An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s1: 12.1 Amulets
An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s1
- Language
- English
12.1 Amulets
v1.c17.s1.1
Amulets, believed to protect their possessors from evil eye or bad luck, were in use in India from an early period. Although most of the Indus seals cannot be classed as amulets because of the perforated knob at the back, a few seals from Mohenjo-daro which are hollow from within (Marshall, 1931, 2, pp. 380-1; Mackay, 1938, 1, pp. 342-3), may have contained an amulet inside. But a steatite seal from PRABHAS PATAN (1500-1200 B.C.) with a longitudinal perforation was in all probability used as an amulet. Both the sides of the seal are carved with figures of stylized deer, five on one side and seven on the other.
v1.c17.s1.2
Many early historical sites, such as Taxila (Marshall, 1951, 2, pp. 630-2, 654-5), KAUŚĀMBĪ and KONDAPUR have yielded a variety of amulets of different materials. Among the animal-shaped amulets are represented a gargoyle, tortoise, frog, fish, lion, elephant, bull, horse, hare, ram, dog, monkey, etc. The commonest among them is the tortoise amulet, which, however, has a higher antiquity, for it is reported from Chalcolithic levels at PRAKASH. The tortoise was held sacred as it was an incarnation of Viṣṇu and the mount of Yamunā, besides being associated with longevity. Gargoyle (*makara*) amulets have been found at NEVASA and KONDAPUR, *makara* being a symbol of the waters and the mount of Gaṅgā and Varuṇa. *Nandi* amulets are also quite common at sites in the Deccan. Horse and elephant amulets however are extremely rare. The elephant came to be associated with birth and regeneration in water cosmogony and as such is connected with the nativity of Buddha. The lion too was sacred to the Buddhists because Buddha was the 'lion of the Śākyas' (*Śākya-siṁha*).
v1.c17.s1.3
The species of the birds in the bird-shaped amulets cannot be distinctly identified. Such amulets have been reported from many sites in n. India. Simple amulets, akin to those in use today, also occur. A rectangular specimen from KONDAPUR is decorated in the middle with a lotus flanked by small circles in dotted pattern. But the most interesting are the human-shaped amulets. The *yakṣa* in an amulet from NEVASA is stylistically similar to the Pitalkhora *yakṣa* (*AI*, 15, 1959, pl. 56) who is shown wearing two human-shaped amulets in his necklace. A specimen from AHICCHATRĀ showing a pregnant woman in squatting position with bent legs was possibly used as a charm against difficult labour. Human-shaped amulets decorated with dot-in-circle or `eye' pattern may have been used to protect the wearer against smallpox since the decorated pattern resembles pustules. Such figures are usually found in the early historical levels but their antiquity goes back to the PGW [4.15] period.
v1.c17.s1.4
Beck, H.C., 1941, *Beads from Taxila*, Mem. ASI, 65, Delhi. Dikshit, M.G., 1951-2, in *Bull. Prince of Wales Museum of W. India*, 2, pp. 86-99 (for Indian amulets in general); 1952, *Some Beads from Kondapur*, Hyderabad; 1952, in *AI*, 8, pp. 33-64 (for Ahicchatrā beads); 1969, in G.R. Sharma, *Excavations at Kauśāmbī 1949-50*, Mem. ASI, 74, Delhi. Mackay, E.J.H., 1938, *Further Excavations at Mohenjo-daro*, Delhi, 2. Marshall, J., 1931, *Mohenjo-daro & the Indus Civilization*, London, 2, 1951, *Taxila*, Cambridge, 2. For other sites see respective entries in vol. II.—M.K. DHAVALIKAR