Dear Jacob, Fabulous, thank you! A yantra of 5 by 5 and the number written next to it - that makes perfect sense. I can try to read the engravings with better light, but I doubt that I can read all of them, ever. I can see a ‘ta’, and probably ‘Ta’ (or ‘da’), but not in a sequence. Where could I find examples of such yantras (might be too many of them…).
With thanks, Anna. Sent from my iPhone > On 19 Oct 2021, at 13:58, [email protected] wrote: > > Dear Anna, > > It looks like a 5x5 grid yantra (which might explain the number 25 next to > the grid). Perhaps if the inscriptions were easier to make out, it would be > possible to identify it more precisely. There does not seem to be any obvious > connection to games, though the Yantracintāmaṇi does contain a similar yantra > for achieving success in games (yantra no. 73). It is inscribed on an 8x8 > grid which is navigated by a knight's tour (vājikrama). This means that you > place a chess-knight in one space, and then jump around the grid according to > the knight's move until you have landed on all the squares without landing on > the same square twice. If you do it correctly, the resulting series of 64 > syllables go together to form two ślokas which can be used as a mantra to > ensure success in games. > > Best, > Jacob > > > Jacob Schmidt-Madsen > Postdoctoral Researcher in Indology > Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies > University of Copenhagen > Denmark > > Anna Slaczka via INDOLOGY skrev den 2021-10-19 12:20: >> Dear Colleagues, >> I came across a small copper plate from India (approximately 18 cm in >> length) with an image of an elephant engraved on it. On the back of >> the elephant there is a ‘cloth’ with checkered pattern with in each >> square a Devanagari letter (too worn out to read them all) and on top >> there is something more, perhaps a figure holding a banner (I might be >> horribly wrong). A few more single letters and even a longer word and >> a number (25) are ‘scattered’ around the elephant. Please see the >> photograph. The back of the plate is not decorated. >> Does any of you even seem something like that and know perhaps wat it >> is, and what was it used for? A (card) game perhaps? >> Many thanks and with best wishes, >> Anna. >> Sent from my iPhone >> _______________________________________________ >> INDOLOGY mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology > > _______________________________________________ > INDOLOGY mailing list > [email protected] > https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology _______________________________________________ INDOLOGY mailing list [email protected] https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
