History
In addition to water, mechanical, and candle clocks, incense clocks were used in Asia, and were fashioned in several different forms. Incense clocks were first used in China around the 6th century; in Japan, one survives in the Shōsōin, Although popularly associated with China the incense clock is believed by some to have originated in India, at least in its fundamental form, if not function. Early incense clocks found in China between the 6th and 8th centuries CE all seem to have Devanāgarī carvings on them rather than Chinese seal characters. To explain this, Edward Schafer asserts that incense clocks were probably an Indian invention, transmitted to China. Silvio Bedini on the other hand asserts that incense clocks were derived in part from incense seals mentioned in Tantric Buddhist scriptures, which first came to light in China after those scriptures from India were translated into Chinese, but holds that the time-telling function of the seal was incorporated by the Chinese.
Read more about this topic: Incense Clock
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“American time has stretched around the world. It has become the dominant tempo of modern history, especially of the history of Europe.”
—Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)
“There is one great fact, characteristic of this our nineteenth century, a fact which no party dares deny. On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces which no epoch of former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman empire. In our days everything seems pregnant with its contrary.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)