired by
western
art.6
These
statues
are
of
a
standing
female
cradling
an
infant,7
and
a
possible
western
prototype
exists in the
iconography
of Isis
nursing
the infant Horus.
However,
the
style
of the
statues
is
completely
Indian,
and
I
can
detect
no
specific
western
influences
in
them.
According
to
Shah,
the
Gupta
art
of
northern
Gujarat
was
influenced
by
that
of
western
India and
Mathura,8
so
the
statues
could
conceivably
have
been
influenced
by
western
iconography
at
second
or
third
hand,
but there
is
no
evidence
for
this.
Sankalia
himself
seems
to
accept
this
view;
although
he
argues
for
western
influence
in
the
conception
of
these
figures
from north
Gujarat,
he
says
that
they
have
been
Indianised
to
such
an
extent
that
"it would be difficult
to
see even
a
trace
of
foreign
influence".
It
seems
safe
to
accept
the
argument
that the
terracotta
figurines
from the
areas
ruled
by
the Satavahanas
and
Western
Ksatrapas
were
influenced
by
western
technique
and
iconography,
but the
arguments
that
western
influences led
to
the
conception
of the
Gandharan figures of Harltl and the Gupta mother and child figurines from Gujarat must
be
treated
with
scepticism.
Furthermore,
can we
be
sure
that
all these
female
figures
are
of
goddesses?
It is
possible
that
they
do
no more
than
to
provide
another
attestation of the
almost
universal
pleasure
that males take
in
looking
at
representations
of the
female
figure,
particularly
when it is
naked
or
only
partially
clothed.
Even if
one
accepts
that
a
transmission
of
artistic
technique
and
iconography
took
place,
this
provides
no
evidence
for
a
concomitant
transmission
of
religious
ideas.
However,
evidence
from
Egypt,
India
and
Sri
Lanka
does
support
the
hypothesis
of
a
specific
example
of
the transmission
of
a
western
mother
goddess
cult
to
India.
As
I
said
above,
it is
my
belief that in the
first three centuries
a.d.
traders
operating
out
of the
Nile
emporium
of
Coptos
and
the
Red Sea
ports
of
Myos
Hormos and
Berenice
brought
to
2
H.
D.
Sankalia
(i960),
p.
121.
3
A.
Ghosh
(1989),
i,
p.
341.
4
Indian
Archaeology
(1956-7), p.
38,
pi.
LXI. See
J.
Cribb
(1992)
for
the
dating
of
GautamTputra
Satakarni.
5
H.
D.
Sankalia
(i960),
p.
121.
6
Ibid.,
p.
122.
7
For
illustrations
see
U. P.
Shah
(i960), plates
23, 28, 29,
30, 37,
39,
40.
8
Ibid.,
pp.
45f.
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4/16
Isis
and
PattinT
379
India
certain
aspects
of
the hellenised
cult
of
Isis,
which then
formed
the
core
of
the
myths
and cult of the
Indian
and
Sri
Lankan
goddess,
PattinT.
Our
most
important
source
for
the
Indian
Ocean trade
in
antiquity
is the
Periplus
Maris
Erythraei,
written in
Greek
in
the
first
century
a.d.
by
an
anonymous
sea-trader who
seems
to
have
operated
out
of Roman
Egypt
and
to
have had first-hand
knowledge
of
most
of
the
area
he describes. The
author
of
the
Periplus
reports
that
ships
which
intended
to
sail
to
India
would sail from the Red
Sea
ports
of
Berenice
and
Myos
Hormos in
July
in
order
to
catch the
south-west
monsoon
wind,
which would
impel
them
over
the
open
sea
of the
Indian Ocean
to
the
west
coast
of
India.9
The
return
voyage
would take
place during
the
season
of
the
north-east
monsoon
wind,
which blows from
November
to
April; according
to
Pliny,
embarkation for the
return
voyage
took
place
sometime in the
period
between
the
start
of December and the middle of January.10
On their
return
to
Myos
Hormos
and
Berenice,
the
ships
were
unloaded,
and
their
cargos
were
transferred
to
pack
animals
and carried
across
the
Eastern Desert
of
Egypt
to
Coptos
on
the Nile.
At
Coptos
the
goods
were
loaded
on
to
barges
and ferried
down the
Nile
to
Alexandria,
whence
the
goods
not
used
by
the
Alexandrians
were
dispersed
throughout
the Roman
empire.
Strabo
says
that all the
Indian
merchandise,
as
well
as
the
Ethiopian,
which
entered the
Arabian
Gulf
was
brought
down
to
Coptos,
which
was
the
Nile
emporium
for
the
Indian
Ocean
trade.11
The
roads
leading
from
Berenice
and
Mysos
Hormos
to
Coptos
are
described
by
Strabo
and
Pliny,12
and
archaeology
has
confirmed
their
descriptions.13
Inscriptions
and
ostraca
found
in
Coptos
and
along
the
routes
from
Coptos
to
the
Red
Sea
ports
provide
valuable
information about
those involved
in
trade
in
the
Red
Sea
and
Indian Ocean
in
the Roman
period.14
The
background
of the
traders varied:
there is evidence
for
Greek, Roman,
Jewish
and
Palmyrene
traders of
differing
social
origins.
Nevertheless,
hellenism
provided
a
common
cultural
background
for
them,
and the
evidence
suggests
that,
by
and
large,
they
were
literate and
fairly
well-educated.
What do
we
know
of
the
religious
background
of
these
western
traders
?
In
Roman
Egypt
there
was a
considerable
syncretism
between
Greek, Egyptian and,
to
a
lesser extent,
Roman
religious practice,
and
in
this
period
the
hellenised cult
of
Isis is
the cult
most
widely
attested
in
Greek-language
contexts.
The cult
of
Isis
had
been
closely
connected
with
Coptos
since
the
period
of
the
New
Kingdom,
and
in
the Ptolemaic
period
it
was
known
as
the
Iseion
of
Upper
Egypt.15
There
were
two
sanctuaries
connected with the
Isis
cult
at
Coptos.
One,
dating
from
the
Ptolemaic
period,
was
dedicated
to
Isis
and
her
son
Horus,
who
was
here
identified with
Min,
the
ithyphallic
god
of the
Eastern
desert;
the
9
Periplus,
14.
10
Pliny, Naturalis Historia, VI, 106. There is a discussion of the winds and the appropriate sailing times in
L.
