[1] _Jashar: fragmenta archetypa carminum Hebraicorum_ (Berlin,
1854). Cf. Perowne's _Remarks_ on it (Lond. 1855).
JASHPUR, a tributary state of India, in the Central Provinces, having
been transferred from Bengal in 1905. The country is divided almost
equally into high and low lands. The Uparghat plateau on the east rises
2200 ft. above sea-level, and the hills above it reach their highest
point in Ranijula (3527 ft.). The only river of importance is the Ib, in
the bed of which diamonds are found, while from time immemorial its
sands have been washed for gold. Jashpur iron, smelted by the Kols, is
highly prized. Jungles of _sál_ forests abound, harbouring elephant,
bison and other wild beasts. Jungle products include lac, silk cocoons
and beeswax, which are exported. Area 1948 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 132,114;
estimated revenue £8000.
JASMIN, JACQUES (1798-1864), Provençal poet, was born at Agen on the 6th
of March 1798, his family name being Boé. His father, who was a tailor,
had a certain facility for making doggerel verses, which he sang or
recited at fairs and such-like popular gatherings; and Jacques, who used
generally to accompany him, was thus early familiarized with the part
which he afterwards so successfully filled himself. When sixteen years
of age he found employment at a hairdresser's shop, and subsequently
started a similar business of his own on the Gravier at Agen. In 1825 he
published his first volume of _Papillotos_ ("Curl Papers"), containing
poems in French (a language he used with a certain sense of restraint),
and in the familiar Agen _patois_--the popular speech of the working
classes--in which he was to achieve all his literary triumphs. Jasmin
was the most famous forerunner in Provençal literature (q.v.) of Mistral
and the _Félibrige_. His influence in rehabilitating, for literary
purposes, his native dialect, was particularly exercised in the public
recitals of his poems to which he devoted himself. His poetic gift, and
his flexible voice and action, fitted him admirably for this double rôle
of troubadour and jongleur. In 1835 he recited his "Blind Girl of
Castel-Cuillé" at Bordeaux, in 1836 at Toulouse; and he met with an
enthusiastic reception in both those important cities. Most of his
public recitations were given for benevolent purposes, the proceeds
being contributed by him to the restoration of the church of Vergt and
other good works. Four successive volumes of _Papillotos_ were published
during his lifetime, and contained amongst others the following
remarkable poems, quoted in order: "The Charivari," "My Recollections"
(supplemented after an interval of many years), "The Blind Girl,"
"Françounetto," "Martha the Simple," and "The Twin Brothers." With the
exception of "The Charivari," these are all touching pictures of humble
life--in most cases real episodes--carefully elaborated by the poet till
the graphic descriptions, full of light and colour, and the admirably
varied and melodious verse, seem too spontaneous and easy to have cost
an effort. Jasmin was not a prolific writer, and, in spite of his
impetuous nature, would work a long time at one poem, striving to
realize every feeling he wished to describe, and give it its most lucid
and natural expression. A verse from his spirited poem, "The Third of
May," written in honour of Henry IV., and published in the first volume
of _Papillotos_, is engraved on the base of the statue erected to that
king at Nérac. In 1852 Jasmin's works were crowned by the Académie
Française, and a pension was awarded him. The medal struck on the
occasion bore the inscription: _Au poëte moral et populaire_. His title
of "Maistre ès Jeux" is a distinction only conferred by the academy of
Toulouse on illustrious writers. Pius IX. sent him the insignia of a
knight of St Gregory the Great, and he was made chevalier of the Legion
of Honour. He spent the latter years of his life on a small estate which
he had bought near Agen and named "Papillotos," and which he describes
in _Ma Bigno_ ("My Vine"). Though invited to represent his native city,
he refused to do so, preferring the pleasures and leisure of a country
life, and wisely judging that he was no really eligible candidate for
electoral honours. He died on the 4th of October 1864. His last poem, an
answer to Renan, was placed between his folded hands in his coffin.
