The article tells of a gypsum block with a Sanskrit message in Brahmi script, saying:
In the sixth year of King Philip the kshatriya Vasula gave this image for the welfare and happiness of all beings.
Which, as the article says, is âundeniably Buddhistâ. (How nice that this is how Buddhists are recognized!)
From SunÄparanta (near Bharuch), where Puášáša famously introduced the Dhamma (MN 145), this port is about 5,000km by sea, taking about three or four weeks to sail.
The whole article is well worth a read!
Worth noting from the article:
Near the top of the stoneâs rough, corroded surface are three lines of elegantly curved Sanskrit script. Strauch, wearing sunglasses and a Panama hat, traces the curling letters with his finger. âIn the sixth year of King Philip,â he reads, âthe kshatriya Vasula gave this image for the welfare and happiness of all beings.â Then he points to a single line, in Greek, written by the same person but in a cruder style, that says simply: âVasula set this up.â If not for the Greek translation and the reference to a Roman emperorâPhilip the Arab, who ruled in the third century A.D.âthis dedication could be mistaken as coming from India, Strauch says. The words are Sanskrit, expertly written in Brahmi script. The message itself, with its reference to universal happiness, is undeniably Buddhist. And the author, Vasula, who arranged for the dedication, proudly describes himself as kshatriya, from the warrior caste.
⌠Peter Stewart, a historian of classical art at the University of Oxford, described himself as âflabbergastedâ by them. Shailendra Bhandare, an expert in ancient India at Oxfordâs Ashmolean Museum, said that when he heard about the Indic triad, âI fell off my chair.â
Now for experts to admit such flabbergastery is, indeed, astonishing!
(Thatâs not really a word but it seems appropriate here.)
I am a little suspicious of the sensational archeological finds in Egypt lately. There seem to have been quite a number.
Not that I have any credible proof that their tourism fund could have something to do with it.
