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Article Title: Coins of the Assassins of Alamut Transaction Date:2/12/2018 8:33:34 AM

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COINS OF THE ASSASSINS OF ALAMOT

10 1966 the American Numismatic Society acquired a great rarity,

a fractional dinar of the Assassin chieftain, Muhammed b. Buzurg-
Ummid. This little coin was illustrated in the American Numismatic
Society Annual Report for 1966 [Pl. Ill, 2), but in view of the extreme
scarcity of the coins of the Assassins, and as this particular issue
appears to be unique, it deserves a full description and commentary.
Its publication here also afford an opportunity to list all the coins of
Muhammed b. Bueurg-Ummtd known to me, and to illustrate several
of them. The ANS specimen is to be described as follows:
Kursi al-Daylam, 553 R/A.D. 1158. Muhammad b. Busurg-Dmmtd.
n, 14 mtn. 0.635 gm., _. PI. II, 1

Obv: Re:v.:
A.lI 'I "JJI J~J"
'r
s.
"JJ1 'II
~ ~I
,),J. .':J' "JJ1 Lt• .lJ
"' J.l11 J.....
J ;ly
Margin: Margin:

J k, .lJ 1 1j", y"';' "JJJI r-' ~ "JJI C>1.>[L" a;.. jll .f.:-'IJ
u::-'- ~ ~ :i;.. r4.lJ 1 o: u:. ';k,I~J Lt.J"lb.Il ';41 J"~
~L.~J [ ,-,,"}'11
The obverse, aside from the declaration of faith in the area, bears
the name Mul:tammad b. Buaurg-Ummtd at the sides, right and left,
and in the marginal legend, the name of the mint, Kurei el-Deylam
(unfortunately partially effaced), and, very clearly, the date, 553. The
reverse area begins with the Bbj'ite formula, «'Ali is the Friend of
Allah t, and the next three lines read aJ,·M'U§ta}d Ii-Din Allah, Nizlir,
tl the Chosen for the Religion of .Al.lih, Nlzar». These three lines are

followed by the marginal legend: omir al-mu'minin, ~alawiitAllah

'a1h,!/ki soo- 'ala abr'i'ihi al·tahiri'll wa-abnii,'ihi al-akramin, .the blessings
156 G.C. MILES

of Allih be upon him and upon his ancestors, the pure ones, end upon
his descendants, the most honorable onee s.
The other specimens of Muhammad b. Busurg-Dmmtd'e coinage that
have come to my attention are the following, all issued at Kursi
el-Daylem and all with the same legends, differing only in date 1 :
1. 537 H./A.D. 1142-3. Cabinet des Medeilles, Paris a, acquired
1969, N 14 rum. 1.015 gm., -. PI. II, 2
2. 542 R/A.D. 1147-8. Ermitage Museum, Leningrad, Markov.
Inventory, p. 403. Tills specimen was described by Bertholomee in
Revue de la Numismatiq1M belge, 1859, pp. 432-434, reproduced in a
line-drawing there and by P. Casanova in Reoue t~Umismalique, 1893,
p. 343. Bartholomae (and Beret) misread the name of the mint and of
Niser, and deciphered only part of the reverse marginal legend.
3. 548 E./A.D. 1153-4. Cabinet des Medailles, Paris, L. 3559.
Described, but not illustrated, by Casanova in RN 1893, p. 343-4.
N, 17 mm., 1.125 gm. 3 PI. II, 3
4. [548 R/A.D. 1153-4]. Cabinet des MedaiIles, Paris, L. 3561.
Described, but not illustrated, by Casanova in RN 1893, p. 343-4.
N, Hi mm., l.01 gm. PI. II. 4:
The date on this specimen was erroneously read 55(51) by Casanova;
M. Curiel has called my attention to the fact that the obverse die is the
same as L. 3559 (no. 3, above).
5. 548 R./A.D. 1153-4. Istanbul Arkeoloji Mtizeleri. Described, but
not illustrated, by Ibrahim and Cevriye Artuk, Istanbul A,.keoloji
Muze!eri te~hirdeki lslam£ Sik'keler Katalogu, I (Istanbul, 1970), no.
lOi2. AT, 15 mm., 0.80 gm.
There are several errors in the transcription of the legends (al-muq,af-
Jar for al-m~tafa,·zij,r for Niw, ~alat for ~alawat, aHiihirbn for
aHahinn). The rii' of rasiil is represented as being on the third line of
the obverse, but in view of the lack of an illustration and the other
unquestionable errors, one cannot be certain that this is the case.

