Epidemics; plague; arogadakṣina; ārogyadakṣiṇā; Gandhāra; Kharoṣṭhī epigraphy and paleography; plague epidemics in the Roman world; Taxila; Maitreya; Maitraka
摘要
The bacteria Yersinia pestis produces the terrible plague, known as the “Black Death”. Its origins seem to go back to rodents inhabiting Central Asia. It spread from there to eastern and southern Europe, attested from 3000 BC onward (Rasmussen e.a. 2016: fig. 1). A particular strain, documented down to its full DNA, was responsible for the socalled Justinian plague active in the Roman world AD 541–44. This strain somehow disappeared, while another one was responsible for the pandemic that depopulated Europe in AD 1347–51. This second strain is alive and active even today. Both strains show that Y. pestis can change its DNA, but it can also live on unchanged for centuries. India was said to have been free of the plague up to the 19th century. It has been clear for decades that the spread west in historical times was connected with the Silk Road and the fur trade both of which originated in Central Asia. Some branches of the Silk road also took a turn from Bactria south into India, becoming intensively frequented under the Kushan kings, with Kujula Kadphises as the pioneer in the first century AD. This paper adduces arguments to show that an epigraphical phrase and some descriptions of epidemics in the Indian literature of the time might be used to show that two phases of epidemics can be pinned down to the ends of the first and second century AD. Both phases, which predate the Justinian outbreak, are contemporary with epidemics in the Roman world and are connected with the Emperor Domitian and the Antoninian set of three Emperors. An early influx of Y. pestis from Central Asia to India, predating the Justinian plague,1 would thus be possible in terms of time and circumstance.
目次
Traits of the plague in Indian literature 15 Sick in Gandhara and Mathura 17 Sick in Rome 19 Historical plagues of the first phase in India 20 Texts from the first phase of ca. AD 70 to 90 22 A dated socle slab from the first phase 24 The second phase ca. AD 160–190 25 An originally dated seated Buddha in Mathura sandstone 27 The Maitreya socles in Gandhara 29 A further aroga socle 30 The Hāritī from Skārah Ḍherī 31 Conclusion 34
