Chap. II.] 



ANTHELIA. 



.73 



and convex surfaces ; and to the spectator his own 

 figiu'e, but more particularly the head, appears sur- 





TtE ANiHtLIA A IT iPi fcAB lO TUE P T^ N HIiaSbLF 



rounded by a halo as vivid as if radiated from dia- 

 monds.^ The Buddhists may possibly have taken frpm 

 this beautiful object their idea of the agni or emblem 

 of the sun, with which the head of Buddha is sur- 

 mounted. But unable to express a halo in sculpture, 

 they concentrated it into a flame. 



Another luminous phenomenon which sometimes ap- 

 pears in the hill country, consists of beams of light, 

 which intersect the sky, whilst the sun is yet in the 

 ascendant ; sometimes horizontally, accompanied by in- 

 termitting movements, and sometimes vertically, a broad 

 belt of the blue sky interposing between them.'"^ 



' ScoKESBY describes the occur- 

 rence of a similar pheuonienoii in the 

 Arctic Seas in July, 1813, the lunii- 

 nou.s circle being produced on the 

 particles of fog which rested on the 

 calm water. '^ The lower part of 

 the circle descended beneath my feet 

 to the side of the ship, and although 

 it could not be a hundred feet 

 from the eye, it was perfect, and the 

 colours distinct. The centre of the 

 coloured circle was distinguished by 

 my own shadow, the head of which, 

 enveloped by a halo, was most con- 

 spicuously pourtrayed. The halo or 

 glory was evidently impressed on the 



fog, but the figure appeared to be a 

 shadow on the water ; the different 

 parts became obscure in proportion 

 to their remoteness from the head, so 

 that the lower extremities were not 

 perceptible." — Account of the Arctic 

 Regions, vol. i. ch. v. sec. vi. p. 394. 

 A similar phenomenon occurs in the 

 Khasia Hills, in the north-east of 

 Bengal. — Asiat. Soc. Journ. Beng. 

 vol. xiii. p. 016. 



"^ ViGNR mentions an appeai'ance 

 of this Irind in the valley of Kashmir : 

 " Whilst the rest of the horizon was 

 glowing golden over the mountain 

 tops, a broad, well-defined ray- 