1 Thft recorded w&igbta suggeet that aU Wl'Ir8 intended to be quart.ar-din&I'lI- The

AKS IpeClmeB q mach underwmght;.
1 I am gro:atJy indebted to M. Raoul Curie1lDr perr:rWl6ion to publieh this &I1d the
other specimens in the :Biblioth/lque Na.tionale, and for the p1&ater C8.StII from which the
photcgrephs in the pla.te aJ"(lreproduced.
I The ""eights of this and the other Pr.rie BpOOimens are thOllEl furnished me by M.
Curiel, not those in Ca.s&nova'. article.
 COINS OF THE ASSASSrns OF ALAM'OT 157

6. 551 R./A,D. 1156-7, Cabinet des Medaille&,Paris, L. 3560, Des-

cribed, but not illustrated, by Casanova in RN 1893, p. 343-4. N,
16 mm., 1.19 goo. PI. II, 5
7.555 R./A.D. 1160. Ch. A. Azari collection, Teheran, photograph
kindly furnished by the owner. N. 16 moo. PI. II, 6

These are, I believe, the only known specimens not only of Mul;tam-
mad b. Busurg-Ummjd's eoinage but or the coinage of any of the Ba~ini3
or Ismji'Ilie of Persia and Syria 4. There surely must be others in
unpublished public and private collections, and perhaps this little
publication may help to bring them to light. Their interest lies not
only in their rarity but in the inaccessible location of their place of
minting and in their connection with an exotic and almost legendary,
but in fact well documented, chapter in 11th-13th century Near and
Middle Eastern history. Given the paucity of firsthand Iama'Ili
chronicles, these improbable but genuine little artifacts nave a certain
romantic appeal as tangible mementos of the e Old Man of the Moun-
tain I) of Alamut and his successors.
Muhammad b. Busurg-Ummtd ~,whose name appears on the obverse
of our coins, was the third of the Dii'is (literally « summoners ») or
rulers of .A1amiit.The first was the famous (to the older Western histo-
rians, infamous) Hesen-i Sebbsh, 483-518 H./A.D. 1090-11'24, the
original ~ Old Man of the Mountain», familiar to most of us through
the chronicles of the Crusades, whose fanatical followers, so adept
at assassination, were sometimes known as hashiaHin, smokers of
hashish (hence our word «assassin »). Haeen-i f,labbai;Lwas the first
Dii'i of the Nizari branch of the heterodox Iema'ilie: he was believed
by his followers to be the ~ujja, the «living proof» of the vanished,
to them true, imam, Nizii.r.
Since the significance of the legends on Muhammed b. Busurg-
Dmrord'e coins cannot be appreciated without some knowledge of the
" Ed. VON ZA..M1I.4.01l, Miinzprdg'Ungtll rIa blarM, Wieibadflll, 1968, p.206. lilbl •
Bpecimen of 555 fl., but this i8 the one mistakenly read by Ca.!a.nov8.;he did not, of
eccee, know of Mr. Az&mi'aunpublished specimen .
• I adopt M.G.S. HOPOoN'a IIp(!Uing of the name (_ PM ]61/l.d'flj s:..u. Clul.pt«:;
in TM Cambridlle Hi.8Ioryoj Iran, Vol. 5, Cambridge, 1968, p. 422-482). In the earlier
lleoondary literature it ill variously VOCIJ,liu,d and spelled Buzurg-Urutd, Bceurgumtd,
BolUDIlJ'gOUmid. (It.o, aeero (lrani«k/lf Na_buth, 11.'s; W&.q-ka, p. 3(0) hall Buzurgumid

