Fynes, Isis & Pattini (1993)

Isis and Pattin: The Transmission of a Religious Idea from Roman Egypt to India
Author(s): R. C. C. Fynes
Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Nov., 1993), pp. 377391
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain
and Ireland
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25182764 .

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of a Religious
Isis and PattinT: The Transmission
to India
Ideafrom Roman Egypt
R. C. C. FYNES
to
Attempts
a
to
show
that
of
ideas
than
real,
and
apparent
Nevertheless,
there
an
of
of
similarities
transmission
example
have
may
be
is strong,
cultural
between
often
in fact:
different
for
the
the Graeco-Roman
are
places
similarities
explained
evidence
conclusive,
of
the
convincingly
from
transmission
cults
religious
basis
more
not
albeit
the
little
may
other
by
factors.
suggestion
following
to
world
due
be more
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 Isiswith the Indian "Iswara"
and
"IsT",
that
arguing
One
female.1
of
the
they
the
represented
explanations
Jones
nature
of
powers
for
gave
the
considered
resemblances
apparent
as male
and
between
the
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
was
as
from Egypt, not in the time of the Old Kingdom
affected
influences
religion
by
Indian and western
Jones
contact
between
between
of
but
thought,
cult
a hellenistic
of
Egypt's
and
Egypt
the hellenistic
and
under
India.
These
Isis were
of
Indian
and
Sri Lankan
in certain
was
Indian
trading
a discussion
point,
Sinhalese
of
goddess
under
of
the
was direct
represent
the
female
influence
goddesses.
garment,
Satavahanas
SirWilliam
and
formed
they
in
direct
the
trading
resemblances
that certain elements

the
core
of
the myth
PattinT.
goddesses
influences which
the
from
dating
the Mediterranean
between
relationship
figures
Jones
Terracotta
have
and
in terracotta
the Western
of
trading contact with
diaphanous
of
the
where
India,
of mother
India
traced
world,
Isis and
goddess
the
scholars have
time when
there
to my
turn
and
then
the
south
Indian
and
PattinT.
Representations
were
between
be
was
there
cult: it ismy hypothesis
goddess
representations
contact
can
some of the western
I shall begin by briefly discussing

seen
to
taken
when
rule,
influences
and an Indian goddess
cult
the
of Roman
period
been
(1788), p. 253.
Egypt;
of
figurines
found
in
have
female
assigned
in
In actual fact the feminine
been
by
excavations
suggested
figure,
the
at sites which
found
at a time
Satavahanas
it has been
a seated
levels
Ksatrapas
stone
and
Ksatrapas
Roman
the Western
and
naked
excavators
at Nasik,
of IsVara (Lord or Master)
JRAS, Series3, 3, 3 (1993),PP- 377-391

when
there
that these figures

or
to
wearing
the
Nevasa,
is Is'varl.
period
Ter,
378 R. C. C. Fynes
in
and
style
These figures seem to show western
and Nagarjunakonda.2
Tripuri
their
was
which
technique
method
since
of manufacture,
in use
in contemporary
are
they
influences both in their
cast
and was
Alexandria,
a double
in
introduced
probably
can be
into India as a result of trade with Roman Egypt.3 Figurines from Nagarjunakonda
to
dated
the
moulds
for
now
latter
the first
of
part
counterfeiting
to have
known
the
Among
century
coins
been
goddesses
of
the
at
ruling
Mathura
depict
Harltl
and Gandhara.5
by
on
influence
Roman
from
figures
these
western
by
the
of
the
to
a mother
deny
schist,
to argue
safe
five
with
the
of
for
children
classical
general
usually
a
specific
not
does
the
influence
art.
female
standing
is completely
an
cradling
I can
and
Indian,
no
detect
and
infant,7
the infant Horus.
of Isis nursing
exists in the iconography

statues
children,
and child sculptures from north Gujarat were
are
statues
seem
not
of Gandharan
examples
that stone mother
prototype
style
all
of
or
in sandstone
carved
of
is not
a protectress
is Harltl,
it does
the motif
course,
art.6 These
possible western
However,
of
share with
Gandhara
Sankalia also thought

inspired
figures,
is
influences also inspired figures of Harltl
often
However,
since
with
who
Satakarni,
Gautamlputra
figurines
Roman
figures,
children.
art. This,
in classical
appear
small
five
with
These
in association
found
time.4
these
and Sankalia suggested that contemporary

from
were
they
ruler
Satavahana
that
represented
since
a.d.,
mould,
western
specific
to Shah, the Gupta art of northern Gujarat was influenced

influences in them. According
so the statues could conceivably have been
western
of
India
and
that
Mathura,8
by
influenced
this.
in
western
by
the
to accept
these
of
conception
Indianised
seems
himself
Sankalia
at
iconography
this
to such an extent
view;
from
figures
or
second
third
that "it would
he
although
north
but
hand,
is no
that
says
for
evidence
for western
argues
he
Gujarat,
there
influence
been
have
they
to see even a trace of foreign
be difficult
influence".
It seems
the
by
Gandharan
the
Ksatrapas
that
It is possible
terracotta
the
were
western
influences
can we
Furthermore,
that
they
do
no more
from
figurines
influenced
by
to
led
the
areas
the
western
ruled
and
technique
of
conception
the
and child figurines from Gujarat must
and the Gupta mother
scepticism.
of goddesses?
that
argument
arguments
figures of Harltl
with
treated
the
accept
and Western
but
iconography,
be
to
safe
Satavahanas
be
sure
than
to
that
all
provide
these
another
female
are
figures
attestation
of
the
almost universal pleasure that males take in looking at representations of the female figure,
it is naked or only partially clothed. Even if one accepts that a
particularly when
transmission
of
artistic
a concomitant
for
However,
specific
example
transmission
of
from Egypt,
evidence
of
and
technique
the
transmission
iconography
religious
took
place,
this
provides
no
evidence
ideas.
India and Sri Lanka does support the hypothesis

of
a western
mother
goddess
cult
to
India.
As
of a
I said
it ismy belief that in the first three centuries a.d. traders operating out of the Nile
to
emporium of Coptos and the Red Sea ports of Myos Hormos and Berenice brought
above,
3
A. Ghosh
Sankalia (i960), p. 121.
(1989), i, p. 341.
Satakarni.
LXI.
See J. Cribb (1992) for the dating of GautamTputra
Indian Archaeology
38,
(1956-7), p.
pi.6
5
H. D. Sankalia (i960), p. 121.
Ibid.,
p. 122.
8
7
For illustrations see U. P. Shah (i960), plates 23, 28, 29, 30, 37, 39, 40.
Ibid., pp. 45f.
2
H. D.

