Votive Tablets Research Articles

Funerary Practices at Pyu Sites in Myanmar and the Appearance of Buddhist Artifacts from the Fifth to Sixth Century CE Period

Abstract: An ongoing research question in Myanmar (Burma) is to what extent, and in what specific part of the first millennium CE, traces of Buddhism from India can be observed in the early urban “Pyu” culture. Burial urns feature significantly in the archaeological record, but they do not have any specifically Buddhist features. Some funerary shrines feature a brick plinth at one end. If these were bases for stūpas or Buddha images, then Indian influence could be attributed as early as the second–third century CE period. No evidence has yet been found of what these plinths carried. A later burial complex, dated by radiocarbon to the sixth–seventh century period, included Buddhist “votive tablets.” In another architectural form, the reliquary stūpa, we find a Buddhist practice directly comparable to Indian practices of the early-to-mid first millennium CE. On the evidence of paleography and art history, the Pyu Buddhist stūpas may have been operational in the fifth–sixth century CE period. The earliest radiocarbon date range for a building containing Buddhist material is also the fifth–sixth century.

Боги в Додоне

Introduction. The history of the Dodon Oracle has always attracted the attention of foreign researchers. It is reasoned with the inaccessibility of the sanctuary for pilgrims, its antiquity and mystery, as well as the bizarre landscape of the area attracted the attention of both ancient authors and modern researchers to it. The country of Epirus itself, where the sanctuary was located, was the most remote point where the Greek world came into contact with the world of barbarians. Materials and Methods. The study is based both on narrative sources, which are presented by ancient authors, and on monuments of material culture, which are terracotta and votive tablets. Their comparison and comprehensive study allows us to reach the necessary conclusions. Analysis. The main deity of the Dodona sanctuary, one of the oldest in Ancient Greece and the oracle that existed with it, was the supreme god of the Greeks Zeus, which is confirmed by various sources. However, already in the time of Homer, the goddess Dione became Zeus’s mate, who can be recognized as the second most important deity not only in Dodona, but also throughout Epirus. Evidence of this is the presence of a temple located on the sacred territory, as well as numerous votive tablets mentioning the name of the goddess. Confirming the presence of cults of other gods on the territory of Dodona is very problematic due to the extreme scarcity of sources. On the territory of the sacred territory, temenos, figurines and other images of Hercules, Aphrodite, Apollo and Themis were discovered. The most likely is the presence of the cult of Aphrodite, who, according to mythology, was not only the daughter of Dione, but also shared the same temple with her. The presence of the cult of Apollo could be explained by the connection of the deity with prophetic activity in general, and the appearance of the cult of Hercules in the sanctuary could be associated with the creation of the heroic genealogy of the Molossian ruling dynasty. Results. The emergence of new cults in Dodona was associated with an increase in the authority of the sanctuary, which over time acquired first regional and then interregional significance. Another reason for the emergence of new cults in the sanctuary could be the increase in the number of pilgrims in this difficult-to-visit region.

Studies in Pyu Epigraphy II. Pyu Inscriptions on Molded Tablets: A Way Forward?

Abstract: The Pyu language is known from some 150 inscriptions, a few of them long and most of them short. Almost none can be reliably dated, but paleographical and archeological evidence suggests that the earliest dates from the first half of the first millennium CE. Decipherment of the Pyu language has, thus far, been based mostly on bilingual or multilingual inscriptions. Such inscriptions are few, so further progress will have to be based on monolingual ones. This paper examines a set of short Pyu monolingual inscriptions found mostly on molded tablets. Molded tablets (also called votive tablets) inscribed in known languages such as Pali, Old Mon, and Old Burmese display a relatively narrow range of content, and we would expect comparable content to be reflected in the Pyu examples.

Portable Faith: Toward a Non-Site-Specific History of Buddhist Art in Japan

From small-scale shrines to handheld icons and votive tablets, portability has long factored into the design and reception of Buddhist art. This article charts the uses and design of portable objects that are as instrumental and effective as their monumental counterparts in disseminating Buddhism in Japan. The article first examines the circulation of miniature icons that served as diplomatic gifts in the sixth and seventh centuries. It then turns to figurative plaques from Tang-dynasty China (618–907) that were modified for votive and architectural uses in early Japan. Lastly, the article examines the reasons underlying the enduring popularity of portable shrines in the archipelago. In sum, this article asks: What factors determined the size, scale, and materiality of Buddhist art? More importantly, how does the case of the portable speak to the discipline of Buddhist art that often preoccupies itself with the monumental and the site-specific?