"nd tral1.lllatesthe n..me • auf den lIlIlongr08lle Hoffnung IIetztl. The Persian h.iatorilloIlll
(e.g, J;[a.mdull8.hMuJta.wfi) generally write J.e,.l ~.r.
158 G.C. MILES

intricacies of Shl'ite politics and schisms, a short digression may be

acceptable to the reader. On the death of the Fatimid (Sht'ite) Caliph
al-Mustansir in Caito in 48.7/1094, his oldest surviving BOn, Nizar
(born 10 Rabi' I, 431/26 Sept. 10(5), anticipated that he would succeed
to the rule. However, a younger brother of Niear'e, later adopting the
title al-Musta'Ii, was put on the throne by the ami"r al-juyusk, and after
a brief struggle in and near Alexandria., during which interval Nizar
adopted the title al·Mu~tafa li-Drn Allah, al-Muete'Ii'e troops captured
Nizar and carried him off to Cairo e. Nizdr met a violent death there,
but the exact manner of his execution is uncertain. Ibn Khallikan
in his biographical dictionary (ed. de Slane, p. 312, transl. I, p. 613)
says al-Musta'li $ walled him up. and that he died, but «God knows
best» 1. In Itny case, his claims to legitimacy in the succession of the
imamate and his e disappearance» gave rise to the Niztiiiya branch of
the Isma'Ilis in Persia, the da'wa al-jadtda, 1I the new invitation e,
with its headquarters in the impregnable fortress of AJamfit in the rug-
ged mountains of Dayle.m south of the Caspian. Among the early
Nizariya were those who claimed that Nizar had Dot died and that he
would reappear as the Mahdi; there were others who spread a rumor
that a son or grandson of Niser'a bad been smuggled ou.t of Egypt to
Alamiit. But actually it appears that no one among the Niziiiiya
claimed to be the imam or the lineal descendant and successor of
Nizar; it was Hasan-i $abhaQ.and his successors who kept and propa-
gated the faith. OUI coins, bearing Nizlir'g name and title nearly
70 years after bis e disappearance» are confirmatory testimony.
To return to the account of the succession of Isma.'iii rulers of
Alamiit, on Hasen-i ~abbaQ.'s death in 518/1124, his lieutenant at
Lanbasar, Bueurg-Ummid, So man connected by marriage with the
leading families of the Caspian region, was chosen as the second head

B For details of theBe events and in general the history of the Iama'i1is both in Persia
and in Syria, ace :!tLG.S. HODOMN'II chapter cited in now 5, above, and hill PM Ora€!'
of A.nMrina, Tbe H&gue, 1955, M ....ell &8 billa.rtlclee ill EI~, B.V.Alamiit{II. The Dyn&llty)
end J;[allan·j o$&bbiil;l.;Bernard LEWlII, The l,"'",',litu and the A~~aa~i1l8, Chapter IV
in A Hi8tory oj 1M Ormad"'l [ed. K.M. SJIlTTQNand M.W. BALDWIN), I, Philadelphia,
1963, p. 99-132; IDEM. The A.ual/8'1I8, A Radical SW in lllam, London, 1967; Iosa,
article 1;Iallhishiyya in EI~; a.A.B. GlllB's article Niw b. al-Mulltal1llir in Ell; W.
IVANow, article hma.'i1iya in Ell, SllJl1>k'llerll. For the BOu«es. eapecilllly the western
eoccunta, see C.E. :K oWJU.L.The au man ojlhe M mt.>l14in,in Spr"Md",... 22,1947), p- 497-519.
, ~I <.iJlj""W \J,;1.. """'j .} ..r. .... 1 J-:'-ll .1>.101
 corns OF THE ASSASSINS OF .AL\.M"OT 159

