Indiana Jones Stuff

James Prinsep was born into poverty in 1799 and yet through his own endeavours made some of the most exciting discoveries in deciphering ancient Indian script that echo an Indiana Jones tale. He spoke Persian, Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, Greek, Latin and was able to decipher Brahmi and had a working familiarity with Pali. 

He was curious about the stupa, rocks and pillars that were everywhere in India often with inscriptions that no one could understand. They were written in two Indian scripts which had both become extinct around the 5th century CE. 

His curiosity had been shared, over four hundred years earlier, by a 14th century Sultan who had, been obsessed with a specific golden pillar. Firoz Shah (1351 –1388) who was Sultan of Delhi, wrote a poem celebrating the column of gold, that he had removed from its ancient site at Topra and taken by a massive 42-wheeled carriage and boat to his own fort in Delhi a distance of almost 90 miles. It was around 50 feet in height. “No bird, neither eagle, nor crane, can fly up to its top”, he stated and wondered who and how it was built. He marvelled at how the people who made it were able to paint it all over with gold. He was particularly curious about the ancient inscriptions that no one understood on the pillar. The ancients had mastered a technique to treat the sandstone surface to burnish and protect it creating shiny patina metal-like finish. 

It did not protect all of these pillars from invaders or the acts of violence and destruction that was all too common. Timor the Lame (1320s -1405), a Turco-Mongol conqueror subsequently ransacked the country and set fire to an ancient pillar by ordering every horseman in his army to carry two loads of firewood to the pillar. The pillar still stands beside the mosque but its lower section is so badly fire damaged that nothing remains of the inscriptions. Having slaughtered over 100,000 prisoners, who were slowing his march, Timor proceeded to attack Delhi. 

One of the few buildings to survive the sacking was Firoz Shah Kotla. Strangely, instead of destroying the structure, Timor approached this building and gave thanks to God and left full of admiration for the column of gold declaring that in all the countries he had travelled he never seen a monument comparable to it. 

Destruction of many of these ancient pillars and stupas throughout India had gone on for millennium, sometimes though invasion, sometimes neglect, sometimes through using material for other buildings. Many of the Stupas would have had at their base a relic (ashes/belongings) of the Buddha or bones of his early followers, and many dug down to find these treasures. 

At Prinsep’s request and expense, his colleague Cunningham erected a wooden ramp that gave him access to the top of the 143-foot-high structure called the Dharmik Stupa. In January 1835 he and his workmen sank a shaft down through the centre of the monument. Only when they dug down to a depth of 110 feet did the work become easier for here the stonework gave away to large flat bricks. The digging then went on until they reached the soil at the base of the structure without producing any result after 14 months of labour and substantial costs. 

Fortunately, while the dig had been happening, Cunningham became friendly with an old man who had been involved in previous digging of sites in the area. Cunningham learned that a second stupa as large as the one they’ve been working on had been completely destroyed in this earlier dig at Benares. However, it was rumoured that there was an underground chamber full of ancient stone statues that had been hastily covered over for fear of upsetting evil spirits. The old man was able to lead Cunningham to the exact spot and his workmen unearthed a catch of about 60 statues and base relieves all in an upright position all packed closely together in a small space of less than 10 ft square. Cunningham had time to arrange for 20 of these statues bearing their inscriptions to be transported down to Calcutta safely before finding himself posted as an aide-de-camp for the Governor general. 

When Cunningham was eventually able to return to the site, from his posting, he was horrified to discover the city magistrate Mr Davidson had ordered the remaining 40 statues and all 50 cartloads of carved stonework to be thrown into the river Barna to make a breakwater. This act of vandalism made a deep impression on Cunningham who became fixated in his calls for the protection of such ancient sites. 

James Prinsep had begun by researching ancient Indian scripts (especially Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī) on pillars, statues and other stonework in the early 1830s and he combined this with his extensive study of ancient coins in order to compare symbols. His major breakthrough took seven years of concentrated effort and in 1837, he successfully deciphered Brāhmī by comparing repeated symbols on Aśokan edicts and bilingual Indo-Greek coins. Prinsep was able at last to translate these mysterious writings, whose meaning had been lost for almost two millennia. 

