IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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| IRANIAN PRECIOUS STONES -LAPIS LAZULI 52I Marco Polo's account.' YULE comments as follows: "The mines of Lajwurd (whence l'Azur and Lazuli) have been, like the ruby mines, celebrated for ages. They lie in the upper valley of the Kokcha, called Koran, within the tract called Yamgan, of which the popular etymology is Hamah-Kan, or `All-Mines,' and were visited by Wood in 1838.2 The produce now is said to be of very inferior quality, and in quantity from thirty to sixty pud (thirty-six lbs. each) annually. The best quality sells at Bokhara at thirty to sixty tillas, or 12 1. to 241. the pud (Manphfz1)."3 In the Dictionary of Four Languages,' lapis lazuli is styled ts`in kin .i W; in Tibetan mu-men, Mongol and Manchu The diamond is likewise attributed by the Chinese to Sasanian Persia, and I have formerly shown that several Iranian tribes were acquainted with this precious stone in the beginning of our era.' Diamond-points were imported from Persia into China under the Tang dynasty.' 89. The first mention of amber in Chinese records is the reference to amber in Ki-pin (Kashmir).? Then we receive notice of the occurrence of amber in Ta Ts`in (the Hellenistic Orient)8 and in Sasanian Persia.9 The correctness of the latter account is confirmed by the Bündahisn, in which the Pahlavi term for amber, kahrupdi, is transmitted.10 This word corresponds to New Persian keihrubei, a compound formed with keih ("straw ") and rubâ (" to lift, to attract ") .11 The Arabs derived their kahrubâ (first in Ibn el-Abbas) from the Persians; and between the | |||||||||||||||
| 1 YULE'S edition, Vol. I, p. 157. This refers to WooD, Journey to the Oxus, p. 263. See, further, M. BAUER, Precious Stones, P. 442. 4 Ch. 22, p. 65. 5 The Diamond, p. 53. 5 Ta rail leu tien, Ch. 22, p. 8. Ts'ien Han Su, Ch. 96 A, p. 5. In the Wei lio and Hou Han Su (cf. CHAVANNES, T'oung Pao, 1907, p. 182). 9 Nan Si, Ch. 79, p. 8; Wei Su, Ch. 102, p. 5 a; Sui Su, Ch. 83, p. 7 b. The Sui Su has altered the name hu-p`o into . ou-p`o M N. in order to observe the tabu of the name Hu in Li Hu A, the father of the founder of the T'ang dynasty. to the north of Persia, also to the country Hu-se-mi (Wei su, Ch. 102, p. 6 b). 10 WEST, Pahlavi Texts, Vol. I, Q. 273. l' Analogies occur in all languages: Chinese Si-kiai 4f ("attracting mustard- seeds ") ; Sanskrit trinagrahin (" attracting straw ") ; Tibetan sbur len or sbur loft, of the same meaning: French (obsolete) tire-paille. Another Persian word for amber is Sahbarj. | |||||||||||||||
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