JASMINE, or JESSAMINE, botanically _Jasminum_, a genus of shrubs or
climbers constituting the principal part of the tribe Jasminoideae of
the natural order Oleaceae, and comprising about 150 species, of which
40 or more occur in the gardens of Britain. The plants of the genus are
mostly natives of the warmer regions of the Old World; there is one
South American species. The leaves are pinnate or ternate, or sometimes
apparently simple, consisting of one leaflet, articulated to the
petiole. The flowers, usually white or yellow, are arranged in terminal
or axillary panicles, and have a tubular 5- or 8-cleft calyx, a
cylindrical corolla-tube, with a spreading limb, two included stamens
and a two-celled ovary.
The name is derived from the Persian _yásmín_. Linnaeus obtained a
fancied etymology from [Greek: ia], violets, and [Greek: osmê], smell,
but the odour of its flowers bears no resemblance to that of the violet.
The common white jasmine, _Jasminum officinale_, one of the best known
and most highly esteemed of British hardy ligneous climbers, is a native
of northern India and Persia, introduced about the middle of the 16th
century. In the centre and south of Europe it is thoroughly
acclimatized. Although it grows to the height of 12 and sometimes 20
ft., its stem is feeble and requires support; its leaves are opposite,
pinnate and dark green, the leaflets are in three pairs, with an odd
one, and are pointed, the terminal one larger and with a tapering point.
The fragrant white flowers bloom from June to October; and, as they are
found chiefly on the young shoots, the plant should only be pruned in
the autumn. Varieties with golden and silver-edged leaves and one with
double flowers are known.
[Illustration: _Jasminum grandiflorum_; flower, natural size.]
The zambak or Arabian jasmine, _J. Sambac_, is an evergreen
white-flowered climber, 6 or 8 ft. high, introduced into Britain in
the latter part of the 17th century. Two varieties introduced somewhat
later are respectively 3-leaved and double-flowered, and these, as
well as that with normal flowers, bloom throughout the greater part of
the year. On account of their exquisite fragrance the flowers are
highly esteemed in the East, and are frequently referred to by the
Persian and Arabian poets. An oil obtained by boiling the leaves is
used to anoint the head for complaints of the eye, and an oil obtained
from the roots is used medicinally to arrest the secretion of milk.
The flowers of one of the double varieties are held sacred to Vishnu,
and used as votive offerings in Hindu religious ceremonies. The
Spanish, or Catalonian jasmine, _J. grandiflorum_, a native of the
north-west Himalaya, and cultivated both in the old and new world, is
very like _J. officinale_, but differs in the size of the leaflets;
the branches are shorter and stouter, and the flowers very much
larger, and reddish underneath. By grafting it on two-year-old plants
of _J. officinale_, an erect bush about 3 ft. high is obtained,
requiring no supports. In this way it is very extensively cultivated
at Cannes and Grasse, in the south of France; the plants are set in
rows, fully exposed to the sun; they come into full bearing the second
year after grafting; the blossoms, which are very large and intensely
fragrant, are produced from July till the end of October, but those of
August and September are the most odoriferous.
The aroma is extracted by the process known as _enfleurage_, i.e.
absorption by a fatty body, such as purified lard or olive oil. Square
glass trays framed with wood about 3 in. deep are spread over with
grease about half an inch thick, in which ridges are made to
facilitate absorption, and sprinkled with freshly gathered flowers,
which are renewed every morning during the whole time the plant
remains in blossom; the trays are piled up in stacks to prevent the
evaporation of the aroma; and finally the pomade is scraped off the
glass, melted at as low a temperature as possible, and strained. When
oil is employed as the absorbent, coarse cotton cloths previously
saturated with the finest olive oil are laid on wire-gauze frames, and
repeatedly covered in the same manner with fresh flowers; they are
then squeezed under a press, yielding what is termed _huile antique au
jasmin_. Three pounds of flowers will perfume 1 lb. of grease--this is
exhausted by maceration in 1 pt. of rectified spirit to form the
"extract." An essential oil is distilled from jasmine in Tunis and
Algeria, but its high price prevents its being used to any extent. The
East Indian oil of jasmine is a compound largely contaminated with
sandalwood-oil.