Material Heritage of the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā: Manuscripts and Inscribed Tablets

The Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā, “Questions of the Oceanic Intelligence,” is the fifth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta, “Great Collection,” and is a canonical work belonging to the tradition of Mahāyāna sūtra literature. This sūtra is highly valued in the long history of Mahāyāna Buddhism for its thematic and metaphorical richness, as it personifies the ocean (Skt. sāgara) to represent core aspects of the Mahāyāna doctrinal system. This paper presents two small Sanskrit fragments of the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā recently identified in the Schøyen Collection, with transliteration and annotated translation. In order to provide a fuller picture of the textual history of the Sāgaramatiparipṛcchā, a quotation from the text on votive tablets from Kedah, Malaysia, is also discussed. These materials are employed as a case study within the context of tangible and intangible heritage. On the basis of the UNESCO declaration of 2003, it is argued that these two kinds of heritage are intrinsically interlinked, and that the categories and their pertaining definitions can be broadened so as to be relevant to more traditions and their heritage.

Griechische Inschriften als Verstehenshilfe für Klage- und Dankpsalmen

Abstract Greek inscriptions from Asia Minor (2nd century B.C. to 3rd century A.D.) offer opportunities for understanding the Psalms despite the great distance. No literary influences are to be assumed, but analogous life situations. While the texts of the Psalms can be changed by updating them, the unchangeable Asia Minor inscriptions show the original situation undistorted. The following are interesting for the understanding of the Psalms: more concrete naming of the human offence, illness as divine punishment, vows, consequences of reconciliation for the social environment, votive tablet or votive scroll, στηλογραφία and מכתם / מכתב.

Demetrius of Tarsus in two Greek votive tablets from York? RIB 662 and 663 re-examined

ABSTRACTTwo small votive plates from York, recorded as RIB 662 and 663, represent unique examples of the Greek language in Roman Britain. Though traditionally attributed to Plutarch’s Demetrius of Tarsus, the authorship of these artefacts is disputed, due to the relative ambiguity of the contents and the lack of stratigraphic and dating information associated with their recovery. However, by analysing the metatextual features of the objects, it is possible to derive a comparative cultural background which can remedy the missing archaeological context. This article addresses the ansate shape of the plates, their punched-dot inscription style, and their use of the Greek language to reconnect the objects with a cultural context that helps to resolve the existing disputes regarding their contents.

A History of Cultic Images in China: The Domestic Statuary of Hunan by Alain Arrault and Lina Verchery

Reviewed by: A History of Cultic Images in China: The Domestic Statuary of Hunan by Alain Arrault and Lina Verchery Simona Lazzerini Alain Arrault, Lina Verchery, trans., A History of Cultic Images in China: The Domestic Statuary of Hunan. Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2020. x, 188 pp. 80 images, 1 map, 4 graphs, 16 tables. US$60 (hb). ISBN 978-988-237-105-7 A History of Cultic Images in China: The Domestic Statuary of Hunan, a work entirely dedicated to the study of Hunanese cultic statues, is an important contribution to our understanding of Chinese local religion, history, and culture. Alain Arrault has spent more than a dozen years in Hunan studying statues of gods, ancestors, and masters produced between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. These small wooden statuettes, most of which are about 20 cm tall, were originally enshrined in domestic altars and worshiped by Hunanese families for protection. The statues are filled with documents, materia medica, and other objects that are meant to endow them with life and power. Among the materials placed in the statues’ cache, the consecration certificates (yizhi 意旨) provide invaluable religious and sociological information concerning Hunan’s local religious history (p. 10). The introduction provides a general overview of the history of cultic images in China, a history that, due to the scarcity of its sources, is enigmatic and incomplete. While Buddhist images have been extensively studied, Daoist statues have received little scholarly attention. Likewise, because Confucians argued that ancestors could only be represented by votive tablets, visual representations of ancestors, popular since the end of the Ming, have been overlooked. This study fills these lacunae by showing how Hunanese statuary is a local living tradition in which gods, masters, and ancestors participate in a shared ideology, not reducible to any specific religious institution, that highlights multiplicity rather than unity (pp. 7–8). The Hunanese statuary is comprised of over 3000 items belonging to three collections, two of which are private, and one owned by the Museum of Hunan. All statues have been objects of trade and exchange and therefore, having lost their original function, are “forever out of context” (p. 9). Chapter 1, “General Presentation,” introduces the method of cataloguing used by Arrault and his team and the mechanisms of their quantitative analysis, situating the statues in time and space. Each statue has its own two-part data card: the first part records the image’s number, its place of origin and acquisition, its identity, the material aspects, and the objects found inside; the second part reports information regarding the consecration certificate, such as the name and address of the sponsors, the name of the sculptor, the date of consecration, the sponsor’s wishes, etc. The second part of the chapter focuses on quantitative analysis, describing the geographic and chronological distribution of the statuettes. While most items come from northeastern Hunan, statues have also been found along the region’s borders, indicating that a migrating population perhaps took this practice with them while relocating to different lands (p. 17). In terms of chronological development, the eighteenth century witnessed an increase in the appearance of the statuettes, whose production reached its peak after the second half [End Page 141] of the nineteenth century and continued into the beginning of the twentieth (p. 21). After 1949, production declined but it never completely stopped, not even during the Cultural Revolution, and it resumed in the 1980s. Chapter 2, “Divinities and Humans,” explores the different types of worship of the national and local deities, ancestors, and masters that feature in Hunanese domestic statuary. Even though the selection of divinities in the collections mirrors the impulses and predilections of their collectors, Arrault argues that it is still possible to sketch a portrait of the nature and production of the statuettes and, consequently, of the religious situation in the region (p. 32). National divinities comprise only 20% of all three collections (p. 26). The God of the Kitchen (Jiutian Dongchu Siming Fu Jun 九天東廚司命府君) and his wife appear to be the most popular deities in the statuary, followed by Guanyin 觀音, Lu Ban 魯班 (the god of carpenters), and the God of the Southern Peak...