of the community s. During his rule the Nizariya control of the

mountainous region south of the Caspian was consolidated by the
capture of other fortresses, but-in due COUIse his troops became embroi-
led in warfare both with tbe Seljuqs and with neighbouring princi-
palities such as the Bswacdida of Firim and Sari to the east in 'Iabaris-
tan. Busurg-Umrntd died in 532/1138; he was succeeded by his son,
Muhammad b. Buzurg-Dromtd (532-557/1138-1162), the issuer of OUI
coins. The first of his little dinars that are known to us was struck
five years later, in 537; our own, more than twenty years later, in
553. We know little of him: only that during the period or his rule the
Nizariya continued to be involved in numerous quarrels with their
neighbours. We hear of towers of Isma 'tli skulls built by an amir ofRayy
and by the Bawendid Shah Ghiizi Bustem b. 'Ali; 10 and of warfare
between the distant Kiihistiin branch of the Isrna'Ilia and the Great
Seljaq Sanjar's army at 'Iurehte H. Mter the death of :M~ammad b.
Bueurg-Dmmtd in 557/1162 the rule passed to his son Hasan II, the
first Imam of the Qiyiima or aRessurrectlone, proclaimed by him at a.
meeting at Alarniit in 559}1164: Hasen was not only dii'i and toujja
but in truth the Imam, the Caliph and successor to the Fatimid al-
.Musw.n{llrI!.
It remains to offer a few observations about the legends on these
coins of the Aasaeeins. The pre-Qiyama nature of the reverse area
inscriptions has already been remarked upon: homage is rendered to
'Ali and to the disappeared Niaer, al-Mu{ltafa li-Din Allah, whose
pretended Celipbsl authority is recognized in the marginal legend with
amir al-mu'minin. «Commander of the Believers a. This is followed by
8 HODGSON, Cambridge Hietory, p. 449.
, During Buzurg-Umrnid'a reign gold ooiDSwere being stru~k by the Biwlmdid
'Ali b. Sha.hriy1i.r.Hia ancestor, Bustem h. Sharwin, while reoognil'ing the Biiyid& 8'
overlords on his coinage, proclaimed himself an 'AJid hy the &ddition (If the phrase
'Ali waliuUak to the decleration of faith, hut 'Ali b. ShBhriyar in hill time (C8.lHl,684
R./A.D. 1I17·1l40l expreseee no such sentiment, whatever his convictlona, and names
the Seljuq Senjer &<II hiB overlord. See G.C. MILJ:S, The Ooill4ge af IAe Bdu:andirh of
'l'abar8ffin, in Iran and I8lam, in Memory of Ike late Vladi.nir Mi_sky, Edinburgh,
1971, p. 443·460.
10 A. dillllr of !Us i.o known, referred to in roy Bawandid article (p. 458), but unfortu-
nately by an oversight without the specific reference, the win is L6.lO:·POOLl'.Br&J.MtM.
Cal .• IrI, no. 811, Xill8.bUr.551 or 552 H.
11 Aloo known ll.8 l'uraythith, "furthith, Turshftili and Tllrahis; ~ L..s711..l..N(u,
Land8, pp. 3M-3M.
IJ HODOSON, Cambridgt- Hi.~()rY.p. 468-459.
160 G.C. MILES