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
written
Erythraei,
in Greek
in the first
a.d.
century
an anonymous
by
sea-trader
seems
who
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 andMyos Hormos in July in order
to catch
the
Indian
Ocean
season
of
to Pliny,
the
start
On
to
which
wind,
coast
the west
of
monsoon
embarkation
for the return voyage
of December
were
to Myos
and
animals
pack
voyage
blows
from
over
them
impel
return
take
November
to
took place sometime
sea of
the open
would
place
the
the
during
April;
according
in the period between
of January.10
Hormos
to
transferred
which
wind,
the middle
and
return
would
The
India.9
the north-east
their
cargos
monsoon
south-west
the
Berenice,
and
were
ships
across
carried
their
and
unloaded,
the Eastern
Desert
to
of Egypt
Coptos on the Nile. At Coptos the goods were loaded on to barges and ferried down the
to Alexandria, whence
Nile
the goods not used by the Alexandrians were dispersed
the Roman
throughout
Nile
for
emporium
Strabo
empire.
Indian
the
Ocean
The roads leading from Berenice

and
and
Pliny,12
that
says
all
the
Indian
has
archaeology
as well
merchandise,
entered the Arabian Gulf was brought down
Ethiopian, which
as the
to Coptos, which was
the
trade.11
to Coptos
andMysos Hormos
their
confirmed
are described by Strabo

ostraca
and
Inscriptions
descriptions.13
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
The
period.14
a common
they
cultural
were
What
literate
do we
Egypt
with Coptos
as the
known
cult
at
and
of
Coptos.
varied:
and
them,
the
religious
between
syncretism
and in this period

contexts.
Greek-language
One,
of Upper
dating
the
is evidence
evidence
for
Greek,
Roman,
hellenism
that,
suggests
Egypt.15
from
cult
were
western
by
provided
and
large,
to a lesser
and,
Egyptian
of
two
period,
extent,
cult of Isis is the cult most
Isis had
sanctuaries
was
? In Roman
traders
been
closely
and in the Ptolemaic
Kingdom,
the Ptolemaic
Horus, who was here identified with Min,
Greek,
the hellenised
The
There
these
of
background
since the period of the New

Iseion
there
social origins. Nevertheless,
well-educated.
a considerable
in
traders
for
fairly
religious practice,
attested
widely
the
traders of differing
background
know
there was
Roman
of
background
Jewish and Palmyrene
connected
dedicated
to
connected
period
with
Isis and
it was
the
her
the ithyphallic god of the Eastern desert;
Isis
son
the
Periplus, 14.
10
and the appropriate
Pliny, Naturalis Historia, VI, 106. There is a discussion of the winds
sailing times in
n
12
L. Casson
Strabo, Geographia, XVII,
I, 45.
(1980).
Ibid., Pliny, Naturalis Historia, VI, 102-3.
13
See the works of Couyat, Meredith, Murray
and Bernand
listed in the bibliography.
For fuller information,
seeM. G. Raschke
and his extensive notes and bibliography.
The most recent discussion
is
(1978), pp. 637-50,
that of S. E. Sidebotham
(1986a), pp. 48-77 and (1986b). Sidebotham's
study is largely based on information
the valuable addition of the results of more
recent archaeological
given in Raschke, with
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

R.
380
C.
C.
Fynes
was dedicated
other, dating from the time of the Julio-Claudians,

cartouches
of
the
emperor
to Plutarch, itwas at Coptos

According
a lock from her hair, went into mourning
us
tells
that women
of
stings
the
toMin
and Isis and bears
Claudius.
a male
mourning
poisonous
that Isis heard of Osiris's death and, having cut

for him.16 Aelian, in his book about animals,
scorpions
would
relative,
which
infested
in the
sleep
to
oblivious
temple,
Isis is likely to have been the patron deity of those trading seamen based at Coptos
the
of Myos
ports
Hormos
Berenice
and
the
it.17
who
made
the
to
voyage
India.
and
Concomitant
the hellenisation and spread of the Isis cult was the expansion of her role as goddess
of the sea. Already goddess of the Nile, shewas believed to have discovered the sail during
asmistress of the
her search for Osiris. In her hellenistic cult, she was widely worshipped
with
sea
and
return
she
of
patroness
a safe
for
I wish",
when
Egypt
second
centuries
the
pray
the mistress
a.d.
which
there.
bear
Coptos
An
('ASavciTrjs
the
relationship
a.d.
August,
which
70,
so
wind,
in the
voyage
with
a Hermeros
was
the
business
The
Hormos.21
delivered
from
archive
the
been
of
transport
and Wagner
Berenice,
that
firm
a date
bears
the
to
year
from
to
the
on
starting
which
and
Coptos
is a receipt
a merchant
identified
archive,
57,
was
that Hermeros
to 23
southwest
is to be
between
to a.d.
from
25 July
catch
the Nicanor
corresponding
a merchant
by
before
dedication
operating
suggests
the merchant
Sea merchant
this Hermeros
an ostracon
in
enjoyed
to Isis and Hera made
as a Red
his
suggested
on
Kyme
in the first and
corresponding
of
made
in
innavigable
seas
the
to Isis made
himself
time
sea
Isis and
between
a date
It bears
right
appears
which
ostracon,
describes
that Hermeros
name
whose
who
It has
Ocean.
of
inscription records a dedication
be
would
inscription
Isis
type.18
a dedication
records
jXTropos).2Q
it is possible
Indian
a stele
from
at Alexandria
of coins minted
to
dedications
the navigable
as mistress
aspect
close
offer
In an
Imake
as a reverse
of Athenion,
*Epvdpaios
good
seafaring;
her
would
weather.
Isis Pelagia
on
inscription
son
the
by Hermeros,
monsoon
of
confirm
in the reign of Claudius.19 Another