The distinguishing characters of _J. odoratissimum_, a native of the
Canary Islands and Madeira, consist principally in the alternate,
obtuse, ternate and pinnate leaves, the 3-flowered terminal peduncles
and the 5-cleft yellow corolla with obtuse segments. The flowers have
the advantage of retaining when dry their natural perfume, which is
suggestive of a mixture of jasmine, jonquil and orange-blossom. In
China _J. paniculatum_ is cultivated as an erect shrub, known as
_sieu-hing-hwa_; it is valued for its flowers, which are used with
those of _J. Sambac_, in the proportion of 10 lb. of the former to 30
lb. of the latter, for scenting tea--40 lb. of the mixture being
required for 100 lb. of tea. _J. angustifolium_ is a beautiful
evergreen climber 10 to 12 ft. high, found in the Coromandel forests,
and introduced into Britain during the present century. Its leaves are
of a bright shining green; its large terminal flowers are white with a
faint tinge of red, fragrant and blooming throughout the year.
In Cochin China a decoction of the leaves and branches of _J.
nervosum_ is taken as a blood-purifier; and the bitter leaves of _J.
floribundum_ (called in Abyssinia _habbez-zelim_) mixed with kousso is
considered a powerful anthelmintic, especially for tapeworm; the
leaves and branches are added to some fermented liquors to increase
their intoxicating quality. In Catalonia and in Turkey the wood of the
jasmine is made into long, slender pipe-stems, highly prized by the
Moors and Turks. Syrup of jasmine is made by placing in a jar
alternate layers of the flowers and sugar, covering the whole with wet
cloths and standing it in a cool place; the perfume is absorbed by the
sugar, which is converted into a very palatable syrup. The important
medicinal plant known in America as the "Carolina jasmine" is not a
true jasmine (see GELSEMIUM).
Other hardy species commonly cultivated in gardens are the low or
Italian yellow-flowered jasmine, _J. humile_, an East Indian species
introduced and now found wild in the south of Europe, an erect shrub 3
or 4 ft. high, with angular branches, alternate and mostly ternate
leaves, blossoming from June to September; the common yellow jasmine,
_J. fruticans_, a native of southern Europe and the Mediterranean
region, a hardy evergreen shrub, 10 to 12 ft. high, with weak, slender
stems requiring support, and bearing yellow, odourless flowers from
spring to autumn; and _J. nudiflorum_ (China), which bears its bright
yellow flowers in winter before the leaves appear. It thrives in
almost any situation and grows rapidly.
JASON ([Greek: Iasôn]), in Greek legend, son of Aeson, king of Iolcus in
Thessaly. He was the leader of the Argonautic expedition (see
ARGONAUTS). After he returned from it he lived at Corinth with his wife
Medea (q.v.) for many years. At last he put away Medea, in order to
marry Glauce (or Creusa), daughter of the Corinthian king Creon. To
avenge herself, Medea presented the new bride with a robe and
head-dress, by whose magic properties the wearer was burnt to death, and
slew her children by Jason with her own hand. A later story represents
Jason as reconciled to Medea (Justin, xlii. 2). His death was said to
have been due to suicide through grief, caused by Medea's vengeance
(Diod. Sic. iv. 55); or he was crushed by the fall of the poop of the
ship "Argo," under which, on the advice of Medea, he had laid himself
down to sleep (argument of Euripides' _Medea_). The name (more correctly
Iason) means "healer," and Jason is possibly a local hero of Iolcus to
whom healing powers were attributed. The ancients regarded him as the
oldest navigator, and the patron of navigation. By the moderns he has
been variously explained as a solar deity; a god of summer; a god of
storm; a god of rain, who carries off the rain-giving cloud (the golden
fleece) to refresh the earth after a long period of drought. Some regard
the legend as a chthonian myth, Aea (Colchis) being the under-world in
the Aeolic religious system from which Jason liberates himself and his
betrothed; others, in view of certain resemblances between the story of
Jason and that of Cadmus (the ploughing of the field, the sowing of the
dragon's teeth, the fight with the Sparti, who are finally set fighting
with one another by a stone hurled into their midst), associate both
with Demeter the corn-goddess, and refer certain episodes to practices
in use at country festivals, e.g. the stone throwing, which, like the
[Greek: ballêtys] at the Eleusinia and the [Greek: lithobolia] at
Troezen (Pausanias ii. 30, 4 with Frazer's note) was probably intended
to secure a good harvest by driving away the evil spirits of
unfruitfulness.