Casson
(1980).
n
Strabo,
Geographia,
XVII, I, 45.
12
Ibid.,
Pliny,
Naturalis
Historia,
VI,
102-3.
13
See
the
works
of
Couyat,
Meredith,
Murray
and
Bernand listed
in the
bibliography.
For
fuller
information,
see
M.
G.
Raschke
(1978), pp.
637-50,
and his
extensive
notes
and
bibliography.
The
most
recent
discussion
is
that
of
S. E.
Sidebotham
(1986a),
pp.
48-77
and
(1986b).
Sidebotham's
study
is
largely
based
on
information
given
in
Raschke,
with the
valuable
addition
of
the
results
of
more
recent
archaeological
explorations.
14
See
the
discussion
in
S. E.
Sidebotham
(1986a),
pp.
78-112.
See
also the first
chapter
of
my
unpublished
D.Phil,
thesis,
Cultural
Transmission
between Roman
Egypt
and
Western
India,
Oxford,
1991.
15
F.
Dunand
(1973),
i,
p-
H3
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5/16
380
R. C.
C.
Fynes
other,
dating
from the
time of the
Julio-Claudians,
was
dedicated
to
Min
and Isis
and
bears
cartouches of
the
emperor
Claudius.
According
to
Plutarch,
it
was
at
Coptos
that
Isis
heard
of
Osiris's death
and,
having
cut
a
lock from
her
hair,
went
into
mourning
for
him.16
Aelian,
in
his book
about animals,
tells
us
that
women
mourning
a
male
relative,
would
sleep
in the
temple,
oblivious
to
the
stings
of
the
poisonous
scorpions
which
infested
it.17
Isis is
likely
to
have
been
the
patron
deity
of those
trading
seamen
based
at
Coptos
and
the
ports
of
Myos
Hormos
and
Berenice who
made the
voyage
to
India. Concomitant
with the
hellenisation and
spread
of
the Isis
cult
was
the
expansion
of her
role
as
goddess
of the
sea.
Already
goddess
of the
Nile,
she
was
believed
to
have discovered the
sail
during
her
search for Osiris.
In
her hellenistic
cult,
she
was
widely
worshipped
as
mistress
of the
sea
and
patroness
of
navigation.
Merchants
and
sailors
would offer dedications
to
Isis in
return
for
a
safe
voyage
and
pray
to
her
for
good
weather.
In
an
inscription
from
Kyme
she
is made
to
state
"I
am
the mistress
of
seafaring;
I
make the
navigable
sea
innavigable
when
I
wish",
and
the
popularity
which
her
aspect
as
mistress
of the
seas
enjoyed
in
Roman
Egypt
is
attested
by
the number of
coins minted
at
Alexandria in
the
first and
second
centuries
a.d.
which
bear
Isis
Pelagia
as a reverse
type.18
Inscriptions
from
Coptos
confirm
the close
relationship
between
Isis
and the
merchant
community
there.
An
inscription
on a
stele
records
a
dedication
to
Isis
made
by
a
merchant
in
the
reign
of
Claudius.19 Another
inscription
records
a
dedication
to
Isis and
Hera
made
by Hermeros,
the
son
of
Athenion,
who describes himself
as a
Red Sea
merchant
from
Aden
('ASavciTrjs
*Epvdpaios
jXTropos).2Q
It bears
a
date
corresponding
to
25
July
to
23
August,
a.d.
70,
which
would
be
the
right
time of
the
year
to
catch the
southwest
monsoon
wind,
so
it
is
possible
that
Hermeros
made his
dedication
before
starting
on a
voyage
in the Indian
Ocean.
It has
been
suggested
that
this Hermeros
is
to
be identified
with
a
Hermeros
whose
name
appears
on an
ostracon
from the Nicanor
archive,
which
was
the business
archive of
a
transport
firm
operating
between
Coptos
and
Myos
Hormos.21
The
ostracon,
which
bears
a
date
corresponding
to
a.d.
57,
is
a
receipt
for
wine
delivered from
Berenice,
and
Wagner
suggests
that
Hermeros
was
a
merchant involved
in
the
export
of wine from
Coptos
to Southern Arabia. A further
inscription
from
Coptos
is
on a
limestone
column
dating
from
imperial
times.22
The
inscription
is
incomplete,
but
records
a
dedication
to
Hera made
in
return
for
a
safe
voyage;
Hera
was
often
associated
with
Isis in
dedications.
It
was
probably
customary
to
make
a
dedication both
before
starting
a
sea-voyage
and
upon
its
completion,
and
it
seems
safe
to
assume
that the
western
traders
would
have
made
a
dedication
to
Isis in
India before
starting
their
return
journey
to
Egypt.
There is
certainly
sufficient evidence
to
support
the view
that
the cult of
Isis
was
popular
with
the
western
traders who
operated
in the Indian
Ocean in the
first
three centuries
a.d.,
but
is
there
sufficient evidence
to
maintain
the
view
that elements
of the
Isis
cult
were
16
Plutarch,
De hide
et
Osiride,
3s6d.
17
Aelian,
De
animalia, X,
23.
18
See F. Dunand
(1973),
i,
p.
94; iii,
pp.
256-8.
For the
inscription,
I.
Cyme
41, 49-50,
see
H.
Engelmann
(1976),
pp.
97-108.
For
the
coins,
see
G. Forschner
(1988)
nos.
441, 474,
475
and
passim.
19
A.
Bernand
(1984),
no.
62.
20
Ibid.,
no.
65.
21
Petrie
Ostraka,
no.
287.
See
G.
Wagner
(1976).
22
A.
Bernand
(1984),
no.
94.
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Isis
and
PattinT
381
absorbed
into
Indian
religious
practice
?
Although
conclusive
proof
is
lacking,
I
believe
that
the
parallels
between
the
Isis and PattinT cults
are
close
enough
to
suggest
that
they
are
due
to
cultural transference
and
did
not
develop independently.
I
shall
now
discuss
the
mythology
of
these
two
goddesses
and then
point
out
the elements which
they
have
in
common.
In
the
earliest
phase
of
Egyptian
religion
in
the third
millennium
B.C.
Isis
had
played
a
subordinate
role
to
that of
Osiris;
in
some
texts
she
merely
appears
as
one
amongst
a
group
of
women
mourning
his
death.