Aden
for
which
popularity
sailors
and
to her
is attested by the number

from
Inscriptions
am
"I
and
Roman
community
and
voyage
state
to
is made
Merchants
navigation.
Myos
for wine
in
involved
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
a dedication
records
to Hera
a sea-voyage
starting
traders would
and
upon
have made
in return
made
It was
Isis in dedications.
with
for
a safe voyage;
probably
customary
its completion,
and
a dedication
it seems
safe
to Isis in India before
was
Hera
to make
associated
often
a dedication
to assume
both before
that
the western
starting their return journey
to Egypt.
There
with
but
is certainly
the western
is there
sufficient
traders
sufficient
who
evidence
evidence
to support
operated
in the
to maintain
the view
Indian
the
view
Ocean
that
that
the
cult
elements
of
Isis was
three
in the first
of
the
popular
centuries
Isis
cult
a.d.,
were
16
17
Plutarch, De hide et Osiride, 3s6d.
Aelian, De animalia, X, 23.
18
see H. Engelmann
I. Cyme
See F. Dunand
41, 49-50,
(1973), i, p. 94; iii, pp. 256-8. For the inscription,
(1976), pp. 97-108. For the coins, see G. Forschner
(1988) nos. 441, 474, 475 and passim.
19
21
20
A. Bernand
Petrie Ostraka, no. 287. See G. Wagner
Ibid., no. 65.
(1976).
(1984), no. 62.
22
no.
A. Bernand
94.
(1984),


into Indian religious practice ?Although
absorbed
that
the
parallels
Isis and
the
between
PattinT
conclusive
are
cults
close
proof
enough
is lacking,
I believe
to
that
suggest
they
are due to cultural transference and did not develop independently. I shall now discuss the
of these two goddesses and then point out the elements which they have in
mythology
common.
In the earliest phase of Egyptian

of women
his
mourning
Over
death.
B.C. Isis had played a
in the third millennium
religion
in some
to that of Osiris;
role
subordinate
texts
the
she merely
centuries
as one
appears
her
and
she
cult
a group
amongst
in
grew
gradually
importance until, in the Ptolemaic period, she becomes "Mother of all the Gods",
"Mistress of the Two Egypts", and "She Who Gives Life toMen and Gods". Her cult
spread
the hellenistic
throughout
at Rome,
sporadic
despite
world
until,
Her
opposition.
imperial
the first
by
as a
worship
she was
a.d.,
century
worshipped
is a purely
sea-goddess
and is not an element of the original Egyptian cult.

development
The fullest account of the hellenised version of the Isismyth is given by Plutarch
hellenistic
De
et Osiride,
hide
was
Osiris
Plutarch,
to
cultivate
written
probably
son of
the
king of the Egyptians;

how
was
which
the Earth
and
god,
shortly
before
Isis was
his
freeing them from their primitive

them
gave
crops,
and
laws,
sister
120.23
in his
to
According
and wife.
became
Osiris
and brutish life, he showed them

to
them
taught
a.d.
worship
He
gods.
later
the world, civilising the whole of mankind. While he was away, his
Plutarch equates with the Greek god Typhon, plotted against him.
travelled throughout
brother Seth, whom
On his return, Seth shut him in a chest, which was
sea. When
to the open
the Nile
in search
lamenting,
washed
up
at
Isis heard
of Osiris.
Byblos,
her
where
found
then
Isis
scattered.
was
son, Horus,
by moonlight,
on
the
was
of Osiris
corpse
it. The
around
and went,
garment
mourning
grew
to float down
and made
containing
tree
sycamore
of Byblos
king
into a pillar for his palace. Isis eventually found

the king for it. She then set sail, taking the coffin to
that he had itmade
the pillar and successfully begged

Buto,
chest
the
a beautiful
then weighted
she put
this,
Meanwhile,
where
liked the tree somuch
of
the
then
being
He
coffin.
sailed
up. One
brought
recognised
through
night
the body
the marshes
and
in a papyrus
Seth,
cut
who
it into
boat
was
out
in search
hunting
he
which
pieces,
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
after
death,
his
lower
defeated
gave
Seth.
birth
to
Isis, having
Harpocrates,
managed
who
was
to have
born
intercourse
sexual
prematurely
and was
with
weak
Osiris
in his
limbs.
has
Plutarch
conflated
probably
and
attempted
to reconcile
several
versions
of
the myth.
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
the
myth,
each
in a resurrection.
culminating
Resurrection
is the major
Isis/Osiris mythology.
life annually to Osiris, who
fertility
23
and
growth
See J. G. Griffiths
to
the
theme
of
the
religion Isiswas above all a goddess of life: she restored

in his aspect of god of the Nile flooded the land and gave
In Egyptian
crops.
(1970), p. 7.

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
of DraupadT,
worship
and KalT.
BhagavatT,
that festivals were
in the region of Arrur, Madura District,

is evidence
was
that
Dikshitar,
in
writing
was
1939,
able
to report
at a village near Negapatam,

