🚀 go-pugleaf

 "Graham Harden" <G.Harden@bigfoot.com> writes:

>Why do these pictorial references, carvings etc, have to be maize?  Is there
>additional material to support this interpretation?  

Johannessen and Parker, in their 1989 _Economic Botany_ article, enumerate 
24 features these sculptures have in common with maize ears, and argue that 
maize is the only possible model for these sculptures.   Indologist 
Shakti M Gupta has now confirmed their identification, in her 1996 book
_Plants in Indian Temple Art_.

>I know they look like
>maize to the Americo-centric eye, but to me the first impression I have is
>of the fruit of the Monstera deliciosa..... aka fruit-salad-fruit. 

The leaf of the Monstera deliciosa does appear in pre-Columbian India
temple art, according to Gupta (pp. 108-9).  However, Monstera is 
_also_ a  New World plant!  Out of 70 plants Gupta identifies in 
temple art, 6 are New World!  I wasn't aware it had a noteworthy fruit,
but I highly doubt that it matches these closer than maize.  I'll look for
an illustration of it when I get over to the Botany library one of these
days.   To Dr. Gupta's "Indo-centric" eye (she's an Indologist and an 
ethnobotanist, affiliated with the University of Delhi), the sculptures look
like maize, not monstera fruits, which she is surely familiar with.  

>This in
>itself proves nothing, what I mean to illustrate is that there are a number
>of botanical items that appear quite similar to the objects in the carvings
>(if they are "fruits" at all).

Another close call is the Anona Squamosa (aka custard apple or sweetsop
-- I just learned that the pawpaw is also called custard apple, but that is 
irrelevant here.)    A nice photo of the Anona Squamosa is online at 
  www.campo-research.com/campo/gallery/herb/fruits/fruit.html
This also appears in Temple sculpture that antedates Columbus 
(Gupta, p. 19-20),but it too is a New World Plant!  In the better 
preserved sculptures, it is clear whether A. Squamosa or maize is 
being depicted.  Both are, in Gupta's expert opinion.  She also finds 
sunflower, pineapple, and cashew in pre-Columbian sculptures in India, all 
New World plants.

>There are at the very least questions of tradition to be made before leaping
>into the hypothesis that these are maize and hence indicate commerce between
>continents.

That's why Gupta's opinion is particularly important -- she is an expert on 
Use of Plants in Indian Mythology (that's the title of one of her other books, 
in fact).   She says they're clearly Zea Mays Linn., ie corncobs.

>1)    What are the ornaments and totems commonly associated with this figure
>(ie the being holding the items)?  Is it vegetation, fertility, coinage,
>stacks of some smaller item?

Usually they are held by a female dancer/attendant who holds a 
_chowrie_ or ceremonial yak-tail fly switch (I kid you not!) in the 
other hand.  But according to Gupta, 
"In the Lakshmi Narasimha temple, Nuggehalli, the 8-armed
dancing Vishnu in his female form of Mohini is holding a corn cob
in one of her left hands and the other hands hold the usual emblems
of Vishnu."  (p. 176).  She doesn't go into detail  what these emblems
are, but she has written a book on Vishnu as well, and surely 
knows what these are.   (_The Incarnations of Vishnu_) 

>2)    What do the local people usually interpret the item as being?

Good question.  I don't know.  None of the authors, pro or con, 
mention this.  Seems like a natural.

>When these are addressed with suitable rigour, then we can talk about the
>implications.
>Hu McCulloch wrote in message ...
>>
>>Carl Johannessen's article on sunflower images in Indian temple
>>sculptures has now been reprinted in the journal
>>of the New England Antiquities Research Association: "Pre-Columbian
>>American Sunflower and Maize Images in Indian Temples:  Evidence of
>>Contact between Civilizations in India and America," _NEARA Journal_,
>>vol. 32, #1 (Summer 1998), pp. 4-18.    This article was first published
>>in a volume honoring John Sorenson, but is more accessible in
>>_NEARA Journal_.   Furthermore, the critical photographic evidence
>>is reproduced better in the NEARA version.
>>
>>Back issues of NEARA Journal can be obtained from NEARA Publications,
>>c/o Suzanne Carlson, 94 Cross Point Rd, Edgecomb, ME 04556,
>>(207) 882 8155, fax (207) 882 8162, e-mail krosspt@lincoln.midcoast.com .
>>($4 per issue).
>>
>>Although Johannessen has been working on the sunflower evidence
>>since at least 1992, he was was scooped by 2 years in getting documentation
>>of pre-Columbian Indian sunflowers into print by Shakti M. Gupta, in her
>>1996 _Plants in Indian Temple Art_.  Nevertheless, the images Johannessen
>>reports are from different sites than those Gupta showts, and so his work
>>complements hers.
>>
>>Johannessen also discusses pre-Columbian maize in Indian sculptures
>>in the NEARA Journal article.  His article in _Economic Botany_, 1989,
>>with Anne Parker, remains his most thorough treatment of this topic,
>>but the new one adds some useful information and new photographs.
>>In the new article he indicates that maize is present in most, if not
>>all of the 60 pre-Columbian Hoysala temples in Karnataka, contrary to
>>Oscar Schlaf's miscontention here recently that there is only one alleged
>>maize sculpture, and not a single temple with a maize sculpture.
>>
>>In the new article, Johannessen pushes back the presence of maize
>>in India to the 6th century AD, with a photo of a maize ear held in
>>the hand of Vishnu, from Cave Temple III, Badami, Karnataka.
>>This ear is distincly smaller than the 12th-13th century examples that
>>appear in Johannessen's other photos, and is partly covered
>>by the hand, in contrast with the vertical position of most of the
>>maize ears.
>>
>>Gupta's book confirms Johannessen and Parker's identification of
>>the later Hoysala sculpture objects as maize.  See my website
>>below for photos and links.
>>
>>-- Hu McCulloch
>>   mcculloch.2@osu.edu
>>   http://economics.sbs.ohio-state.edu/jhm/arch/outliers.html

-- HM