Over the centuries
she
and
her
cult
gradually
grew
in
importance
until,
in
the
Ptolemaic
period,
she
becomes
"Mother
of
all the
Gods",
"Mistress
of the Two
Egypts",
and
"She Who Gives
Life
to
Men
and
Gods".
Her
cult
spread throughout
the hellenistic world
until,
by
the first
century
a.d.,
she
was
worshipped
at
Rome,
despite
sporadic
imperial
opposition.
Her
worship
as a
sea-goddess
is
a
purely
hellenistic
development
and is not an element of the
original Egyptian
cult.
The
fullest
account
of the hellenised version
of
the Isis
myth
is
given
by
Plutarch in
his
De
hide
et
Osiride,
which
was
probably
written
shortly
before
a.d.
120.23
According
to
Plutarch,
Osiris
was
the
son
of the
Earth
god,
and
Isis
was
his
sister
and wife.
Osiris
became
king
of
the
Egyptians; freeing
them
from their
primitive
and brutish
life,
he
showed
them
how
to
cultivate
crops,
gave
them
laws,
and
taught
them
to
worship gods.
He
later
travelled
throughout
the
world,
civilising
the whole of mankind.
While he
was
away,
his
brother
Seth,
whom Plutarch
equates
with the
Greek
god
Typhon, plotted
against
him.
On
his
return,
Seth
shut him
in
a
chest,
which
was
then
weighted and
made
to
float
down
the
Nile
to
the
open
sea.
When Isis
heard
of
this,
she
put
on a
mourning
garment
and
went,
lamenting,
in
search
of
Osiris.
Meanwhile,
the
chest
containing
the
corpse
of
Osiris
was
washed
up
at
Byblos,
where
a
beautiful
sycamore
tree
grew
around
it.
The
king
of
Byblos
liked
the
tree
so
much that he had
it
made
into
a
pillar
for his
palace.
Isis
eventually
found
the
pillar
and
successfully begged
the
king
for it.
She
then
set
sail,
taking
the coffin
to
Buto,
where
her
son,
Horus,
was
being
brought
up.
One
night
Seth,
who
was
out
hunting
by
moonlight,
found
the coffin.
He
recognised
the
body
and
cut
it
into
pieces,
which
he
then
scattered.
Isis
then sailed
through
the marshes
in
a
papyrus
boat
in
search of the
pieces
of Osiris's
body.
She
managed
to find all the
pieces
except
the
penis,
which had been eaten
by
fish. Osiris visited Horus
from
the
underworld and
trained
him for
battle.
After
a
long
struggle,
Horus
defeated Seth.
Isis,
having
managed
to
have
sexual
intercourse
with
Osiris
after
his
death,
gave
birth
to
Harpocrates,
who
was
born
prematurely
and
was
weak
in
his
lower limbs.
Plutarch
has
probably
conflated and
attempted
to
reconcile
several
versions
of
the
myth.
The
two
searches
of
Isis,
the
one
ending
with the
discovery
of the coffin
at
Byblos
and the
other
leading
to
the
discovery
of
the scattered
members,
look like
two
distinct
versions of
the
same
myth,
each
culminating
in
a
resurrection.
Resurrection is the
major
theme of the
Isis/Osiris
mythology.
In
Egyptian religion
Isis
was
above
all
a
goddess
of
life: she restored
life
annually
to
Osiris,
who
in
his
aspect
of
god
of
the Nile
flooded the
land and
gave
fertility
and
growth
to
the
crops.
23
See
J.
G.
Griffiths
(1970), p.
7.
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382
R.C.C.Fynes
The
goddess
PattinT
has
long
been
a
popular object
of
devotion
among
both
Sinhalese
and Tamils in
Sri
Lanka.
In
the south of
India
her
cult has
become
merged
with
the
worship
of
DraupadT,
BhagavatT,
and KalT.
Dikshitar,
writing
in
1939,
was
able
to
report
that festivals were still held in her honour at a
village
near
Negapatam, Tanjore
District,
in the
region
of
Arrur,
Madura
District,
and
amongst
the Toda
tribes
in
the
Nilgiris,
which
is
evidence that
suggests
that
her cult
was
formerly
more
widespread.24
The
PattinT
story
was
the basis of the
Tamil
epic,
the
Silappadikdram
(Lay
of
the
Anklet),
and its
sequel,
the
Manimekalai.
(I
shall discuss
their dates
below.)
The
milieu
of
these
epics
is
the merchant
classes,
among
whom
Jain
and Buddhist
influences
were
strong.
As
in
the Isis
myths,
the
central
event
in
the
PattinT
mythology
is
the
death
and
resurrection
of her
husband.
In
Indian
myth,
the
resurrection
of
the dead
is
rare;
this
is
not
surprising,
since
the
culture believes that the
dead
are
reborn elsewhere. PattinT's
name
is
probably
derived
from Sanskrit
PatnT,
"wife";
in
her devotion
to
her
husband
she
is
playing
the
role
of
the
perfect
wife
to
the
hilt.
Just
as
Osiris
is
killed and
resurrected
in
the
Isis
myths,
so
Palanga,
PattinT's
husband,
is
killed
and
resurrected
in
the
PattinT
mythology. Obeyesekere
in his
monumental
study
of
the
PattinT cult
gives
the
text
of
a
Sinhalese ritual
enactment
of the
story
of
the death and
resurrection
of
Palanga,25
which he
saw
enacted
twice in
1956
and
once
in
i960.
This
was
a
public
performance
in
which
verses
relating
to
the
story
of
PattinT and
Palanga
are
sung
while
a man
representing
the
dead
Palanga
lies
on
a
mat.
According
to
Obeyesekere,
the
central features
of
the ritual
are
the
killing
and death of PattinT's
husband,
Palanga,
her
search for
him,
her role
as
"mater
dolorosa",
and her resurrection of him.
The
story
is
very
similar
to
that of
the
Silappadikdram.
In this version PattinT
gave
Palanga
her
gem
studded
anklet
to
be
sold
in
the
town
of
Madura,
capital
of the
Pandyan
Kingdom,
whereupon
he
was
falsely
arrested
for
stealing
it
and
put
to
death
by
the
king.
Then
follows the
story
of PattinT's
grief-filled
search for her husband.
