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Re: maize in ancient india: strong transpacific links are indicated

> : Yuri wrote:
> 
> : > I'm not sure if I understand you correctly, but it seems that you found
> : > some pictures that don't look like maize? 
> : > 
> : > I really don't see the significance of this... As you may already know by
> : > now, there are hundreds of such carvings in many temples. So some of them
> : > don't look like maize? Is this surprising? 
> : > 
> : > Isn't the fact that _many_ of them look _very much_ like maize more
> : > relevant?
> 
> : You fail to see the significance of this?  Why don't you look
> : at the pictures yourself.  The point is that there are many sculptures,
> : in each hand they carry an object,  One of the objects is some
> : kind of cup with a lid, the other object is a beaded object.
> : The shape of this beaded object varies, and in some cases it
> : looks perhaps somewhat like a maize cob.  But if you take
> : the whole series, you would never come up with the idea it was
> : maize. 
> 
> Thomas,
> 
> How do you know this? And how can anyone see "the whole series" unless one
> spends a long time in India visiting all those temples? 
> 
> : Obviously, I did not see the whole series, since
> : in the Nature article, they show only the two extremes of
> : the beaded object.
> 
> And are you generalizing on the basis of this?
> 
Exactly, I read the article by Payak & Sachan.
I was paraphrasing from their article, I found it again:
Here is part of it:

"
Both gods and goddesses are seen to hold an object having a fully
or partially beaded type of ornamentation in one hand and
kalash (pitcher) in the other.  The objects are oblong, broadly
cylindrical, and either conical or reembling a mango fruit shape.
In some friezes, the male deity is holding an object with only
partially beaded ornamentation, that is the upper headed half
has a greater diameter than the lower smooth half (see figure).
In some sculputres the object is thicker in the middle and tapers
at both ends.  When some of these objects are
viewed in isolation, a few of them may appear to resemble a maize
ear in a gross way because of the beaded type of ornamentation.
But when all the sculptures are analysed, it becomes evident
that the objects do not represent a maize ear. "

Obviously Payak and Sachan did look at all the sculptures,
and that is part of their report.
I am sure there is more in the longer later article.

Thomas
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