See articles by C. Seeliger in Roscher's _Lexikon der Mythologie_ and
by F. Durrbach in Daremberg and Saglio's _Dictionnaire des
antiquités_; H. D. Müller, _Mythologie der griechischen Stämme_
(1861), ii. 328, who explains the name Jason as "wanderer"; W.
Mannhardt, _Mythologische Forschungen_ (1884), pp. 75, 130; O.
Crusius, _Beiträge zur griechischen Mythologie una
Religionsgeschichte_ (Leipzig, 1886).
_Later Versions of the Legend._--_Les fais et prouesses du noble et
vaillant chevalier Jason_ was composed in the middle of the 15th century
by Raoul Lefèvre on the basis of Benoît's _Roman de Troie_, and
presented to Philip of Burgundy, founder of the order of the Golden
Fleece. The manners and sentiments of the 15th century are made to
harmonize with the classical legends after the fashion of the Italian
pre-Raphaelite painters, who equipped Jewish warriors with knightly
lance and armour. The story is well told; the digressions are few; and
there are many touches of domestic life and natural sympathy. The first
edition is believed to have been printed at Bruges in 1474.
Caxton translated the book under the title of _A Boke of the hoole Lyf
of Jason_, at the command of the duchess of Burgundy. A Flemish
translation appeared at Haarlem in 1495. The Benedictine Bernard de
Montfaucon (1655-1741) refers to a MS. by Guido delle Colonne,
_Historia Medeae et Jasonis_ (unpublished).
The _Histoire de la Thoison d'Or_ (Paris, 1516) by Guillaume Fillastre
(1400-1473), written about 1440-1450, is an historical compilation
dealing with the exploits of the _très chrétiennes maisons_ of France,
Burgundy and Flanders.
JASON OF CYRENE, a Hellenistic Jew, who lived about 100 B.C. and wrote a
history of the times of the Maccabees down to the victory over Nicanor
(175-161 B.C.). This work is said to have been in five books and formed
the basis of the present 2 Macc. (see ch. ii. 19-32).
JASPER, an opaque compact variety of quartz, variously coloured and
often containing argillaceous matter. The colours are usually red,
brown, yellow or green, and are due to admixture with compounds of iron,
either oxides or silicates. Although the term jasper is now restricted
to opaque quartz it is certain that the ancient _jaspis_ or [Greek:
iaspis] was a stone of considerable translucency. The jasper of
antiquity was in many cases distinctly green, for it is often compared
with the emerald and other green objects. Jasper is referred to in the
_Niebelungenlied_ as being clear and green. Probably the jasper of the
ancients included stones which would now be classed as chalcedony, and
the emerald-like jasper may have been akin to our chrysoprase. The
Hebrew word _yashefeh_ may have designated a green jasper (cf. Assyrian
_yashpu_). Professor Flinders Petrie has suggested that the _odem_, the
first stone on the High Priest's breastplate, translated "sard," was a
red jasper, whilst _tarshish_, the tenth stone, may have been a yellow
jasper (Hastings's _Dict. Bible_, 1902).