In
the ritual
enactment,
when PattinT
finally
finds his
corpse,
the
priest representing
her bends
over
the
man
representing
Palanga
and
sings
songs
of
lamentation.26
The
climax
of
the ritual
is
the
resurrection
of
Palanga brought
about
by
the
power
of
PattinT's
tejas. Tejas, literally
brilliance,
refers
to
superhuman
moral
power.
The
following
verse
is
sung:
O
the
great
fatigue
she
suffered
The
power
of
her
tejas
Bring
a
singing
priest,
Utter
the
"resurrection",
and
calm
the
fire 27
Obeyesekere
states
that
at
this
point
Palanga
gets
up
and
moves
off
the floor.
Compare
the
lamentation
of
PattinT
with
the
myth
of
Isis
as
related
by
Plutarch.
Here,
when
Isis
found the coffin
containing
the
body
of
Osiris,
"she
opened
the
chest
and,
pressing
her face
to
that of
Osiris,
embraced
him and
began
to
cry".28
The crucial elements
in
both
myths
are
the
cradling
of the
corpse
and
the lamentation
of the
goddess.
In the
24
V. R. Dikshitar
(1939), PP-
245-76.
25
G.
Obeyesekere
(1984),
PP-
245-82.
26
Ibid.,
pp.
265ff.
27
Ibid.,
p.
270,
verse
191.
28
Plutarch,
De hide
et
Osiride,
357d.
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Isis and Pattim
383
verse
quoted
from the
Sinhalese
ritual
drama
Palahga
is
explicitly
stated
to
have been
resurrected
by
the
power
of
PattinT's
tejas,
which she had
gained by
suffering.
The idea that
power
can
be
gained
by suffering
is
central
to
Indian
thought.
Indians and
Ceylonese
hearing
the
myth
of Isis
may
have
thought
that her resurrection of Osiris was not due to
her
omnipotence
as a
supreme
goddess,
but
was
due
to
the
power
she
had accumulated
as
a
result of her
suffering.
Plutarch
emphasises
the fact that it
was
Isis's
sufferings
which
led
to
her
deification.29
In
both
myths
it
would
seem
that the
cradling
of
the
corpse
and the
lamentations
provide
the
trigger
which allows this
accumulated
power
to
be externalised
and directed
to
the resurrection
of
the
corpse.
This
power
can
also be harnessed
to
destructive
purpose;
by
it PattinT
destroys
the
Pandyan king
and
the
town
of
Madura,
and
also
strikes
down
an
obstructive
ferryman.30
According
to
Plutarch,
Isis,
upon
finding
Osiris's
corpse, gave
out
such
a
loud
cry
that the
younger
son
of the
king
of
Byblos
fell
down
dead.31
Comparable
to
the
Sinhalese
resurrection
drama is the
account
Plutarch
gives
of
the
Egyptian
Isis
festival
held
in
autumn,
a
time when the
priests
would
celebrate
the
lamentation
of
Isis
for the dead
Osiris,
who
was
known
to
have
disappeared
because the
nights
had
lengthened
and the Nile had sunk
within
its
banks.
According
to
Plutarch,32
the
priests,
amid
other
mournful
ceremonies,
would
drape
a
gilded
cow
with black
linen,
which
was
then
exposed
for four
days
as a
sign
of
Isis's
mourning.
On
the
night
of
the
fourth
day,
the
priest
would
go
down
to
the
sea,
taking
a
sacred
chest
which
contained
a
golden
box,
into which clear water was
poured.
At
this
point
the
spectators
would
cry
out
"Osiris
is
found "
Then the
priests
would mix
together
earth,
water
and
unguents,
from
which
they
would
form
a
crescent
shaped
figure,
which
they
would
then clothe and
worship.
Common
to
both the
Isis
and the
PattinT
cults is the
public
enactment
of
the
resurrection of the
husband
figure. Despite
the different
ways
of
expressing
it,
the central
event
remains
the
same.
Another
parallel
between
the Isis and
PattinT
cults is the
dichotomy
both
goddesses
share
in
being
at
once
virgins
and
mothers.
Obeyesekere
describes
how
PattinT
is
viewed
as
both
virgin
and
mother
in
various cultural
contexts
and the various
oppositions
and
resolutions
to
which
this
dual
perception
has
given
rise.33
In
Sri Lanka the
priests
and
practitioners
of
the
PattinT cult have
resolved this
dichotomy by
the
belief
that
Palanga
could
not
have had
intercourse
with
PattinT because he
was
impotent.
Obeyesekere
describes
popular
Sinhalese
mythic
dramas which
express
the
impotence
and castration
of
Palahga.
Thus
PattinT's
motherhood
is
able
to
be
universalised:
as a
goddess
she
is
mother of
everyone.34
Isis's
aspect
as
universal
mother
is
well
known.
She
was
worshipped
as
"great
mother
of the
gods",
"mother
of
gods
and
men",
etc.
She
was
also
a
goddess
of
love,
being
identified with
Aphrodite
at
many
places
throughout
the
Mediterranean.
Such
were
her
powers
in
absorbing
cults of other
goddesses
that,
in
seeming
opposition
to her
aspects
as
a
mother and
a
love
goddess,
she
also
became
identified
with
Artemis,
the
virgin
huntress.
According
to
Witt,
the
assimilation of Artemis
to
Isis
had
taken
place
before
the
start
of
29
Ibid.
30
G.
Obeyesekere
(1984),
pp.
263f.
31
Plutarch,
De hide
et
Osiride,
357d.
32
Ibid.,
366d-e.
33
G.
Obeyesekere
(1984), pp.
451-82.
34
Ibid.,
pp.
46of.
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9/16
384
R.
C.
C.
Fynes
the Christian era.35
In
a
hymn
written
in
Greek
some
time in the
second
century
a.d.,
Isis
is
said
to
be
identified
with
Artemis
in
the
Cyclades
;36
the evidence
from this
hymn
will
be discussed
more
fully
below.
The
moon
imagery
which Plutarch
describes
in his
account
of the
autumn
Isis
festival
and
which
also
pervades Apuleius's Metamorphoses,
a
text
which
culminates
in
an
initiation
into the
Isis
cult,
also
underlines
the
connection with
Artemis,
the
lunar
goddess. According
to
Plutarch,
the
statues
of
Isis
which bear
horns
are
representations
of
the
crescent
moon.37
Isis
demanded
chastity
from
her
followers.
