Howdy-
I try to make a Facebook photo album every month featuring antique
postcards of the birthstone of that month.
http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep81tv
Since most of these feature the older birthstones I view it as an
opportunity to introduce people to the possibility of an alternative
to the modern list, especially if they don’t particularly care for
their assigned gem. This month I was reminded of George Kunz’s Hindu
gem of the month list from “The Curious Lore of Precious Stones.” The
gem for March is listed as, “The gold Siva-linga” for which there
seems to be no agreement on what that gem actually is. While poking
around on the internet for suggestions I realized Kunz was referring
to a Shiva Lingam, a stone phallus representing the Hindu god Shiva.
Then as a perfect illustration of how my twisted brain works I was
reminded of," Indiana Jones andthe Temple of Doom" and the Sankara
Stones. For those of you who don’t remember, the Sankara stones are
the plot device for Temple of Doom (Raiders-Ark of the Covenant, Last
Crusade-Holy Grail, and Kingdom-lead lined fridge, oops I mean
crystal skull) and are classic examples of traditional lingams (is
that the correct plural?). The other thing about them, which I had
forgotten, was when they were in close proximity to one another, they
glowed a GOLDEN hue. So there you have it the Sankara stones of
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom are Kunz’s gold Siva-linga for
March, my contribution to imaginary gemological archeology. Be well,
http://www.ganoksin.com/ftp/SivaLinga.jpg
Duke
houseofbubba.com