To be Seen, Not Just Read: Script Use on the Votive Prayer Tablets of Anime, Manga, and Game Fans

ABSTRACT This article proposes one social explanation for the occurrence of graphic variation in contemporary written Japanese by examining a heretofore unexamined context of writing. Embracing the material culture approach, I explore the ema (votive prayer tablets) dedicated at Shinto shrines by fans of popular culture media productions. Fans pen text on the ema that follows aesthetics of manga as well as online communication, incorporating features that are usually limited to print and online writing. Analyzing upwards of 2,000 ema from three shrines, this article proceeds to dissect a writing style composed of a mix of syllabaries and symbols using ‘thick description’ to evince the emotion behind fans’ calculated efforts to construct text that is not simply to be read, but to be seen. Seeking to answer the question of what fans attempt to achieve by writing on the ema in the way that they do, I will reference folklorist Elliott Oring’s ‘appropriate incongruity’ to put forth an argument that fans, harnessing a sense of play and endeavoring to animate the text on the ema, intimate by means of the visual presentation of writing-restricted variation a questioning of the perceived division between the two-dimensional and three-dimensional worlds.

ЛА МИЛАГРОСА: ВОТИВНЫЕ ПРАКТИКИ НА КЛАДБИЩЕ КОЛУМБА И В ВИРТУАЛЬНОМ ПРОСТРАНСТВЕ

The paper examines the legends and votive practices that exist around one of the graves at the Colon cemetery in Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Amelia Goyri de Adot (nee Amelia Goyri de la Hoz) was buried in this cemetery in 1901. In 1909 on her grave a tombstone was erected, which became an object of religious veneration for both Cubans and visitors from other countries. Pilgrims perform a certain ritual near the monument and leave votive tablets with gratitude to Amelia, worshiped as a saint with the name of La Milagrosa. Nowadays, the legend that has developed around this burial is actively circulating on the Internet, transforming and acquiring new details. Virtual practices of worship are also appearing, markedly different from those performed in the cemetery.

Terracotta Votive Tablets from Catubhummika Hngak Twin Monastery, Thaton

Recent excavations from Stubhummika monastery, Thaton yielded over 2000 terracotta votive tablets, among them 1350 in good condition with others fragments. The study of these finds is based on the style of Buddha and Bodhisattava, decorative elements (stupas, śikhara, parasol and throne). These are compared with the contemporary tablets from Mon State, Śriksetra, Vesali and Bagan, and outside of Myanmar from India, central and peninsular Thailand and west Java to establish a comparative chronology. From this systematic approach, these tablets were divided into three groups: 1) Buddha (seated or standing Buddha, flanked by stupas), 2) Buddha Triad, and 3) Episodes of the Buddha. Their progression shows they are not be earlier than the 8th-9th century CE and not later than the 11th century CE.