The
chastity
which Isis
demanded
of
their
girl-friends
is
a common
complaint
of the
Latin
elegiac
love
poets.38
The
increasing
popularity
of
Isis
as
a
virgin
mother
can
be
seen
in
her
iconography,
in
which
the
representations
of
Isis
nursing
the
infant Horus
prefigure,
and
merge
into,
the
iconography
of
the
Virgin
Mary
holding
the infant
Jesus.
In themyth of Isis and Osiris
as
related by Plutarch, Isis,when reassembling the scattered
pieces
of
Osiris's
body,
was
unable
to
find
the
penis,
which has been
eaten
by
fish.
Here
we
find
a
castration
myth
which
parallels
the castration
myths
which surround
Palanga
in
the
PattinT
myths.
Although, according
to
Plutarch,
Isis
was
by
some
means
able
to
have
intercourse
with
the
dead and
penisless
Osiris,
the
child
to
whom
she
gave
birth,
Harpocrates,
was
born
prematurely
and
was
weak in his lower
limbs.39
Is it
possible
to
see
in
this
lameness
another
symbol
re-inforcing
the theme of
impotence
and
castration
?
Another theme
shared
by
the Isis and
the
PattinT cults is that
of
initiation
and/or
rebirth
in
an
underground
chamber.
At
the
temple
of
KalT
at
Kotunkolur,
which
was
originally
a
temple
of
PattinT,
there
is
an
underground
chamber.
According
to
Obeyesekere,40
this
"squat underground
chamber
and
the
underground
passage
originally
had
to
do with the
initiation
of
priests
and
devotees of the
cult.
A
neophyte
is
reborn
as a
'female'
priest
or
convert
of
the
goddess_The
squat
chamber
would then
be
a
symbolic tomb/womb,
and
the
underground
tunnel would
represent
the
process
of
rebirth
into
a new
Identity".
Obeyesekere
found
a
similar tunnel
at
the Tinivilvamamala
temple
of SrT
Rama in the
Palghat
district.41
There the
practice
of
the
devotees,
who still
occasionally
pass
through
the
tunnel,
is
called
"punarjani"
or
rebirth,
as
is
the
tunnel
itself. There
seems
to
be
no
parallel
recorded
elsewhere
in Indian
religion
for such
a
ritual
of rebirth.
Professor S.
K.
Nagaraju
has informed
me
that
similar
tunnels
leading
to
underground
chambers,
probably
dating
from
the
early
centuries
a.d.,
have been found
in
the
Western
Ghats,
but
there
is
no
evidence
as
to
whether
they
were
used for
the rites
of rebirth and
initiation.
Our
only
account
of
an
initiation
into
the Isis
cult
is that of
Apuleius
in his
Metamorphoses.
His
account
is
probably
based
on
his
own
experiences
as an
initiate.
He
relates
that
he
was
dressed
in
a new
linen
garment
and
led
by
the
priests
into
the
inner
sanctum
(sacrarii
penetralia)
of
the
temple.
Apuleius
says
that
he will
only
reveal
what
is
lawful
for
an
initiate
to
reveal
to
the
profane,
but relates
that
"I
approached
the marches
of
Death,
and,
having
set foot on the threshold of
Proserpina,
I returned,
having
been
carried
through
all
the elements.
In
the
middle
of
the
night
I
saw
the
sun
shining
with
35
See the
chapter,
"Great
Artemis-Isis",
in
R. E.
Witt
(1971),
pp.
141-51.
36
P.
Oxy.
1380, 84-5
=
Grenfell
and
Hunt
(1915),
xi,
pp.
i9off.
37
Plutarch,
De
hide
et
Osiride,
372a.
38
See,
for
instance,
Tibullus,
I,
3, 23-32;
Propertius,
II, 33,
I-4.
39
Plutarch,
De hide
et
Osiride,
358b.
40
G.
Obeyesekere
(1984),
PP-
535n\
41
Ibid.,
p.
538.
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10/16
Isis
and
PattinT
385
brilliant
light.
I
entered
the
presence
of
the
gods
below and
the
gods
on
high
and
worshipped
them
close
by."42
Apuleius
does
not
tell
us
whether the
sacrarii
penetralia
in
which
his
initiation
took
place
were
situated
underground,
but
the
mythical
symbolism
of this
inner
sanctum
as
tomb/womb bears the same interpretation as that suggested by Obeyesekere for the
underground
chamber
at
Kotunkolur.
Plutarch
is
able
to
confirm
the
symbolic
identification
of
the
hidden
chamber
with
a
tomb
by
his
description
of
Isis
and
Osiris
temples
in
Egypt.
According
to
Plutarch,
they
contained
secret,
dark and
subterranean
robing
rooms
in
the
manner
of
coffin chambers
and
sepulchres.43
Archaeology
confirms
Plutarch's
description,
since
Egyptian
Isis
temples
of the Ptolemaic and Graeco-Roman
period
often contain subterranean
chambers.
The
crypts
at
the
temple
at
Denderah
were
completed
in
the late Ptolemaic
period,
and there
is
a
subterranean
chapel
dedicated
to
Osiris
dating
from the
Imperial
era
at
Karnak.44
Besides
being symbols
of death
and
rebirth,
hidden chambers also have
a
practical
aspect,
since
mysteries
have
to
be
kept
hidden from the uninitiated. The theme
of
secrecy
and revelation
suggests
another
correspondence
between the
Isis
and
PattinT
cults:
the
wearing
of
a
veil.
The
wearing
of
a
veil is
an
important
element of
the
iconography
of
PattinT,
but
is less
prominent
in
the
iconography
of Isis.
However,
Isis is sometimes
depicted
in
Graeco
Roman
representations
wearing
a
head-dress
with
a
veil
which
covers
her hair
and
falls
over
her shoulders.
Obeyesekere
reports
that in
contemporary
Sinhalese
ritual
the
priest
representing
PattinT wears a
long
veil, called a mottakkili, which does not cover the face,
but falls back
over
the
shoulders.45
According
to
Obeyesekere
such veils
have
never
been
worn
by
women
in
Sri
Lanka. The
wearing
of
a
veil
is
not
a
feature of the
iconography
of
any
other Indian
goddess.