Many varieties of jasper are recognized. Riband jasper is a form in
which the colours are disposed in bands, as in the well-known
ornamental stone from Siberia, which shows a regular alternation of
dark red and green stripes. Egyptian jasper is a brown jasper,
occurring as nodules in the Lybian desert and in the Nile valley, and
characterized by a zonal arrangement of light and dark shades of
colour. Agate-jasper is a variety intermediate between true jasper and
chalcedony. Basanite, lydite, or Lydian stone, is a velvet-black
flinty jasper, used as a touchstone for testing the purity of precious
metals by their streak. Porcelain jasper is a clay indurated by
natural calcination. (F. W. R.*)
JASSY (_Iasii_), also written JASII, JASCHI and YASSY, the capital of
the department of Jassy, Rumania; situated on the left bank of the river
Bahlui, an affluent of the Jijia, about 10 m. W. of the Pruth and the
Russian frontier. Pop. (1900), 78,067. Jassy communicates by rail with
Galatz on the Danube, Kishinev in Bessarabia, and Czernowitz in
Bukowina. The surrounding country is one of uplands and woods, among
which rise the monasteries of Cetatuia, Frumoasa, and Galata with its
mineral springs, the water-cure establishment of Rapide and the great
seminary of Socola. Jassy itself stands pleasantly amid vineyards and
gardens, partly on two hills, partly in the hollow between. Its
primitive houses of timber and plaster were mostly swept away after
1860, when brick or stone came into general use, and good streets were
cut among the network of narrow, insanitary lanes. Jassy is the seat of
the metropolitan of Moldavia, and of a Roman Catholic archbishop.
Synagogues and churches abound. The two oldest churches date from the
reign of Stephen the Great (1458-1504); perhaps the finest, however, are
the 17th-century metropolitan, St Spiridion and Trei Erarchi, the last a
curious example of Byzantine art, erected in 1639 or 1640 by Basil the
Wolf, and adorned with countless gilded carvings on its outer walls and
twin towers. The St Spiridion Foundation (due to the liberality of
Prince Gregory Ghika in 1727, and available for the sick of all
countries and creeds) has an annual income of over £80,000, and
maintains hospitals and churches in several towns of Moldavia, besides
the baths at Slanic in Walachia. The main hospital in Jassy is a large
building, and possesses a maternity institution, a midwifery school, a
chemical institute, an inoculating establishment, &c. A society of
physicians and naturalists has existed in Jassy since the early part of
the 19th century, and a number of periodicals are published. Besides the
university, founded by Prince Cuza in 1864, with faculties of
literature, philosophy, law, science and medicine, there are a military
academy and schools of art, music and commerce; a museum, a fine hall
and a theatre; the state library, where the chief records of Rumanian
history are preserved; an appeal court, a chamber of commerce and
several banks. The city is the headquarters of the 4th army corps. It
has an active trade in petroleum, salt, metals, timber, cereals, fruit,
wine, spirits, preserved meat, textiles, clothing, leather, cardboard
and cigarette paper.
The inscription by which the existence of a _Jassiorum municipium_ in
the time of the Roman Empire is sought to be proved, lies open to grave
suspicion; but the city is mentioned as early as the 14th century, and
probably does derive its name from the Jassians, or Jazygians, who
accompanied the Cumanian invaders. It was often visited by the Moldavian
court. About 1564, Prince Alexander Lapusneanu, after whom one of the
chief streets is named, chose Jassy for the Moldavian capital, instead
of Suceava (now Suczawa, in Bukowina). It was already famous as a centre
of culture. Between 1561 and 1563 an excellent school and a Lutheran
church were founded by the Greek adventurer, Jacob Basilicus (see
RUMANIA: _History_). In 1643 the first printed book published in
Moldavia was issued from a press established by Basil the Wolf. He also
founded a school, the first in which the mother-tongue took the place of
Greek. Jassy was burned by the Tatars in 1513, by the Turks in 1538, and
by the Russians in 1686. By the Peace of Jassy the second Russo-Turkish
War was brought to a close in 1792. A Greek insurrection under Ypsilanti
in 1821 led to the storming of the city by the Turks in 1822. In 1844
there was a severe conflagration. For the loss caused to the city in
1861 by the removal of the seat of government to Bucharest the
constituent assembly voted £148,150, to be paid in ten annual
instalments, but no payment was ever made.
JATAKA, the technical name, in Buddhist literature, for a story of one
or other of the previous births of the Buddha. The word is also used for
the name of a collection of 547 of such stories included, by a most
fortunate conjuncture of circumstances, in the Buddhist canon. This is
the most ancient and the most complete collection of folk-lore now
extant in any literature in the world. As it was made at latest in the
3rd century B.C., it can be trusted not to give any of that modern or
European colouring which renders suspect much of the folk-lore collected
by modern travellers.
