Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s1.t2: Terms, Items

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s1.t2

Language: English

Terms, Items

Zero is a numerical code denoting “nil”. Although the decimal system was adopted in ancient China quite early, there was still no special symbol to denote zero and in case of zero in number writing, the position of zero was replaced with a blank. When translating Jiuzhi Calendar in the sixth year of Emperor Kaiyuan (718 CE), Gautama Siddhartha introduced the Indian numerical symbol of zero to China at the beginning of the Jiuzhi Calendar in “Number Accounting Method”. He said that when counting up to 10 place one dot in the blank as a mark in order to make the blanks have marks and thus prevent mistakes. According to the opinion of Joseph Needham, the earliest dot or zero symbols, appeared in two inscriptions in Cambodia and Sumatra. This year was taken to be the starting point of Sakha calendar and the inscription belonged to Sakha 605th year. Therefore, if the Sakha Calendar started from 78 CE then the inscription belonged to 683 CE. According to another view, if the Sakha Calendar started from 128 CE then the inscription belonged to 733 CE, which is a little later than the compilation time of Jiuzhi Calendar. In nine chapters of Mathematical Book written by Qin Jiushao of Song Dynasty (1247 CE), zero was changed into a hollow circle which is the same as its modern form. At present, there is still no clear evidence to indicate that using the hollow circle as the zero symbol in the ancient Chinese mathematics books originated from India.

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(*Niu Wexing*)

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Portraits of Constellation Gods

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Painting of constellations was a kind of subject for painting that started in India and also an implement used for sacrifice via the introduction of Esoterism.

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As communications between India and China flourished since the Tang Dynasty, the paintings of constellations prevalent in India gradually spread to China. Zhang Sengyao was a painter in Liang dynasty whose three pieces of paintings were said to be the earliest record of constellation paintings ie *Painting of Nine Constellations*, *Painting of Saturn*, *Paintings of Five Planes and Twenty-eight Constellations*. If these records are true, they show that as early as the Liang Dynasty, China began to take in Indian star-god pictures. However, scholars mostly deem that there was some doubt that the star-god paintings emerged in Liang Dynasty and the real author of those paintings should be someone in the Tang Dynasty instead.

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The paintings of celestial gods were divided into two categories, one of which was regarded as such artistic works as *Paintings of Five Planes and Twenty-eight Constellations*. The other of which was used in sacrifice like the paintings of various star-gods and Buddha in Buddhist texts.

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Tang dynasty Liang Lin Zan’s ‘Diagram of the five stars and twenty Tibetan deities’. This picture is preserved at the art gallery in the city of Osaka, Japan.

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*Painting of Five Planes and Twenty-eight Constellations*, in Chinese art history, was passed as an exclusive painting subject, the content of which included pictures of five planes and those of 28 constellations. There were five types available in the world which were listed in order of authors’ times respectively – Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming, *Paintings of Five Planes and Twenty-eight Constellations* collected in Osaka Metropolitan Museum of Art, Painting Rolls by Song People collected in the Palace Museum, Constellation Paintings by Yuanzixia and Constellation paintings by Qiuying collected in America Metropolitan Museum of Art. The picture of Mars in *Painting of Five Planes and Twenty-Eight Constellations* was collected in Osaka Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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There was a large number of Buddhist texts which illustrated the paintings of star-gods. *Brahma Navagraha Fire*, *Seven Constellations Resisting Calamities*, *Picture of Fire* were all collected in Tripitake and they illustrate the paintings of nine constellation gods. However, Buddhist texts collecting paintings of 28 constellations and zodiacs were rare with an exception of *Picture of Fire* which collected a combination of paintings of various constellation gods.

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There were numerous paintings of star-gods available in Dunhuang accounts. Their popularity was due to their increasing inroads in folk customs and beliefs as well as prevalence of Esoterism. People believed that the unfavourable effects arising from vicious constellations could be warded off or weakened by means of enshrining pictures of constellation gods and holding proper rituals. Calamities could be diminished by prayers and blessings. The folk belief thus accelerated the popularity of constellation paintings.

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Picture of Fire, Collected in Toyota temple, in Tripitake, at the seventh roll, pages 693-704

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*Picture of Buddha* was a painting assembling Buddha and various constellation gods. It shared the effect of diminishing calamities and praying blessings. However, in this painting, Buddha dwelt at the centre and the other constellation gods gathered around.

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Painting of Buddha and Five Planes, collected in British Museum, NO. 1919,0101,0.31

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Constellation-god paintings that were made as art works and those out of Chinese Buddhist texts were obviously closely related but differed in properties. For example, a prominent change often is reflected in alteration of the constellation gods’ riding animals in painting of *Five Planes and Twenty-eight Constellations* to their crowns in Buddhist texts.

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Until today, constellation paintings that were introduced in China cannot match Indian pass-on paintings. The first reason was that star-god painting has been a long-evolving subject. These paintings, after being introduced into China, could be only regarded as the paintings of that certain stage, while those paintings in India had evolved into other forms. The second reason was that, after the introduction into China, they were transmitted secretly so not much was exposed to the world besides the limited number of paintings were incapable of representing the whole characteristics of India-originating paintings. The third reason was that the Buddhist texts and art works probably were endowed with some elements of Central Asia.

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(*Li Hui*)