Unfortunately, by 1840 James Prinsep was dead despite being only 41 years old. But in 1917 others following his lead even discovered the source of these ancient writings. They were aided by the discovery of 16 accounts of Alexander the Great’s soldiers as they travelled through India in the years 327 BC to 325 BC and by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims like Faxian, Xuanzang, and Yijing who journeyed to India (5th-12th centuries) to collect authentic scriptures and brought them back to China writing copious dairies of their experiences. 

Since there was a lot of burning of old scrolls and writings in India these outsiders, Greek solders and Chinese pilgrims, allowed valuable information to be preserved that would have otherwise been lost. This revealed that many inscriptions were proclamations of Emperor Aśoka (3rd century BCE), and shed light on the teachings of Buddha (6th or 5th century BCE). Ashoka (c. 304–232 BCE) was the third ruler of the Mauryan Empire in India, and is now remembered as one of the most significant emperors in South Asian, and indeed world history. He was a grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, the empire’s founder but had to kill around 99 relatives in order to inherit the throne. This, mass slaughtering of relatives, was a depressingly common technique in those days when power was transferred from one ruler to the next. 

Around 261 BCE Ashoka invaded Kalinga (in present-day Odisha, a state located in Eastern India). The Kalinga War was an extremely brutal and one of the largest and deadliest battles in Indian history. Nearly a quarter of million lives were lost and despite winning Ashoka was deeply affected by the loss of so many lives. Shortly after, he adopted Buddhist ethical principles and published ethical policies in rock and pillar inscriptions across his empire. 

He promoted public works that included hospitals, wells, shade trees and rest houses. He supported Buddhist communities and encouraged the spread of ‘righteous conduct’ beyond India (including missions to Sri Lanka). Emperor Ashoka built a massive number of stupas (84,000) to house Buddha's relics, alongside numerous pillars and rocks inscribed with these edicts in order to raise the standard of behaviour of the populace. 

So what did these writings, that had been so widely spread throughout Ashoka’s kingdom and so painstakingly translated by James Prinsep, say? Ashoka’s pillars and rock inscriptions were not attempting to display His wealth or power. They were made to convey a clear consistent message to all who saw them. 

They can be summarised as: 

Compassion for all living beings 

Non-violence — particularly restraint in animal slaughter 

Moral self-examination —subjects should reflect on their own conduct regularly 

Good governance — officials should report truthfully, dutifully 

Religious tolerance — each sect should honour the other 

Welfare — medical aid, trees and wells planted on roads 

There is something horrific that such noble words would have been erased, burnt, buried and destroyed so ruthlessly down through the many centuries by so many different races and religions. But also, something mystical that determined researchers dug deep within themselves and in ancient manuscripts far and wide to find the answers to who, why, when and what those inscriptions meant. Sometimes by looking back at history we discover essential truths that humanity has had to relearn over the millennium again and again. Perhaps there is some comfort in that?

Malta's Inquisition - the good the bad and the ugly

Visited the palace of the Inquisitor in Birgu this week.  Getting there by bus is a bit of a hassle.  First I waited for half an hour to get a bus to Valetta from Sliema.  Four full buses passed the stop unable to let any more on board.  From Valetta I caught a bus to Birgu and it takes a remarkably long time to get a few kilometres from where I started.  I feel sure the bus system is designed to make Malta seem much bigger.  After an hour on a bus somewhere you find yourself scratching your head in disbelief, after all the whole island is only 27 kilometres long and 15 kilometres across.  It may be small but it is jam packed with delights and the Palace of the Inquisitor was my goal.  Birgu has a mighty fine entrance.

As I approach the main entrance of Birgu I keep reminding myself how impressive it is now but how much more so it must have seemed in the 16th century.

On the left as you enter there is a fascinating museum which leads down to the underground shelters built deep beneath ground during World War II.  Down narrow corridors and steps there are dormitories and even a birthing room.  Each stone has a tale to tell in this place.

Certainly these walls were designed to keep out invaders and there is a majesty about them.  Walled defences that have layers of protection.

The side streets are pretty and distinctively Maltese. The Inquisitor's palace is not far from the main gate and is one of very few that have survived in the world still open to the public.