Tanjore District,
and amongst the Toda tribes in the Nilgiris, which
still held in her honour
that
suggests
cult was
her
more
formerly
PattinT
The
widespread.24
story
the basis of the Tamil
epic, the Silappadikdram (Lay of the Anklet), and its sequel, the
(I shall discuss their dates below.) The milieu of these epics is the merchant
Manimekalai.
classes,
whom
among
As
resurrection
of her
since
surprising,
and
Jain
In Indian
husband.
the
Buddhist
culture
myth,
believes
were
influences
the central event
in the Isis myths,
that
strong.
in the PattinT mythology
is the death
the
is rare;
the
of
resurrection
are
dead
reborn
the dead
this
name
PattinT's
elsewhere.
and
is not
is
to her husband she is

in her devotion
from Sanskrit PatnT, "wife";
probably
to
of
role
the
the
the
wife
hilt.
playing
perfect
Just asOsiris is killed and resurrected in the Isismyths, so Palanga, PattinT's husband, is
killed and resurrected in the PattinT mythology.
in his monumental
Obeyesekere
study of
derived
the PattinT cult gives the text of a Sinhalese ritual enactment

resurrection
a
a man
which
verses
the
representing
saw
he
in which
performance
public
while
of Palanga,25
dead
to
relating
Palanga
for
her
him,
role
as "mater
in
the
of the story of the death and

once
and
1956
of PattinT
story
a mat.
lies on
central features of the ritual are the killing

search
twice
enacted
in
and
to
According
This
i960.
are
Palanga
was
sung
the
Obeyesekere,
and death of PattinT's husband, Palanga, her

and
dolorosa",
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,
he was
whereupon
follows
when
the
story
for
arrested
falsely
of PattinT's
stealing
search
grief-filled
PattinT finally finds his corpse,
representing
Palanga
resurrection
of
refers
brilliance,
and
Palanga
to
sings
brought
superhuman
about
moral
her
to death
put
the
by
power.
power
The
of
PattinT's
verse
following
the
of
tejas.
Then
king.
ritual
enactment,
her bends over

climax
The
lamentation.26
the
by
In the
husband.
the priest representing

of
songs
it and
for
the man
ritual
is the
literally
Tejas,
is sung:
the great fatigue she suffered!

The power of her tejas!
Bring a singing priest,
Utter
the
and
"resurrection",
calm
the fire!27
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,
Obeyesekere
pressing
her
face
in both myths
to that of Osiris,
embraced
him
and
began
to
cry".28
are the cradling of the corpse and the lamentation
24
V. R. Dikshitar
(1939), PP- 245-76.
27
191.
Ibid., p. 270, verse
25
G. Obeyesekere
28
Plutarch,
The
crucial
elements
of the goddess.
(1984), PP- 245-82.

De hide et Osiride, 357d.

26
In the
Ibid., pp. 265ff.
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
her
that her resurrection of Osiris was not due to
of Isismay have thought
the myth
hearing
as a supreme
omnipotence
but was
goddess,
a result of her suffering. Plutarch emphasises

to her deification.29 In both myths itwould
lamentations
and
to
she had
as
accumulated
the fact that itwas
Isis's sufferings which led

seem that the cradling of the corpse and the
allows
this
accumulated
to be
power
can
externalised
harnessed
to
and
the
resurrection
an
down
strikes
the
of
obstructive
This
corpse.
power
also
to Plutarch,
According
ferryman.30
corpse, gave out such a loud cry that the younger
Osiris's
down
which
trigger
the power
purpose; by it PattinT destroys the Pandyan king and the town of Madura,
directed
destructive
also
the
provide
to
due
be
Isis,
upon
finding
son of the king of Byblos
fell
account
the
dead.31
to
Comparable
the
Sinhalese
Isis festival
Egyptian
Isis for
of
lamentation
the
drama
resurrection
dead
was
who
Osiris,
is the
a time when
in autumn,
held
Plutarch
to have
known
of
gives
the priests would
celebrate
the
because
the
disappeared
to Plutarch,32
nights had lengthened and the Nile had sunk within its banks. According
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
a
would
priest
is found!"
"Osiris
the
the
was
water
clear
Then
to
down
go
into which
box,
golden
out
the
day,
sea,
priests
At
poured.
would
a sacred
taking
this
mix
earth,
together
which
chest
the
point
contained
would
spectators
water
and
cry
unguents,
they would form a crescent shaped figure, which they would then clothe and
to both the Isis and the PattinT cults is the public enactment of the
Common
from which
worship.
resurrection
event
of
the
at once
this
has
perception
with
dramas
mythic
contexts
Isis's
the
aspect
he was
express
the
and
in
a mother
According
absorbing
and
a love
toWitt,
cults
goddess,
gods
at many
of
other
etc.
she
She
that,
became
31
34
of
and
resolutions
of
practitioners
was
of
as
goddess
theMediterranean.
with
Thus
of
love,
et Osiride,
the virgin
357d.
pp. 46of.

being
Such were
to Isis had taken place before
Plutarch, De hide
Ibid.,
mother
"great
to her
opposition
Artemis,
PattinT's
everyone.34
worshipped
also
Sinhalese
popular
Palahga.
is mother
in seeming
identified
of Artemis
29
30
Ibid.
G. Obeyesekere
(1984), pp. 263f.
33
G. Obeyesekere
(1984), pp. 451-82.
and
oppositions
share
as both
is viewed
describes
She was
known.
goddesses
both goddesses
PattinT
the priests
castration
goddess
places throughout
she also
the assimilation
and
as a
and men",
the various
Obeyesekere
impotence
is well
mother
of
identified with Aphrodite

powers
central
by the belief that Palanga could not have had
impotent.
universalised:
as universal
"mother
gods",
it, the
expressing
how
In Sri Lanka
rise.33
given
because
to be
is able
motherhood
of
PattinT
which
describes
Obeyesekere
cultural
the PattinT cult have resolved this dichotomy

intercourse
of
ways
the Isis and PattinT cults is the dichotomy
in various
dual
the different
Despite
and mothers.
virgins
and mother
to which
figure.
same.
parallel between
Another
in being
virgin
the husband
remains
32
her
aspects
as
huntress.
the start of
Ibid., 366d-e.
384 R. C. C. Fynes
the Christian
In a hymn
era.35
some
in Greek
written
time
in the
second
Isis
a.d.,
century
is said to be identified with Artemis
in the Cyclades ;36 the evidence from this hymn will