“Votive Tablet” and “Heaven”

“Votive Tablet” and “Heaven”

描かれる死者 : ムカサリ絵馬というイメージ(死と死者の表象,パネル, 第六十六回学術大会紀要)

描かれる死者 : ムカサリ絵馬というイメージ(死と死者の表象,パネル, 第六十六回学術大会紀要)

Mabiki: Infanticide and Population Growth in Eastern Japan, 1660–1950 by Fabian Drixler (review)

Reviewed by: Mabiki: Infanticide and Population Growth in Eastern Japan, 1660–1950 by Fabian Drixler Osamu Saito Mabiki: Infanticide and Population Growth in Eastern Japan, 1660–1950 by Fabian Drixler. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013. Pp. xx + 417. $75.00. In the late 1960s, Akira Hayami, the pioneer of historical demography in Japan, found that marital fertility in Yokouchi, a village in Suwa County in the province of Shinano, central Japan, declined substantially between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. His observation was based on a comparison of age-specific fertility rates for married women who were born before and after 1700. The decline was particularly marked for those between the ages of twenty-one and thirty. He reasoned that since the fertility levels between the two [End Page 385] cohorts were not significantly different for those who married after the age of twenty-one, “On admet, pour expliquer le contraste frappant qui distingue la première centaine d’années de la seconde, qu’il y a certainement eu une limitation volontaire de la population.”1 In his Japanese-language monograph on Suwa County was less euphemistic: there he suggests that direct measures were taken by village couples to reduce their marital fertility.2 Many scholars took his suggestion as evidence for the practice of mabiki 間引, the topic of Drixler’s book. After the publication of Hayami’s work, Drixler notes, scholars addressed the issue of mabiki by exploiting various time-series data from village household registration records, from which they concluded that some kind of mabiki was practiced. However, their observations were confined to the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and they were unable to replicate a fertility pattern similar to what Hayami had found for Yokouchi, mainly because the population registers these scholars utilized usually did not cover a long enough period before 1700. Now, thanks to Drixler’s ambitious venture in estimating total fertility rates (TFRs) from 1660 to 1870 for a sample of 3,300 village population registers from ten provinces in the eastern half of Japan, we are provided with data that exhibit a sudden decline from a TFR level of over 5 in the third quarter of the seventeenth century to a TFR level of about 3.5 in the eighteenth century. Although Yokouchi is not included in this “eastern provinces” sample, Drixler’s findings confirm Hayami’s hypothesis about the decline of marital fertility between the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries. For his study, Drixler adopted a technique called “own-child method” (OCM). This method, unlike longitudinal analyses employed in previous [End Page 386] studies in historical demography, requires only cross-sectional data, or a set of “snapshots” of each population (pp. 7, 245). It enables Drixler to assemble material from as many as 3,300 village population registers with multiple sequences of different lengths for a number of villages, thus covering a wide enough area as well as a long enough time period so as to link this 220-year series to the post-1886 series of TFRs and other demographic measures. Moreover, Drixler goes on to estimate how many pregnancies ended with the destruction of the fetus or the newborn during the 220 years in villages of the eastern provinces; to accomplish this, he uses a Monte Carlo simulation model with various sets of parameters borrowed from various disciplines and various places of research. His calculations show that in the 1660s, the estimated TFRs were high and close to the observed fertility rates, whereas from roughly 1700 to 1800, the gap between the estimated TFRs and the observed fertility rates becomes as wide as 40 percent. From these calculations (pp. 123–25), he concludes that there must have been some ten million infanticides (or abortions) between 1660 and 1870! Having established these extraordinary outcomes from the demographic calculations, Drixler sets off to weave together information from a wealth of mabiki scrolls and votive tablets (ema 絵馬), contemporary discourses, and domainal records concerning childrearing subsidies and pregnancy surveillance in the latter half of the Tokugawa period. His discussions and interpretations of this material occupy the central place in this book. He begins with the culture of reproduction, family aspirations, and...

X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Analysis of Proto-historic Votive Tablets from Chawas Cave, Hulu Kelantan, Malaysia

This research was conducted to determine the origin of votive tablets found in prehistoric and proto-historic site of Chawas Cave in Hulu Kelantan. The votive tablets found in Chawas Cave showed several Buddhist images which are associated with the Srivijaya Kingdom which existed from 7th century AD until 12th century AD. To determine if the votive tablets were produced by communities that lived in Hulu Kelantan, hence the study of the chemical composition of the votive tablets should be carried out. Two techniques were employed in this research, namely the X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) techniques. The techniques will determine the mineral content as well as the major and trace element content of the votive tablets. Analysis showed that all the votive tablet samples have mineral known as clinochlore. Clinochlore is one of the chlorites, namely a group of phyllosilicate minerals. Chlorite is commonly found in igneous rocks as an alteration product of mafic minerals such as pyroxene, amphibole and biotite. The votive tablets were found in a cave which consisted of limestone cave formation and it showed that the votive tablets were not produced by the local community of Hulu Kelantan. Major elements also showed that the chemical composition of the votive tablets is not similar to the composition of clay samples taken from several rivers in Hulu Kelantan.

