Asbestos and Salamander in India
Abstract The present paper, an homage to B. Laufer’s “Asbestos and Salamander” (1915), adds South Asia to the story of a remarkable Eurasian cultural meme meant to explain the presence of fire-proof cloth after its manufacturing technology was forgotten, namely that asbestos was the fur of a mythica...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2020
|
| In: |
Indo-Iranian journal
Year: 2020, Volume: 63, Issue: 4, Pages: 335-370 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Sanskrit language
/ Scholarly publishing
/ Asbestos
/ Production of
|
| RelBib Classification: | ZA Social sciences |
| Further subjects: | B
Purāṇa
B South Asian material culture B kāvya B Buddhism B Asbestos B agniśauca B Sanskrit lexicography |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Abstract The present paper, an homage to B. Laufer’s “Asbestos and Salamander” (1915), adds South Asia to the story of a remarkable Eurasian cultural meme meant to explain the presence of fire-proof cloth after its manufacturing technology was forgotten, namely that asbestos was the fur of a mythical animal. I argue that none of our Sanskrit dictionaries contain the correct meaning of the term agniśauca , which does indeed mean asbestos. The widely shared motif explains why in Sanskrit literature too we have animals (a nondescript mṛga ) by the same name. I examine textual passages from kāvya , purāṇa s, as well as Buddhist sūtra s and śāstra s, to elucidate this topic. I also cite some evidence that in the period between the 9th and the 11th c. some areas of India still possessed knowledge of asbestos manufacturing. However, as for where and when the correlation was first made, I must leave the question open. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1572-8536 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Indo-Iranian journal
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15728536-06304002 |