the remarkable benedictory sentence invoking prayers for Nizar, for

his ancestors and for his descendants. There is, it will he noticed, no
conventional Qur'anic inscription; both the area and the marginal
legends of the reverse are unique in the history of Islamic numis-
matics.
The name of the mint, Kursi el-Deylem, f The Throne of Deylems,
clearly preserved in the obverse marginal legend on ell but the ANS
specimen, is unknown to the Arab and Persian geographers, but in
agreement with Casanova 13, I believe that there can be no doubt
whatever that this was the honorific or e official. name for Alamiit.
No other of the Isma'Ili fortresses would be a more likely identifica-
tion 14. According to the legend an early Daylamite king, guided by
an eagle, built a fortress on the site of Alamiit; in 246/860-1 the ancient
castle was rebuilt by the 'Alid al-Haeen b. Zayd el-Da't ile'l-Heqq.
It III of interest to recall that this 'Alid also struck coins; we know of
duhema of his issued at Amul in 253 and 254/867·8 and at Jurjan in
267,268,269 and 270/880·884 1:0. In 483/1090 Haeaa-i f;lahbaJ.t.captured
Alamiit and made it the headquarters of the Nizariya. Long after the
period in which we are here interested the fortress was taken by the
Mongols (654)1257) 16; in Safevid times it was used as a state prison
or « castle of oblivion J) 17,
13 Op. cit., pp- 351.352.
14 800 the brief article in Ef'J, •.v. Alamiit (1. The Fortress), where L. LOCKIIABT8llm-
mathe. the history of the stronghold au.d eppenda a bibliography,
15 SOO G.C. MILES, Al·Mahdi al·I;laq'l, Am ... al-Mu'minin, in Ret>1U numiamatique,
1965, p- 334-335; S.M. STERN, The GoiM 0/ Amul, in NumimwtW Ghroni<;/.e, 1967, p.
211 ff.; and cf. Wilferd M.l.Dt:Ll.nro, Du 1=111 ,.l·Q<1Mm ibn [brii"'m v;nd die GlaubeM·
lek,s 4er Zaidlten Berlin. 1005, p_ 154, note 8, and IDJUt',.AM J'lMq al-fJii;bi on IAe AliM
(lJ 'l'ublzmtiin aM Gilil'i, in JNES, 1007, p. 28.
1$ Mentioll of AIs.miit in Mongol tim'" brings MllJ'CO1>010to mind. He eeeld not
actnally have viaited the place, bnt everyWle recalls hi5 delightful aooon.nt of the Old
Man oftbe M.clllntain and of the gerdena and th~ As8aeIlina : t And there were runnels too,
flowing freely with wine and milk. and honey and wa.ter; and numbers of ladies and of
the mOilt beautiful damsels in the world, who could play on all wanner of Ineteuments,
and 8UIlg most RWBetly...• (quoting from Sir Henri YULE'a traneillotion, The Book oj Ser
Matco Polo, I [3rd ed., Henri CoRDIICII, London. 1926], p.I40). And recollection ofMareo
Polo'a tale wa.a of course ultimately the in.apkation of those unforgettable lines in Cole-
ridge'a • Kubla Khan t, ,.And there were gardena brigbt with sinuous rillat, and
•... for he on honeyde1ll' hath fed,f.And drnnk the milk of Paradise t. Bee John Livingston
Lowae' anatomy of the great poem end bia analyaia of. Aloadine'a Pe.radi"", I, in The
Road to Xllnad .., BOlton &; New York, 1927, p. 361-362.
17 L. L()()lUUllT, BSOS 6,1928:-1930, s- 675-696.
 A.
PI. II

'~
~~
7'e'. 'C~_/-

Freya S:rARIl:, Tho "VlIll,ys of tlte Ass(U8ina {John ~IUfrayl

THE ASSAS.::;IXS OF AL.ufCT

 ootxs OF THE ASSASSINS OF ALAMDT 161

The ruins of the castle of Alamiit (PI. II) lie on the summit of a
high and « almost inooceseible s rock above the Alamiit Riid in the
wild Alhufl; mountains, two days' journey by mule or foot north-north-
east of Qazvin. The modern traveller who has written in the most
detail about the site is Freya Stark, whose book T'M Valleys oj
the AssClsins 18, is a classic. She devotes all engaging chapter, ,A
Journey to the Valley of the AssassID.s*,to her visit to Alamnt and
supplements her account of the route from Qazvin 'with photographs
and two maps (p. 199 and between pp- 354 and 366). Miss Stark
observes that the natives, at least when she 'Was there, did not
call the rock and castle Alamiit, but. Qa.sir Khan» 19. The passage
deserves to be quoted in full [p. 219-220) : «The particular name
of the Rock is not Alamnt, as travellers ancient and modern seem
to take for granted. It is they and not the inhabitants of the valley
who call it so, and they have done it 80 effectually that now the
people of Qasir Khan also begin to talk of it as Alamut to strangers,
end only after questioning admit that this is not its proper name.
It is the «castle. of QllosirKhan, on the Qasir Hud : and Alamut
is the whole main valley with the Alamut Rud flowing through it :
and as the matter might have some bearing on the old descriptions of
the Assassins' seronchold
o , it is worth mentioning before the natural
Persian amiability makes the people of the Qasir Rud valley rechristen

