[INDOLOGY] mythologies of the pearl

[JAMES RYAN]

I've done some research on the pearl, but not its mythology. There are "pearls" of a sort (one can view these using the Google function) found in the craniums of elephants and thus the big beast is connected with them.  As for pearls and "nāgas", I don't know about this, but there is a sort of gem that gets formed in a cobra's head (solidified venom residues?) This also is a gem on the market for centuries in India, I recall. It's the reason why in Tamil literature anyway cobras are said to bring out their "gems" at night to help light their path. As I recall, these look more like rubies...not pearls.
 
Jim Ryan
Asian Philosophies and Cultures
California Institute of Integral Studies
1453 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
 
On 04/25/2024 5:56 AM PDT Reich, James David via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

>  
>  
> Dear Paola,
>  
> Various versions of the myths concerning the origins of pearl are found in the texts translated by Louis Finot in Les Lapidaires Indiens. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.291975/mode/2up
>  
>  
> There are various types of pearls described in these texts, some of them seemingly mythical or hypothetical— oyster pearls are only one type . The myths about oyster pearls usually have something to do with rainwater dropping into oysters but no lightning, as far as I'm aware. I do vaguely recall one text describing how to obtain pearls from nāgas, or check if a pearl is truly from a nāga, and as I recall that process does have something to do with lightning. But I don't think lightning is present in the formation of the pearl. Perhaps Eliade confused these stories?
>  
> Best,
> James Reich
>  
> 
> ---------------------------------------------
> From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of Paolo E. Rosati via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> Sent: Thursday, April 25, 2024 5:45 AM
> To: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
> Subject: [INDOLOGY] mythologies of the pearl
>  
> Dear all,
>  
> while I was reading Eliade's Images and Symbols, my attention was struck by his vague reference to an "oriental mythology", which affirms that the pearl was born from the penetration of a lightning inside a shell/oyster.
>  
> I think he got this information from Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft (entry: "Margaritai"), but I am not sure at all.
>  
> Can someone indicate a more specific reference to this myth? or to other myths related to the pearl?
>  
> With my best wishes,
> Paolo
> 
> --
> Paolo E. Rosati
> PhD in Asian and African Studies
>  
> https://uniroma1.academia.edu/paolo https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/erosati/ https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/
> paoloe.rosati at gmail.com mailto:paoloe.rosati at gmail.com
>  
> Mobile/Whatsapp: (+39) 338 73 83 472
> Skype: paoloe.rosati
>  
> 
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