Mabiki: infanticide and population growth in eastern Japan, 1660-1950

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements A Note on Conventions 1. Introduction: Contested Worldviews and a Demographic Revolution PART I. THE CULTURE OF LOW FERTILITY, CA. 1660--1790 2. Three Cultures of Family Planning 3. Humans, Animals, and Newborn Children 4. Infanticide and Immortality: The Logic of the Stem Household 5. The Material and Moral Economy of Infanticide 6. The Logic of Infant Selection 7. The Ghosts of Missing Children: Four Approaches to Estimating the Rate of Infanticide PART II. REDEFINING REPRODUCTION: THE LONG RETREAT OF INFANTICIDE, CA. 1790--1950 8. Infanticide and Extinction 9. Inferior Even to Animals: Moral Suasion and the Boundaries of Humanity 10. Subsidies and Surveillance 11. Even a Strong Castle Cannot be Defended without Soldiers: Infanticide and National Security 12. Infanticide and the Geography of Civilization 13. Epilogue: Infanticide in the Shadows of the Modern State 14. Conclusion Appendix 1. The Own-Children Method and Its Mortality Assumptions Appendix 2. Sampling Biases, Sources of Error, and the Characteristics of the Ten Provinces Dataset Appendix 3. The Villages of the Ten Provinces Dataset Appendix 4. Total Fertility Rates in the Districts of the Ten Provinces Appendix 5. Infanticide Reputations Appendix 6. Scrolls and Votive Tablets with Infanticide Scenes Appendix 7. Childrearing Subsidies and Pregnancy Surveillance by Domain Notes Bibliography Index

A Study of Votive Tablets of Kenjyutu in Ohmi

A Study of Votive Tablets of Kenjyutu in Ohmi

Stupika Dan Votive Tablet Borobudur

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The Buddha Images and Conservation and Adherence to Cultural Values in Northeast

Problem statement: This study is caused by the problem of conservation of the Buddha images to exist in the original condition and by the problem of transference and adherence to indigenous knowledge of local craftsmen. At present there have not yet been systematic and wide conservation and adherence to the Buddha images. Other causes are such as incorrect techniques of conserving the Buddha images, lack of encouraging people and the community to appreciate the Buddha images, incorrect techniques of restoring the Buddha images, lack of increment of economic and cultural values in terms of tourism, lack of correct techniques of studying styles of the Buddha images to rebuild the styles for the community to appreciate local art, lack of clear examination of the background and there have not been comparative studies to find out relationships with other localities. Purposes were to examine backgrounds of Isan Buddha images and iconology, to examine current conditions and problems of the Buddha images and to investigate models of conservation and adherence to cultural values in Iran. Study area covered Changwat Maha Sarakham, Changwat Kalasin and Changwat Roi Et where there have been long backgrounds and continuous developments of the Buddha image in all Ages. Approach: This study used qualitative methodology by collecting data from related literature and from field studies by interviews and focused group discussion from totally 66 informants. Findings were presented by means of a descriptive analysis. Results: The result of this research revealed that there were 5 models of the Buddha image art found in Isan: Sandstone Buddha images, baked-clay votive tablets, cast motar Buddha images, bronze Buddha images and wooden Buddha images. They were in the Periods of Dvaravati, Lop Buri and Lan Chang. The Buddha images were popularly built in many different styles such as concentration style, double-miracle style, nag-over-his-head style, blessing style, world-opening style, relatives-stop style, dharma consideration style and others. In addition, they popularly made 4,9,12 or 168 votive tablets on each of a large number of baked-clay plates. Significant characteristics of the Buddha images were different based on the outside influences they received. Conclusion: The Buddha images of the Dvaravati Period were influenced from India in the art styles of Kupta, Pala, Sena and Pallava to central of Thailand. Those of the Lop Buri Period were influenced by Khmer art. Those of the Lan Chang Period were influenced by Lan Chang art which had been influenced by Lan Na Savana. The bronze Buddha images were popularly made in the concentration style and the maravijaya style. The wooden Buddha images were popularly made in the styles of maravijaya, concentration, dharma consideration and others.

A Dvāravatī Votive Tablet Reconsidered

A Dvāravatī votive tablet was originally identified as a depiction of the Buddha’s miracle of double appearances ; more recently, the subject has been called the Eight Great Bodhisattvas or, simply, a Buddhist assembly. In this brief article it is proposed, on the basis of literary evidence, that the subject is “ Under the Rājāyatana Tree, the Buddha Visits the Kingdom of the Nāgas, Awaited by Bodhisattvas on the Bordering Mountain.” The identification, if correct, has implications for the understanding of the relations between Sri Lanka and Dvāravatī in the seventh to eighth centuries.