moon
below.
The
imagery which Plutarch describes in his account
fully
be discussed more
of
autumn
the
in an
culminates
lunar
the
and which
Isis festival
into
initiation
goddess.
crescent
representations
chastity which
Isis demanded
love
elegiac
the
The
poets.38
iconography,
Isis cult,
to
Plutarch,
the
Apuleius's
also
chastity
representations
her
infant
are
The
followers.
of the Latin
complaint
can
mother
the
Artemis,
horns
bear
from
is a common
Isis nursing
of
with
Isis which
of
Isis as a virgin
of
popularity
connection
the
statues
of their girl-friends
a text which
Metamorphoses,
underlines
the
Isis demanded
moon.37
increasing
in which
pervades
the
According
of
also
Horus
seen
in her
prefigure,
and
be
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
Although,
myths.
intercourse with
the dead
was
Harpocrates,
born
lameness
in this
and was
weak
the
re-inforcing
symbol
in his
lower
theme
of
means
some
by
to whom
the child
and penisless Osiris,
prematurely
another
Isis was
to Plutarch,
according
to have
able
she gave
birth,
and
impotence
see
to
Is it possible
limbs.39
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
of
temple
initiation
convert
and
of
the
Palghat
the
a similar
There
district.41
would
is called
the
probably
there
Our
is no
has
informed
dating
from
Metamorphoses.
as
account
His
me
the
evidence
only
or
account
would
then
the process
the Tinivilvamamala
of
the
devotees,
as
rebirth,
is the
still
early
tunnels
centuries
they
an initiation
is probably
have
been
tomb/womb,
Identity".
SrT Rama
of
in
pass
were
used
for
into
the
rites
his
own
S. K.
but
Ghats,
and
initiation.
in his
is that of Apuleius
the Isis cult

on
rebirth
experiences
no
to be
chambers,
underground
of
the
through
seems
There
in the Western
found
or
as an
initiate.
He
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
relates that he was dressed
in a new
leading
a.d.,
based
to
the
priest
a new
into
occasionally
itself.
tunnel
'female'
symbolic
rebirth
temple
who
had to do with
as a
be
of
at
similar
that
to whether
of
passage originally
is reborn
this
Obeyesekere,40
in Indian religion for such a ritual of rebirth. Professor
parallel recorded elsewhere

Nagaraju
practice
to
According
neophyte
chamber
represent
tunnel
"punarjani"
cult.
the
squat
tunnel
found
tunnel,
of
goddess_The
the underground
Obeyesekere
devotees
and
priests
chamber.
chamber and the underground
"squat underground
of
is an underground
there
PattinT,
carried through all the elements.
linen garment
In the middle
of the night
I saw the sun shining with
35
in R. E. Witt
See the chapter, "Great Artemis-Isis",
(1971), pp. 141-51.
37
36
= Grenfell
P. Oxy.
and Hunt
Plutarch, De hide et Osiride,
1380, 84-5
(1915), xi, pp. i9off.
39
38
Plutarch, De hide et Osiride,
II, 33, I-4.
I, 3, 23-32; Propertius,
See, for instance, Tibullus,
41
40
G. Obeyesekere
Ibid.,
p. 538.
(1984), PP- 535n\

372a.
358b.

brilliant
them
worshipped
situated
rooms
robing
Plutarch's
in
completed
the
being
revelation
in
prominent
the
women
other
the
from
were
to
dedicated
chapel
chambers
between
the
a practical
also have
the uninitiated.
on
lifted
mantle
The
theme
and
PattinT
Isis
of
secrecy
the
cults:
"
of
garment.
to
The
also
Isis:
PattinT
depict
I am
all
".47 Now
Obeyesekere
does
such
Obeyesekere
a veil
of
wearing
two
wearing
and
is and
a rrerrXos
is not
the
but
veil
iconography
was
secret
a verse
quotes
no mortal
and
face,
been
in the
Plutarch
be;
a head-veil,
that
speculated
shall
the
priest
the
never
have
of
falls
and
the
cover
not
sculptures
a veil.46
such
that was,
stone
hair
ritual
veils
a feature
is not
illustrates
her
Sinhalese
which
in Graeco
depicted
covers
which
in contemporary
According
of PattinT, but is less
is sometimes
a veil
a mottakkili,
called
Obeyesekere
(tt tt\os)
veiling
veil,
Isis
with
that
reports
long
which
a statue
Isis. However,
shoulders.45
goddess.
inscribed
hidden
a head-dress
in Sri Lanka.
Indian
at Kotunkolur
my
of
wears
chamber
as
confirms
Graeco-Roman
at Denderah
temple
is a subterranean
there
correspondence
Obeyesekere
over
back
by
any
of
another
the
and
at Karnak.44
kept
wearing
PattinT
representing
worn
to be
iconography
shoulders.
falls
at
crypts
of death and rebirth, hidden
have
representations
her
Ptolemaic
of a veil is an important element of the iconography
The wearing
over
The
the
subterranean
and
Archaeology
sepulchres.43
of
temples
dark
secret,
symbolic
of Isis and Osiris
a veil.
of
Roman
and
and
period,
era
Imperial
symbols
suggests
Isis
chambers.
Ptolemaic
the
since mysteries
wearing
of
late
contained
they
the
confirm
a tomb by his description
chambers
Egyptian
subterranean
from
dating
aspect,
but
since
contain
coffin
for the
by Obeyesekere
to
able
is
as
sanctum
inner
this
as that suggested
Plutarch
to Plutarch,
of
his initiation took place
of
symbolism
mythical
chamber with
According
description,
Besides
the
Kotunkolur.
in the manner
often
period
Osiris
at
of the hidden
in Egypt.
temples
the sacrariipenetralia inwhich
but
chamber
identification
and
by."42
bears the same interpretation
underground
on high
and the gods
of the gods below
the presence
underground,
tomb/womb
and
close
does not tell us whether
Apuleius
were
I entered
light.
it could
ever
has
be
thought
introduced
the
into
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
who
goddess
a dead
resurrects
god
to
is foreign
Indian
religion.
Obeyesekere
thought that "it is impossible to derive the PattinT cult from any specific
West Asia and theMediterranean.
It is equally impossible to specify which
cult
of
goddess
from
community
but went
on
demonstrated
the Western
to suggest
that
area
Asian
it was
introduced
by
ports
Hormos
of Myos
and
42
XI, 23.
Apuleius, Metamorphosen,
44
See E. Bevan
(1927), p. 35747
Plutarch, De hide et Osiride, 354b.
It
Berenice.
G. Obeyesekere
form
of
the PattinT
I have
traders.48
cult",
already
the Isis cult, and that the Isis cult was
based at Coptos
43
45
original
Syriac-speaking
the affinities the PattinT cult shareswith
favoured by the western merchants who were

Sea
the
brought
is my
view
on the Nile
that,
and at the Red
if we
accept
with
De hide et Osiride, 359a.