18 John Murra.y, London, 1934. I am indebted to John Morray for permission to

roPrWU08 Freya Stark's photograpb. of Alllllliit. Freya Stark'. proilimin&ry report on
her viait in Mo.y1930 will be foond in The AB¥a88i1l8' Val'leyllnd the SalamOOr Pass, in
Tilt Gwgrapkiwl JourmU. 77, 1931, p. 48-60. She of couree eltee the aooountBof earlier
western visitors. Other recent travellers ...-ho have wtitt.c.n aeoouna of tbeir erploreeion
of Alamflt are : L. LOCIiART, Ha"an-i·8abl>ah and the A8BlI3i1l.ll.in »808, Ii, 1928-
1930, p, 675.696; Imtlll, Bornt.].lot~ <m Alamtd, in OJ, 77, 1931, p. 66-~ neither Lock-
hart not &wit Herzfeld, who t.old Lockhart orh. trjp toAlamiit in 1927, ha.d any doubta
about the IlOrrectnesll of the identifiootion of Qa.sir Khan/Alamiitj; W. lVA.NOW, Alamut,
in GJ, 77, p. 38·45, illustrated with good photographs by Lockhart; IOJ!!ll,8QiM 18171Di1;
Sttvnghold, i~PUM, in IMmit: (}wtll~e, 12, Hyderebed, 1938, p. 383-396 (Ivanow'i
doubtB about the identity of Qasir Khan/Alamiit eeem unfounded}; P.R.E. Wn.LEY,
The V ttl/ey of t1M AS81.18s'lts, in J rnu-nal of the Royal Gent~al Asian Soc., 47, 1900, p. 147-
J61 (tthere hilS never boon any d<.>"btall to the Rite of Alamut ...• ); Peter WILLEY,
The CIl8tleBof the AllW8BiI18,London, 1963, p. 204·226; IDlD!, Furlker E:qledillons to 1M
Valleys Qf tke AMaBMM, Iu JQ~rnal of 0108Royal Cenl~al .'bm", Soc., 54, 1967, p. 156-182.
A striking urial photogr.ph, of the AJaxnflt valley appe&nl in Erich F. SCmlmT, Flig"hu
over Ancient Cit;/JB Q! Iran.. Chicago, 1940. pl. 73.
I' She epella the name' Qa2'r Khan. in ber article in OJ; LOCXlU'Il'tgiVl'lll• GUM
KhaD.; hAllow'a epeillilgs of thill and other topou)'IWl an very perculier,
162 G.O. MILES

their fortress to please the visitor. Except for these, who had learnt
it from foreigners, I met DO one in the whole region who would know
where to direct one if one asked for Alamut. 'You are in Alamut now',
they would say, and sweep their arm over the long reach of the valley
in ita mountain eredle e.
Archaeological details in Miss Stark's account are few. She writes:
.. The place was now covered with wild tulips, yellow and red, among
the stones and mortar. Patches of well dung here and there to the
lip of the rock and showed the extent of the enclosure: hut nearly
everything is ruined beyond the power of imagination to reconstruct,
and the lower part of the castle, where rooms and flo tank of water are
dug out, were inaccessible without climbing-shoeswhich I had not
brought with me» (p. 220-221). She mentions e shards of pottery which
lay all over the ground below e. At least some of the eberds she saw
are more closely identified as 13th century (p. 231) : above the hamlet
of Germrud in the Alamiit valley on her steep trek up to the castle of
Nevisar Shah she «saw a gleam of blue glaze among the stones, and
picked up a shard of the selfsame pottery we had found at the Rock of
Alamut two days before . and found more and more broken bits all
corresponding to the early samples of Qasir Khan, and blessed the
destructiveness of Assassin housemaids long ago. 20.
To judge by Freya Stark's photographs it will require a long and
difficult campaign by patient archeologists to find the mint where our
little coins were struck.