Inside the ground floor is a pleasant garden, obviously a pleasant place to retreat to after a tiring day investigating and torturing victims.  The kitchen is large and spacious with an oven down one side.

The staircase is spectacular and grand, this was the way to impress guests and to state ones importance.

Looking back down the stairs gives another perspective.  Note the chair which would be used to carry the really important around the city from venue to venue.

Two of the Inquisitors here in Malta went on to become popes.  Fabia Chigi became Pope Alexander VII in 1655.   There is a photo of him on the wall.  

When inquisitor he would have worn this costume below, a rather terrifying outfit to be confronted with.  I think the outfit was designed with confession in mind.

Pope Alexander VII did not get good press by some.  Here is an account, by a contemporary that knew him, that starts out well but ends badly.

"In the first months of his elevation to the Popedom, he had so taken upon him the profession of an evangelical life that he was wont to season his meat with ashes, to sleep upon a hard couch, to hate riches, glory, and pomp, taking a great pleasure to give audience to ambassadors in a chamber full of dead men's sculls, and in the sight of his coffin, which stood there to put him in mind of his death. [His] extraordinary devotion and sanctity of life I found was so much esteemed that the noise of it spread far and near. But so soon as he had called his relations about him he changed his nature. Instead of humility succeeded vanity; his mortification vanished, his hard couch was turned into a soft featherbed, his dead men's sculls into jewels, and his thoughts of death into ambition — filling his empty coffin with money as if he would corrupt death, and purchase life with riches."

I suspect piety is a hard act to maintain, but some of the faces of the Inquisitors look like rather evil characters indeed.  I keep wondering is it just me or do some of them look seriously disturbed?

I am one to talk, I take a bad photo myself but seriously, these guys were painted so surely with artistic skill they could have made them look more human.

All I can say is I would not like to be questioned by these characters while implements of torture were lying around conveniently placed.  Being found in possession of books on their index of forbidden texts would have been enough to get you into serious trouble.  Kepler's scientific treaty on the movement of the planets etc would have certainly got you strapped to something painful. Galileo's championing of the planets moving around the sun resulted in him being tried and suffering house imprisonment for the rest of his life.  But there were a whole range of things that could get you into trouble.  (see below)

It's quite a list and the last one could include informing the inquisition of the sins of others.  By not doing so you could get into real trouble.  In Malta the major sins seem to centre around witchcraft/evil eye etc. Mostly it appeared the use of love potions was common.  This activity was hard to stamp out despite the intensity of their best endeavours.  Pope Alexander VII, when inquisitor ,so filled the cells with people to investigate they ran out of room to put their suspects.  The longest serving Inquisitor in Malta was Paolo Passionei  (1743-1754). Unfortunately, he had several nasty secrets of his own which caused some difficulties.

"He was guilty of 'Loose living' including fornication. Inquisitor Passionei secretly had a mistress, and he became the father of two females .... When in 1749 the Pope requested him to go to Switzerland as an Apostolic Nuntio he refused, being afraid that his scandalous life would become public! He left Malta on 1754 and was unfrocked. " 

It's a tricky business this judging of others, not perhaps a healthy spiritual exercise.  "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone..." applies surely?

The inquisitors lived in some comfort.

The room in which they interrogated suspects had a rather unpleasant feel to it.  The torture implements in the dungeon down below must have helped loosen tongues.

There is a special staircase to the prison cells below which meant they could be taken secretly to and fro without being seen by others.  The cells themselves had tiny low doors and small high windows.

The contrast between the prison cells with their cramped quarters down below to the luxury above is stark.

Strange to find in one building such marked differences only a staircase away.  Below all dark and tortured while above all light and comfort.

"A prisoner in the Inquisition is never allowed to see the face of his accuser, or of the witnesses against him, but every method is taken by threats and tortures, to oblige him to accuse himself, and by that means corroborate their evidence."

John Foxe

When you think about the inquisition it is hard to find positive things to say about this period.  Lessons have to be learnt from history and until we do it seems society will never progress.  I liked this piece by― Alfred Whitney Griswold in Essays on Education,

“Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education.”