46
Ibid., plate 25.
(1984), PP- 538ff.
G. Obeyesekere
(1984), p. 534.
Plutarch,
48
16
JRA

386 R. C. C. Fynes
the non-Indian
Obeyesekere
most
likely hypothesis
western
traders
more
who
of
origins
the
is that they were

sailed
from
most
the PattinT
of
then
cult,
the
in the first three centuries a.d.,
introduced,
whose
Egypt
elements
original
favoured
was
deity
Isis. Can
be learnt about the actual points of cultural contact between
by
anything
the Indians and the
Westerners
has shown that PattinT was originally (and has largely remained) a deity
Obeyesekere
of Buddhists and Jains.49 The lay people who supported the monks of the non-vedic
sramana
are
traditions
and
Buddhism
to have
likely
Jainism
it. From the time of Asoka, Buddhism

of
regions
India.
monks
Jaina
the most
had
a mercantile
fostered
and
contact
direct
whereas
ethic,
with
was
from
emigrated
into
the north
to
opposed
into the southern
and Jainism had been disseminated
laymen
since
traders,
foreign
Brahminism
the Tamil
areas,
is still today a stronghold of the Digambara

(sky-clad) sect of Jaina monks.
at least vestigially,
till the eighteenth
Moreover
Buddhism
survived in Tamilnadu,
century. The earliest epigraphic evidence for Buddhism and Jainism in South India comes
in the Brahmi script, but whose language is early
from a group of inscriptions written
and Karnataka
an admixture
Tamil with
are not
inscriptions
to Zvelebil this language is

of Prakrit vocabulary.50 According
These
of
Buddhist
bhikkhus
and/or Jaina munis".
jargon
Tamil
the "hybridised
but
dated,
are
earliest
the
usually
to
assigned
century
The earliest evidence for the PattinT cult comes from the Tamil
The
opinion
is said
Senguttavan,
a
from
to have
supposed
are
of
the
second
untenable,
and,
Obeyesekere
points
historical
fact,
legitimising
was
PattinT
as
stated,
out,
although
It is certainly
written".53
and
flourishing
after
a.d.
scholarly
centuries
eighth
their
in the Cera
the
and
and
171,
has
Obeyesekere
centuries
a.d.,
it has
occurrence
than
to
in
synchronism
that
date.
receiving
direct
although
acts
epic
royal
patronage
"as
is lacking,
the
centuries
early
to be
as
may
a
not
charter
at the time the
evidence
in
argued
cult was
However,
shrine
of a central PattinT cult existing
probable,
ruler
been
that
the PattinT
the
kingdom,51
Sinhalese
the PattinT
that
shown
later
donations
Senguttavan's
and pedigree
the
the Mahdvamsa,
chronicle
is several
of
and
Senguttavan
shortly
time.52
but modern
a.d.,
of PattinT
temple
between
epic
statement
the
the antiquity
cult was
that
the
to a
grants
composed
at
in Tamilnadu
flourishing
epic, the Silappadikdram.
earlier date. In the Silappadikdram the Cera king,
in the Pali
given
was
the Silappadikdram
poem
endowed
synchronicity
dates
whose
Gajabahu,
be
of a much
centuries
the fifth
between
somewhere
it contains material
although
that
a date
it to
assigns
two
is the first
its composition
of
date
traditional
and
start
the
B.C.
the
that
a.d.
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
The
PattinT's
executed,
husband
and which
went
to
PattinT,
sell
the
in revenge,
golden
caused
anklet,
where
to be burned
he
was
falsely
to the ground.
accused
The
and
Pandyan
not
kingdom played an important role in the trade with theWest and, although Madura is
was
it
the
knew
that
and
both
author
of
the
the
mentioned
Pliny
Periplus,
Ptolemy
by
49
Ibid., pp. 511-29; G. Obeyesekere
(1980).
50
is that of K. Zvelebil
The best treatment of these inscriptions
(1964).
52
51
See V. R. R. Dikshitar
147-54.
(1939), p.
Silappadikaram, XXX,
53
G. Obeyesekere
(1984), p. 603.
14 and pp.

370-3.

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
and hoards of Roman coins have been found in other parts of the Pandyan
Madura,
gap,
kingdom. About one hundred miles to the north of Madura
lay the Coimbatore
which
Roman
coins
have
found.
Their
been
distribution
many
pattern ledMortimer
along
to
suggest
that
passed
along
this
Wheeler
coast,
that
mentions
the gates
suggested
route
to
the west
were
of Madura
were
and was
India,
then
the Roman
Arikemedu,
coast
verse
Yavana
to describe
used
to
evidence
comes
ideas
religious
from
of
Sanskrit
show
that
the Periplus.
at Cape Comorin,
goddess
form
direct
only
Silappadikaram
and
However,
kind
any
of
author
tells
Yavana,
invaded
it is
Nevertheless,
foreigner.
and western
us
that
it was
"maiden";58
been
the Pandyan kingdom was
Indians
southern
The
means
which
it has
the word
traders
was
there
he calls Komar or Komarei, a hellenisation
which
KumarT,
the
east
the
came to be used to describe the Sakas who
still possible that the verse reflects a situation at a time when

direct trading contact with theWest.
Our
in
swordsmen,56
mercenaries.57
on
station
trading
ports.55
by
guarded
western
applied to Greeks,
although originally
north-west
from
Yavanas
these
that
traffic
of
port
in
discussed
a cult
of
the
of the Tamil
the
Pandyan
in the Silappadikaram. The author of the Periplus tells us that