The American NumiS1'fU1tic Society George C. ~lILES

New York. N.Y. 10032

!II In her article in OJ (p. 53) Millll STAaK writea that she showed the sherda she picked
up to R.L. Hobson IItt the British MU!lIlum: those from Alamiit belonged to, two diatlnce
periods OJ those from Neviser Shah were from t the days of the A88lIsain80. !VAJlOW
{OJ 77, p. 44--t5) ad,u little archaeological information; he saw a few ar<"hitectura(
remains, of ""wch he could m&ke no "'<U!e, and sherds, some of them of imitation Ming
type, therefore of the 17th· 18th c. LOCKRART (OJ 77) W&ll ahle to identify liIOillearchitec-
tural featurca. WtLLllY (.100, r;l., JRCA3 47, p. 1(50) reported, evidence of nteneiv ..
ondergl'ound rooms which had het:n bricked up but which, if they could be eXClllvaWd.
would certainly )ioW ntramely interesting (inds>. In his book reportill,lj: Oil hi6 1900
expediuQn he has a 6ket.eh plan (p. 216-211} ofth" C&lIU'I. showing ...11.<;01111
walls, ciaternll,
the remains of ~ gatebon",,-'It<>.; and in an aPIJffidi,. (p. 320·328) R. PfNDICB.WIr.80f<
of the 'Britlilh Mu-..m diseusaee and ~nnstra!.o'Jl ~ flherd& whicb Willey and biB eom-
panioJl4 brought kck from AlallliH and \bft ....lley{llih-es.r1y 13th eo. noneof the Mong'"
period).
 THE CHINESE VERSION OF THE STORY OF GHOSAKA

In a previous article 1I presented 3 study of the story of Cendrebaee

based on three versions, viz. Priye Dae'e version (PV) 2, Jaimini'a
version (JV) 3 and the Kathakoaa version (KY) '. In JV and PV the
hero Candrahasa is presented as a devotee of both the goddess and
Vi{ll).u, and some of the main incidents. viz. the murder of the villain's
son, the death of the villain, and the resuscitation by the goddess
at Oendrahese's request, take place in the temple of the goddess 5.
It was therefore possible to infer that JV and PY represent attempts
to superimpose orthodox Vai~l].ava motifs upon a basic story devoted
to the mother cult and to modify its purpose, diverting it from a cult
tale propagating the goddess worship to one propagating Vi~J;lu(or
Kr~:r;w.)worship 6. Since the devotees of that cult were presumably
absorbed into Vai$:r;Lavismand no community remained to preserve
their version of the story, there would now be no hope of discovering
any cult version.

it has been possible to trace in a number of Buddhist

However,
and Jain stories 7 the same traits and motifs as those dominant in
1 The ~or'!l of CandraMaa all Mrroled by Priyii Dil8 and Ja;mini and iU comp<;lriwn
with fht KalhiikoJa VUMOn, in Orientalia Lovan-tell.na Periodica, 2, 1971, p. 153·189.
1 In the BIwJdirasabodhin' (1712 A.D.) written in Br ..i Bhii.!>i verBe; llOO8.S. BaA'
GAVAN !'BASAD, Sri BhaNamiila, 4th ed., Lucknow, 1962, vereee 58·58. For a gener .. l
discusaem on the BhaldiraMI1Jodki"i and it.. author, Priyi DO.II, eee my o.rl.iclOll,. Ths
Bhaldira.sabodhini of Priya, DiU, in Le Mus"on, 81, 1968, p. 547-562; ..nd Priyii DiM..
auJ!wr of the BhtJ,1rlir(I8IJbodini, in lfullefin of the School of 0rie1ll<ll and African Studies,
32. 1969, p. 57·70.
3 In the Ssnakrlt work entitled JaiminibMrala (1100_1200 A.D.), also known lIS

Jai",i'1l' Ah'aoudha; see Jai-mini Amnudkikapan'Gn. Bombay, 1863, cha.ptel'lJ 51).59.

<I The ..tory of Diimllonnaka in the KalhiUvsa, '" Jain work in 8l1Mkrit prose, tr&nsi.
C.H. T.l.WNEY. The KallW.IooSa. London, 1895. p. 168.174..
5 In Kv the murder of the villain'. 8Ol1<>OOlI1'lI hut not the 1'el!U~t.aliOfl, and the
villain, hearing the new. of hill lIOn'. de&th, also dies. Thia is 80sone would expect in &

veJ1lion deriving from Buddhi.t .ouroe8, where the emphasis would be on suffering
the ccnsequencee of deed., as is the Cl\lIe in the earlier Buddhiat veNion. {BOObelow).
& Because of theBe elements of the goddess worship. we &&lumed tha.t before JV
ead PV there existed some ver$iou or VersiODlI, linlcing th& m ..in Dutlin& of the lItory
with ecme mother cult.
7 For further references, see my article cited above, PM. ~y of Candrah&a.,
p. 165. n. 9.