Obeyesekere
also
illustrates
two stone
sculptures
in
the
secret
chamber
at
Kotunkolur
which
depict
PattinT
wearing
such
a
veil.46 Plutarch
quotes
a verse
inscribed
on a
statue
of Isis:
"
I
am
all
that
was,
and is and shall
be;
and
no
mortal
has
ever
lifted
my
mantle
(tt tt\os)
".47
Now
a
rrerrXos
is
not
a
head-veil,
but it
could
be
thought
of
as
a
veiling
garment.
Obeyesekere speculated
that the veil
was
introduced
into
the
PattinT
iconography
by
Syrian
traders
visiting
India
in
the third
century
a.d.
Is
it
not
more
probable
that PattinT's
veil
originated
in
the
iconography
of
Isis?
The cult of
a
mother
goddess
who
resurrects
a
dead
god
is
foreign
to
Indian
religion.
Obeyesekere thought
that "it
is
impossible
to
derive the
PattinT
cult from
any
specific
goddess
cult of
West
Asia and the
Mediterranean.
It is
equally
impossible
to
specify
which
community
from the Western Asian
area
brought
the
original
form of the
PattinT
cult",
but
went on
to
suggest
that it
was
introduced
by
Syriac-speaking
traders.48
I
have
already
demonstrated the
affinities the
PattinT
cult
shares with the Isis
cult,
and
that
the Isis
cult
was
favoured
by
the
western
merchants who
were
based
at
Coptos
on
the
Nile
and
at
the Red
Sea ports of Myos Hormos and Berenice. It is my view that, if we
accept
with
42
Apuleius,
Metamorphosen,
XI, 23.
43
Plutarch,
De
hide
et
Osiride,
359a.
44
See
E.
Bevan
(1927), p.
357-
45
G.
Obeyesekere
(1984), PP-
538ff.
46
Ibid.,
plate
25.
47
Plutarch,
De hide
et
Osiride,
354b.
48
G.
Obeyesekere
(1984), p.
534.
16
JRA
3
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11/16
386
R.
C. C.
Fynes
Obeyesekere
the
non-Indian
origins
of the
original
elements
of the
PattinT
cult,
then the
most
likely
hypothesis
is that
they
were
introduced,
in
the first three centuries
a.d.,
by
western
traders who
sailed from
Egypt
whose
most
favoured
deity
was
Isis.
Can
anything
more
be
learnt about the actual
points
of
cultural
contact
between the Indians and the
Westerners
?
Obeyesekere
has
shown that
PattinT
was
originally
(and
has
largely
remained)
a
deity
of
Buddhists
and
Jains.49
The
lay
people
who
supported
the
monks
of the non-vedic
sramana
traditions
are
likely
to
have
had
the
most
direct
contact
with
foreign
traders,
since
Buddhism
and
Jainism
fostered
a
mercantile
ethic,
whereas
Brahminism
was
opposed
to
it.
From
the
time
of
Asoka,
Buddhism and
Jainism
had been
disseminated
into
the southern
regions
of India.
Jaina
monks and
laymen
emigrated
from the
north
into the Tamil
areas,
and Karnataka is still today a stronghold of theDigambara (sky-clad) sect of Jaina monks.
Moreover
Buddhism survived
in
Tamilnadu,
at
least
vestigially,
till the
eighteenth
century.
The
earliest
epigraphic
evidence
for
Buddhism
and
Jainism
in
South India
comes
from
a
group
of
inscriptions
written
in
the Brahmi
script,
but whose
language
is
early
Tamil
with
an
admixture of
Prakrit
vocabulary.50
According
to
Zvelebil
this
language
is
the
"hybridised
Tamil
jargon
of Buddhist bhikkhus
and/or
Jaina
munis". These
inscriptions
are
not
dated,
but the
earliest
are
usually
assigned
to
the
start
of the
second
century
B.C.
The earliest evidence for the PattinT
cult
comes
from
the
Tamil
epic,
the
Silappadikdram.
The
traditional
date
of
its
composition
is
the first
two
centuries
a.d.,
but modern
scholarly
opinion
assigns
it
to
a
date somewhere
between
the
fifth and
the
eighth
centuries
a.d.,
although
it
contains
material
of
a
much earlier date.
In the
Silappadikdram
the Cera
king,
Senguttavan,
is
said
to
have
endowed
grants
to
a
temple
of
PattinT in
the Cera
kingdom,51
and from
a
supposed synchronicity
between
Senguttavan
and
the
Sinhalese
ruler
Gajabahu,
whose
dates
are
given
in
the
Pali chronicle
the
Mahdvamsa,
it has been
argued
that
the
Silappadikdram
was
composed
shortly
after
a.d.
171,
and that
the
PattinT
cult
was
flourishing
in Tamilnadu
at
that
time.52
Obeyesekere
has shown
that
synchronism
to
be
untenable, and, as stated, the epic is several centuries later than that date. However,
as
Obeyesekere points
out,
although
Senguttavan's
donations
to
the
PattinT
shrine
may
not
be
historical
fact,
the
statement
of their
occurrence
in the
epic
acts
"as
a
charter
legitimising
the
antiquity
and
pedigree
of
a
central
PattinT cult
existing
at
the time
the
poem
was
written".53
It is
certainly
probable,
although
direct evidence
is
lacking,
that
the
PattinT
cult
was
flourishing
and
receiving
royal
patronage
in
the
early
centuries
a.d.
The central
events
of
the
Silappadikdram
and the Sinhalese
PattinT
myths
take
place
in
the
Pandyan
kingdom,
whose
capital
was
the
city
of
Madura.
This
was
the
city
where
PattinT's
husband
went to
sell
the
golden
anklet,
where
he
was
falsely
accused
and
executed,
and which
PattinT,
in
revenge,
caused
to
be
burned
to
the
ground.
The
Pandyan
kingdom played
an
important
role
in
the trade with
theWest
and,
although
Madura is
not
mentioned
by
the
author of the
Periplus,
both
Pliny
and
Ptolemy
knew that
it
was
the
49
Ibid.,
pp.
511-29;
G.
Obeyesekere
(1980).
50
The best
treatment
of these
inscriptions
is that of
K.
Zvelebil
(1964).
51
Silappadikaram,
XXX, 147-54.
52
See V.
R. R.
Dikshitar
(1939),
p.
14
and
pp.
370-3.
53
G.
Obeyesekere
(1984),
p.
603.
