IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sino-Iranica : vol.1 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
SESAME AND FLAX 291
Triratna.' From the application of adhimuktaka it becomes self-evident also that sesame-oil must be included in this series. The frequent mention of this oil for sacred lamps is familiar to all readers of the Buddhist Jâtaka. The above Sanskrit-Chinese Dictionary adds the following comment: "This plant is in appearance like the `great hemp' (Cannabis sativa) . It has red flowers and green leaves. Its seeds can be made into oil ; also they yield an aromatic. According to the Tsun
kin yin nie lun fil 31 IA~_~, sesame (kü-.en) is originally charcoal,
and, while for a long time buried in the soil, will change into sesame. In the western countries (India) it is customary in anointing the body with fragrant oil to use first aromatic flowers and then to take sesame-seeds. These are gathered and soaked till thoroughly bright; afterwards they proceed to press the oil out of the sesame, which henceforth becomes fragrant."
Of greater importance for our purpose is the antiquity of sesame in Iran. According to Herodotus2, it was cultivated by the Chorasmians, Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sarangians, and Thamanœans. In Persia sesame-oil was known at least from the time of the first Achœmenides.2 G. WATT4 even looks to Persia and Central Asia as the home of the species; he suggests that it was probably first cultivated somewhere between the Euphrates valley and Bukhara south to Afghanistan and upper India, and was very likely diffused into India proper and the Archipelago, before it found its way to Egypt and Europe.
Sesamum indicum (var. subindivisum Dl.) is cultivated in Russian Turkistan and occupies there the first place among the oil-producing plants. It thrives in the warmest parts of the valley of Fergana, and does not go beyond an elevation of two thousand five hundred feet. It is chiefly cultivated in the districts of Namanga and Andijan, though not in large quantity.5 Its Persian name is kunjut.
While there is no doubt that this species was introduced into China from Iranian regions, the time as to when this introduction took place remains obscure. First, there is no historical and dependable record of this event; second, the confusion brought about by the Chinese in treating this subject is almost hopeless. Take the earliest notice of hu ma cited by the Pen ts`ao and occurring in the Pie lu: "Hu ma is
also called kü-.en . It grows on the rivers and in the marshes of
1 Cf. EITEL, Handbook of Chinese Buddhism, p. 4.
2 III, I17.
3 JORET, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 71. Sesame is mentioned in Pahlavi literature (above, p. 193).
4 Gingelly or Sesame Oil, p. 11 (Handbooks of Commercial Products, No. 21). 6 S. KORZINSKI, Vegetation of Turkistan (in Russian), p. 50.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.