kingdom, and ismentioned
"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
Itwill
herself".
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 ismy view that if the
author of the Periplus had been asked to give a name
"Isis".
The
author
of
the Periplus
spent
obviously
to "17 0 oV\ he would
some
time
discussing
have replied
religious
practice
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
with
transmission
of
in honour
performed
element
in the worship
plunged
his
head
which
Egypt
and
devoted
who
ablutions
Receptacles
ideas.
religious
holy men
The
the
of Isis: Apuleius
seven
times
held
for
the Mediterranean.60
Such
goddess.
ablutions
at Cape Comorin
were
an
also
describes how Lucius bathed himself
the waves
under
water
to the cult of KumarT
themselves
of
before
purposes
purification
Miniature
addressing
tanks,
dating
were
from
his
first
a feature
important
in the sea and

to
prayer
of
the Roman
Isis
Isis.59
in
temples
were
period,
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
in private.
feet
been found at sites throughout

from
the first
three
centuries
a.d.,
northern
although
Similar
miniature
and western
some
are
tanks made
of
India. The majority

earlier.62
They
are
terracotta
have
of them date
frequently
found
54
Pliny, Naturalis Historia, VI, 105; Ptolemy, Geographia, VII, I, 89.

For Roman
see Paula J. Turner
aurei from Madura
(1989), pp. 64-5 and the distribution map
56
57
See also R. E. M. Wheeler
(1951), 58
pp. 65-7.
Silappadikdram, XIV, 62-70.
By P. Meile
59
1.
58. Apuleius, Metamorphosen,
XI,
Periplus
60
See chapter "Ablution
facilities and ritual", in R. A. Wild
(1981), pp. 128-48.
61
62
W. M. F. Petrie (1896) 41.
See article in A. Ghosh
(1989), i, pp. 277f
55
on p. 119.
(1940).
16-2

388 R. C. C. Fynes
near
or Buddhist
Jain
stupas.
come
They
in square,
often have a flight of steps leading to the centre. Many

their
rims
and
while
others
that
these
and
that
aquatic
a miniature
have
Some
have
features
temptation
were
tanks
see
to
a link with
some
should probably be avoided,

in
functional
century
comes
in a.d.
Indian
the
from
the
of
on
floors.
their
been
sides,
suggested
the mother
the
goddess",
Indian
as Petrie
were
one
their
The
Indo-Parthians.63
model
tanks
suggested, probably
in
votive
character
were
and
tanks.
of Isiswas known
text
269/270
Sanskrit
inwestern
called
the
prose
of
translation,
prose
had probably
version
India in the
Yavanajdtaka
an earlier
of
text which
astrological
original
of
and
and
astrological
nor
on
It has
rims.
Egyptian
in a.d.
done
version,
the Greek
by
Sakas
tanks were,
tanks
a Sanskrit
of a Greek
149/150
neither
Alexandria;
since the Egyptian
is a verse
This
Sphujidhvaja.64
done
the
shows that the iconography
a.d.
their
form
India
substitutes for full-sized
the dedicational
second
into
between
whereas
character,
probably
Evidence which
introduced
and
shapes,
on
tortoises
in a shrine
on
"
Hellenised-Parthian
connection
and
frogs
standing
or musicians
oval
and
have lamps and birds modelled
snakes,
goddess
drummers
of
show
the model
a nude
of
figure
figures
as water
such
animals,
round
rectangular,
has
in
originated
The
survived.65
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 Tamil
areas in which we know
evidence
provide
the
of
that
the
astronomers
of
school
at
based
is not
and
Ujjain,
product
it does
that the PattinT cult flourished. However,

of
iconography
Isis was
in India
known
in the
second
century
A.D.
So far I have only discussed

traders
from
sailing
But
Egypt.
that the cult of Isiswas
the possibility
Indians
also
could
have
learnt
about
taken to India by
Isis
the
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
In this
of Trajan.
and
ideas
a work
star-crossed
by
The
could
of
the
novelist
sold
exchanged
early
second
her
to some
and
Egyptian
claiming
business
name
were
Psammis,
in Alexandria.
happened
and
one
At
They
point
looked
the
trials
in the
to be visiting Alexandria
The
to make
Indian
love
of
king,
to whom
to Anthia,
but
Indian
and
Ocean
the members
in which
the ways
is generally
story
after
and
among
one
which
novel,
describes
Sea
Indians
illustrates
His
a.d.,68
merchants.69
combined.
wanted
Persians
of Ephesus
century
in the Red
trade
Scythians,
and Habrocames.
her to an Indian king who

seeing
to Alexandria's
Xenophon
be
Anthia
lovers,
who
robbers
refers
see Bactrians,
could
audience.67
religious
to be
he
that
says
of his
Dio
speech
accepted
of
tribulations
was
Anthia
her well,
and
captured
in turn
on a trip in which
resisted
sold
sight
gives
Xenophon
she
two
his
the
advances,
that her father had dedicated her to Isis until the time of her marriage, which was
64
63
Ed. and trans. D. Pingree
Ibid., p. 278. See also Sir John Marshall
(1978).
(1951), ii, pp. 463-8.
66
65
See D. Pingree
I, 14-25.
Ibid., p. 226. Yavanajataka,
(1963), pp. 225ff.
67
Dio Chrysostom,
Orationes, XXXII,
36, 40.
68
is not securely dated, but a terminus ante quern of a.d. 263 is thought
See J. Gwyn Griffiths (1978). The work
to be provided
in that year.
of the Artemision,
which was destroyed
by its mention
69
of Ephesus, De amoribus, III, 11.
Xenophon


