. The Open court. ^( iC^ i^;^j ;^^^^ur^V^-^ -N. \s Wm .^^ 1, ^^ IHE iMi:KRY Kyosai. THE SKELETON AS A KKlKKSKNTATION OF DEATH. 633 be granted is a n^ood authority, and this if it were trne wonld makethe skeleton an ancient lUuldhist institntion and fix the date of itsfirst appearance in IiuHa as (.arly as in the second century before theChristian era. It wonld be interesting to have the ultimate origin of the intro-duction of skeletons into religious art traced back to ancient India,but Griinwedels statements is based upon an error.* When hewrote the passage which Dr. Laufer has i

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. The Open court. ^( iC^ i^;^j ;^^^^ur^V^-^ -N. \s Wm .^^ 1, ^^ IHE iMi:KRY Kyosai. THE SKELETON AS A KKlKKSKNTATION OF DEATH. 633 be granted is a n^ood authority, and this if it were trne wonld makethe skeleton an ancient lUuldhist institntion and fix the date of itsfirst appearance in IiuHa as (.arly as in the second century before theChristian era. It wonld be interesting to have the ultimate origin of the intro-duction of skeletons into religious art traced back to ancient India,but Griinwedels statements is based upon an error.* When hewrote the passage which Dr. Laufer has in mind he had before hiseyes a drawing in which the head of one of the demons (the secondfrom above in the first right-hand vertical row) somewhat resemblesa skull, but an inspection of a photograph of this same marble whichis here reproduced shows plainly that the mask in question repre-sents the head of a brute, perhaps a dog. with a row of teeth in itsupper jaw like those of a shark. This being the only instance of itskind, the idea that th

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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887