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12/16
Isis
and
PattinT
387
capital
of the
Pandyan kingdom,
and
Pliny
correctly
cites its inland
situation.54
Roman
aurei
dating
from the
first
two
centuries
a.d.
have
been found
in
the
district
around
Madura,
and hoards
of
Roman coins
have
been
found
in
other
parts
of
the
Pandyan
kingdom.
About
one
hundred
miles
to
the
north of
Madura
lay
the
Coimbatore
gap,
along
which
many
Roman coins have been found. Their distribution
pattern
ledMortimer
Wheeler
to
suggest
that
traffic
from
Arikemedu,
the
Roman
trading
station
on
the
east
coast,
passed along
this
route
to
the
west coast
ports.55
A
verse
in
the
Silappadikaram
mentions
that the
gates
of Madura
were
guarded
by
Yavana
swordsmen,56
and it has been
suggested
that
these
Yavanas
were
western
mercenaries.57
However,
the
word
Yavana,
although originally
applied
to
Greeks,
came
to
be used
to
describe
the
Sakas
who
invaded
north-west
India,
and
was
then used
to
describe
any
kind of
foreigner.
Nevertheless,
it is
still
possible
that the
verse
reflects
a
situation
at
a
time when
the
Pandyan
kingdom
was
in
direct
trading
contact
with theWest.
Our
only
direct
evidence
to
show that
southern
Indians
and
western
traders discussed
religious
ideas
comes
from the
Periplus.
The
author tells
us
that there
was a
cult
of
the
goddess
at
Cape
Comorin,
which he calls
Komar
or
Komarei,
a
hellenisation
of
the Tamil
form
of
Sanskrit
KumarT,
which
means
"maiden";58
it
was
a
port
of
the
Pandyan
kingdom,
and
is
mentioned
in the
Silappadikaram.
The
author
of
the
Periplus
tells
us
that
"men
who
wish
to
spend
their
remaining
days
in
a
religious
life
remain there in
celibacy.
There
they
come
and
wash
themselves,
for
it is
said that the
goddess
once
stayed
there
and
washed
herself".
It
will be
remembered that Isis
demanded
celibacy
from
her
followers.
This Indian
goddess
is called
"97
0 oV
by
the author of the
Periplus.
The assimilation of
foreign
to
hellenic
deities
is
characteristic
of Greek
thought,
but it
is
my
view
that
if the
author of
the
Periplus
had been asked
to
give
a name
to
"17
0
oV\
he
would
have
replied
"Isis". The
author of the
Periplus
obviously
spent
some
time
discussing religious practice
with the
Indians
at
Cape
Comorin.
It
seems
highly
probable
that
such
discussions
between
western
traders and
Indians
took
place
elsewhere,
and
provided
the
basis
for
the
transmission
of
religious
ideas.
The
holy
men
who
devoted
themselves
to
the cult
of
KumarT
at
Cape
Comorin
performed
ablutions
in
honour of the
goddess.
Such
ablutions
were
also
an
important
element
in
the
worship
of
Isis:
Apuleius
describes how
Lucius
bathed himself
in
the
sea
and
plunged
his
head
seven
times
under
the
waves
before
addressing
his first
prayer
to
Isis.59
Receptacles
which held
water
for
purification
purposes
were
a
feature
of
Isis
temples
in
Egypt
and
the
Mediterranean.60
Miniature
tanks,
dating
from
the Roman
period,
were
found
by
Petrie in
his excavations of the
temple
of
Isis
at
Coptos.61
These tanks
were
made
of
stone,
and
Petrie
suggests
that
they
were
sunk
into the
floor
of the
temple
to
enable
worshippers
to
wash
their feet
in
private.
Similar miniature
tanks made
of
terracotta
have
been found
at
sites
throughout
northern
and
western
India.
The
majority
of
them
date
from the first three centuries a.d.,
although
some are earlier.62
They
are
frequently
found
54
Pliny,
Naturalis
Historia,
VI,
105;
Ptolemy,
Geographia,
VII, I,
89.
55
For
Roman
aurei
from
Madura
see
Paula
J.
Turner
(1989),
pp.
64-5
and the
distribution
map
on
p.
119.
See
also R.
E. M.
Wheeler
(1951), pp.
65-7.
56
Silappadikdram,
XIV,
62-70.
57
By
P.
Meile
(1940).
58
Periplus
58.
59
Apuleius,
Metamorphosen,
XI,
1.
60
See
chapter
"Ablution facilities
and
ritual",
in
R. A.
Wild
(1981), pp.
128-48.
61
W.
M. F.
Petrie
(1896)
41.
62
See article in A.
Ghosh
(1989),
i,
pp.
277f
16-2
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13/16
388
R.
C.
C.
Fynes
near
Jain
or
Buddhist
stupas.
They
come
in
square,
rectangular,
round and
oval
shapes,
and
often have
a
flight
of
steps
leading
to
the
centre.
Many
have
lamps
and
birds modelled
on
their rims and
aquatic
animals,
such
as
water
snakes,
frogs
and
tortoises
on
their
floors.
Some have aminiature
figure
of a nude
goddess standing
in a shrine on one of their
sides,
while others
have
figures
of
drummers
or
musicians
on
their rims.
It
has been
suggested
that these features show
a
link
with
a
"
Hellenised-Parthian
form
of
the mother
goddess",
and
that
the model tanks
were
introduced into India
by
Sakas
and
Indo-Parthians.63
The
temptation
to
see
some
connection between the
Egyptian
and
the
Indian model tanks
should
probably
be
avoided,
since the
Egyptian
tanks
were,
as
Petrie
suggested, probably
functional
in
character,
whereas
the
Indian tanks
were
votive
in
character and
were
probably
the
dedicational substitutes
for
full-sized
tanks.
Evidence which
shows
that the
iconography
of Isis
was
known
in
western
India in
the
second
century
a.d.
comes
from
a
Sanskrit
astrological
text
called
the
Yavanajdtaka
of
Sphujidhvaja.64
This
is
a verse
version,
done in
a.d.
269/270
of
an
earlier
prose
translation,
done
in
a.d.