still one year away. She told Psammis
her
would
vengeance
be
is, of
story
geography,
was
Contact
owners
Ksatrapas
is attested
the
I conclude
frequented
that
for
does
an
provide
numbers
large
accurate
of merchants
that he
suggested
224-7
flood
tide
be mere
who
learnt this from
in Roman
mythology.
name
of
Line
is more
suggested
Isis
as
Mediterranean
and
education,
realm
slaves,
the Western
of
Sanskrit
areas
with
a mother
It states
associated
this
in
an
forth
This,
of
in India
Isis was
course,
the
may
Maia
called
to render
attempt
has met
the
as well
the goddesses
of
any
with
little
of mad,
(ev
as
see
of
in Greek
Maya,
A
acceptance.77
could
would
be
in Egypt
and
any
Indian
the Prakritised
Mad
hymn
to
is difficult
It
"mother".
Thus
India
places
assimilated.
bring
and
means
"y".
glide
goddess
of
or
"You
translated:
Vulcan.
theory
which
Mdtr,
identified
as
used
listing
geographical
is a hellenisation
that Maia
cosmopolitan
widely
deity, one of the daughters of Atlas,
deity
be
might
but
It has been
the Ganges".
that
with
classical
that Maia
be
of
been
in praise
remain,
of
It has
she was
be
in India
shadowy
lines
atmosphere
of
whom
Maia was aminor
have
evidence
the
form
been
for
the
of
the
rest
world.
So perhaps in his principal contention

he
the
hundred
original.75
may
They
definite.
mother,76
would
of
some
export
of western
from Egypt. A papyrus from
the
it consists
with
the Nile...,
rather
the Buddha's
in
since
she was
Norden
Egyptian
context.
of
theory
to
three
"breathes
of goddesses
Indian
this
nominative
pronounced
and
103
an
of
Isis cult,
the
mythology
plausible
worship
of
between
of
of
dates from the reign of Hadrian.
Isis, which
InGreek mythology
TvBols Matav).
degree
The
harem,
almost
and probably
in Egypt
rivers,
ideas.
royal
of which
hymn,
of
Isis in an
hyperbole.
relationship
long
worshipped
of
the
some
with
of
exchange
for
girls
a translation
extent
place
those
one final piece of evidence
invocation
be
the
she was
Lines
pretty
in Greek,
this
may
evidence
Egyptian
barbarians,
the Periplus.73
contains
hellenism",
where
and
by
of Isis.74 It iswritten
course,
by
particularly
to the
led
by mentioning
Oxyrhynchus
suggested
slaves,
have
court
for
the
all
of Isis.
novel
Xenophon's
and India,71 and it has been
must
musicians
of
centre
trading
western
between
Indian
more
god-fearing
in Alexandria.72
merchants
the
but
like
of the
Egypt. Xenophon
displays a good knowledge
and religious background of Egypt.70 He also knows that Coptos
to Axum
journeyed
and
Psammis,
fiction,
pure
ethnography
Egypt
Upper
their
was
who
of social life in Roman
picture
in
course,
curse him and that
that if he violated her, Isiswould
her and joined her in the worship
refrained from harming

This
terrible.
was
wrong.
chronology
often naive. But
That
were
not
the evidence
could
as yet
SirWilliam
hardly
be
understood,
I have gathered
Jones was
otherwise:
and
ideas
right after all. In detail, of
in his
about
day,
religion
early
were
Indian
and
vague
and
suggests that Isis did come from Egypt
70
71
of Ephesus, De amoribus, IV, 1.
J. Gwen Griffiths
(1978), pp. 428ff.
Xenophon
72
73
See J. Gwyn Griffiths
49.
(1978), p. 431.
Periplus
74
=
P. Oxy.
Grenfell
and Hunt
inM. Totti
1380
(1915), xi, pp. i9off. Also published
(1985).
75
See G. Fowden
(1986), pp. 48-9. See ibid., pp. 45?52 for a discussion of other hymns praising
76
n.
2.
E. Norden
(1924), p. 112,
77
See M. G. Raschke
O. Stein (1924-^7) thought
(1978), n. 1627 for discussion and bibliography.
was no evidence for the cult of Isis in India: I
hope that I have shown the contrary to be the case.

to
Isis.
that there
390 R. C. C. Fynes
India.
can
One
of Jones's
dismiss
flair
for
as a coincidence,
this
cultural
Iwould
but
rather
see
it as another
and
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routes
du
example
comparison.
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de

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Isis and Pattin: The Transmission of a Religious Idea from Roman Egypt to India

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25182764 .

This content downloaded from 138.251.236.47 on Mon, 6 Oct 2014 04:49:39 AM

Isis and PattinT: The Transmission

Ideafrom Roman Egypt

that certain elements

trading contact with

cult: it ismy hypothesis

some of the western

I shall begin by briefly discussing

and an Indian goddess

In actual fact the feminine

of IsVara (Lord or Master)

JRAS, Series3, 3, 3 (1993),PP- 377-391

This content downloaded from 138.251.236.47 on Mon, 6 Oct 2014 04:49:39 AM

that these figures

These figures seem to show western

influences both in their

the infant Horus.

exists in the iconography

and child sculptures from north Gujarat were

that stone mother

Sankalia also thought

influences also inspired figures of Harltl

and Sankalia suggested that contemporary

to Shah, the Gupta art of northern Gujarat was influenced

that "it would

to see even a trace of foreign

and child figurines from Gujarat must

and the Gupta mother

India and Sri Lanka does support the hypothesis

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Isis and PattinT 379

for the return voyage

took place sometime

in the period between

The roads leading from Berenice

entered the Arabian Gulf was brought down

to Coptos, which was

are described by Strabo

and in this period

cult of Isis is the cult most

and in the Ptolemaic

Horus, who was here identified with Min,

since the period of the New

social origins. Nevertheless,

Jewish and Palmyrene

the ithyphallic god of the Eastern desert;

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other, dating from the time of the Julio-Claudians,

to Plutarch, itwas at Coptos

and Isis and bears

that Isis heard of Osiris's death and, having cut

to Isis and Hera made

in the first and

inscription records a dedication

in the reign of Claudius.19 Another

is attested by the number

to Isis in India before

starting their return journey

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Isis and PattinT 381

In the earliest phase of Egyptian

B.C. Isis had played a

Fynes, Isis & Pattini (1993)

Fynes, Isis & Pattini (1993)