149/150
of
a
Greek
astrological
text
which
had
probably originated
in
Alexandria;
neither
the
Greek
original
nor
the
Sanskrit
prose
version has
survived.65
The
first
chapter
of
Sphujidhvaja's
treatise
describes
the
iconography
of the
signs
of the
zodiac,
and
Pingree
has
shown that the
iconography
of
Virgo,
who is
portrayed
holding
a
torch
while
standing
in
a
boat,
is based
on
that of Isis
Pelagia,
the
goddess
of
seafarers.66
The
Yavanajdtaka
is
a
product
of
the
school
of
astronomers
based
at
Ujjain,
and
is
not
a
product
of the Tamil areas inwhich we know that the PattinT cult flourished. However, it does
provide
evidence that the
iconography
of
Isis
was
known
in
India
in
the second
century
A.D.
So
far
I
have
only
discussed
the
possibility
that
the
cult
of
Isis
was
taken
to
India
by
traders
sailing
from
Egypt.
But Indians
could
also have learnt about the
Isis cult while
themselves
visiting Egypt.
Their
presence
in
Egypt
is
attested
by
Dio
Chrysostom's
32nd
discourse,
which
was
delivered
by
Dio in
the theatre
at
Alexandria,
possibly
in
the
reign
of
Trajan.
In
this
speech
Dio refers
to
Alexandria's trade
in
the Red Sea and Indian Ocean
and
says
that
he could
see
Bactrians,
Scythians,
Persians and Indians
among
the members
of his
audience.67
The novelist
Xenophon
of
Ephesus
illustrates
one
of the
ways
in
which
religious
ideas could
be
exchanged
in
Alexandria.
His
novel,
which
is
generally
accepted
to
be
a
work of the
early
second
century
a.d.,68
describes
the
trials and
tribulations
of
two
star-crossed
lovers,
Anthia and
Habrocames. At
one
point
in the
story
Anthia
was
captured
by
robbers
who
sold
her
to
some
merchants.69
They
looked after
her
well,
and
in
turn
sold
her
to
an
Indian
king
who
happened
to
be
visiting
Alexandria
on
a
trip
in which
sight
seeing
and
business
were
combined.
The
Indian
king,
to
whom
Xenophon
gives
the
Egyptian
name
Psammis,
wanted
to
make
love
to
Anthia,
but
she
resisted
his
advances,
claiming
that her father had dedicated her to Isis until the time of her
marriage,
which was
63
Ibid.,
p.
278.
See
also Sir
John
Marshall
(1951),
ii,
pp.
463-8.
64
Ed.
and
trans.
D.
Pingree
(1978).
65
See
D.
Pingree
(1963),
pp.
225ff.
66
Ibid.,
p.
226.
Yavanajataka,
I, 14-25.
67
Dio
Chrysostom,
Orationes, XXXII,
36,
40.
68
See
J.
Gwyn
Griffiths
(1978).
The work is
not
securely
dated,
but
a
terminus
ante
quern
of
a.d.
263
is
thought
to
be
provided
by
its mention of
the
Artemision,
which
was
destroyed
in that
year.
69
Xenophon
of
Ephesus,
De
amoribus,
III,
11.
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14/16
Isis
and
PattinT
389
still
one
year away.
She told Psammis that
if
he violated
her,
Isis
would
curse
him
and that
her
vengeance
would be terrible.
Psammis,
who
was
god-fearing
like
all
barbarians,
refrained from
harming
her and
joined
her
in
the
worship
of Isis.
This
story
is,
of
course,
pure
fiction,
but
Xenophon's
novel does
provide
an
accurate
picture
of social life
in Roman
Egypt.
Xenophon displays
a
good
knowledge
of the
geography, ethnography
and
religious background
of
Egypt.70
He
also knows that
Coptos
in
Upper
Egypt
was a
trading
centre
frequented by large
numbers of merchants
who
journeyed
to
Axum
and
India,71
and it
has been
suggested
that he learnt this from
merchants
in
Alexandria.72
Contact between
western
slaves,
particularly
those
with
some
degree
of
education,
and
their
Indian
owners
must
have led
to
the
exchange
of ideas. The
export
of
western
slaves,
musicians for the
court
and pretty girls for the royal harem, to the realm of the Western
Ksatrapas
is
attested
by
the
Periplus.73
I
conclude
by mentioning
one
final
piece
of
evidence from
Egypt.
A
papyrus
from
Oxyrhynchus
contains
a
long hymn,
of which
almost
three
hundred
lines
remain,
in
praise
of
Isis.74
It
is
written
in
Greek,
and
probably
dates from the
reign
of Hadrian.
It
has been
suggested
that this
invocation
of
Isis,
which "breathes
the
atmosphere
of
cosmopolitan
hellenism",
may
be
a
translation
of
an
Egyptian
original.75
It
has been
widely
used
as
evidence for the
extent
of the
Isis
cult,
since it
consists
of
a
geographical
listing
of
places
where
she
was
worshipped
and of
goddesses
with
whom she
was
identified
or
assimilated.
Lines
224-7
place
Isis in
an
Indian
context.
They
may
be
translated:
"You
bring
forth the
flood tide of
rivers,
in
Egypt
of the
Nile...,
in
India of the
Ganges".
This,
of
course,
may
be
mere
hyperbole.
Line
103
is
more
definite.
It
states
that
in
India
Isis
was
called
Maia
(ev
TvBols
Matav).
In
Greek
mythology
Maia
was a
minor
deity,
one
of
the
daughters
of
Atlas,
and
in Roman
mythology
she
was
associated
with Vulcan. It
is
difficult
to see
any
relationship
between this
rather
shadowy
classical
deity
and
any
of
the
goddesses
of Indian
mythology.
Norden
suggested
that Maia
might
be
an
attempt
to
render
in
Greek
Maya,
the
name
of the
Buddha's
mother,76
but this
theory
has
met
with little
acceptance.77
A
more
plausible theory
would
be that
Maia is
a
hellenisation of mad, the Prakritised form
of
the
nominative
of
Sanskrit
Mdtr,
which
means
"mother". Mad
would have
been
pronounced
in
some areas
with
a
glide
"y".
Thus
the
hymn
could be evidence
for the
worship
of
Isis
as a
mother
goddess
in
India
as
well
as
in
Egypt
and
the
rest
of
the
Mediterranean
world.
So
perhaps
in
his
principal
contention Sir
William
Jones
was
right
after all.
In
detail,
of
course,
he
was
wrong.
That
could
hardly
be
otherwise:
in
his
day, early
Indian
and
Egyptian
chronology
were
not
as
yet
understood,
and
ideas about
religion
were
vague
and
often
naive.
But the
evidence
I
have
gathered
suggests
that
Isis