Already in the oldest documents, drawn up by the disciples soon after
the Buddha's death, he is identified with certain ancient sages of
renown. That a religious teacher should claim to be successor of the
prophets of old is not uncommon in the history of religions. But the
current belief in metempsychosis led, or enabled, the early Buddhists to
make a much wider claim. It was not very long before they gradually
identified their master with the hero of each of the popular fables and
stories of which they were so fond. The process must have been complete
by the middle of the 3rd century B.C.; for we find at that date
illustrations of the Jatakas in the bas-reliefs on the railing round the
Bharahat tope with the titles of the Jataka stories inscribed above them
in the characters of that period.[1] The hero of each story is made into
a Bodhisatta; that is, a being who is destined, after a number of
subsequent births, to become a Buddha. This rapid development of the
Bodhisatta theory is the distinguishing feature in the early history of
Buddhism, and was both cause and effect of the simultaneous growth of
the Jataka book. In adopting the folk-lore and fables already current in
India, the Buddhists did not change them very much. The stories as
preserved to us, are for the most part Indian rather than Buddhist. The
ethics they inculcate or suggest are milk for babes; very simple in
character and referring almost exclusively to matters common to all
schools of thought in India, and indeed elsewhere. Kindness, purity,
honesty, generosity, worldly wisdom, perseverance, are the usual virtues
praised; the higher ethics of the Path are scarcely mentioned. These
stories, popular with all, were especially appreciated by that school of
Buddhists that laid stress on the Bodhisatta theory--a school that
obtained its chief support, and probably had its origin, in the extreme
north-west of India and in the highlands of Asia. That school adopted,
from the early centuries of our era, the use of Sanskrit, instead of
Pali, as the means of literary expression. It is almost impossible,
therefore, that they would have carried the canonical Pali book,
voluminous as it is, into Central Asia. Shorter collections of the
original stories, written in Sanskrit, were in vogue among them. One
such collection, the Jataka-mala, by Arya Sura (6th century), is still
extant. Of the existence of another collection, though the Sanskrit
original has not yet been found, we have curious evidence. In the 6th
century a book of Sanskrit fables was translated into Pahlavi, that is,
old Persian (see Bidpai). In succeeding centuries this work was
retranslated into Arabic and Hebrew, thence into Latin and Greek and all
the modern languages of Europe. The book bears a close resemblance to
the earlier chapters of a late Sanskrit fable book called, from its
having five chapters, the _Pancha tantra_, or Pentateuch.
The introduction to the old Jataka book gives the life of the historical
Buddha. That introduction must also have reached Persia by the same
route. For in the 8th century St John of Damascus put the story into
Greek under the title of _Barlaam and Josaphat_. This story became very
popular in the West. It was translated into Latin, into seven European
languages, and even into Icelandic and the dialect of the Philippine
Islands. Its hero, that is the Buddha, was canonized as a Christian
saint; and the 27th of November was officially fixed as the date for his
adoration as such.
The book popularly known in Europe as _Aesop's Fables_ was not written
by Aesop. It was put together in the 14th century at Constantinople by
a monk named Planudes, and he drew largely for his stories upon those
in the Jataka book that had reached Europe along various channels. The
fables of Babrius and Phaedrus, written respectively in the 1st
century before, and in the 1st century after, the Christian era, also
contain Jataka stories known in India in the 4th century B.C. A great
deal has been written on this curious question of the migration of
fables. But we are still very far from being able to trace the
complete history of each story in the Jataka book, or in any one of
the later collections. For India itself the record is most incomplete.
We have the original Jataka book in text and translation. The history
of the text of the Pancha tantra, about a thousand years later, has
been fairly well traced out. But for the intervening centuries
scarcely anything has been done. There are illustrations, in the
bas-reliefs of the 3rd century B.C., of Jatakas not contained in the
Jataka book. Another collection, the _Cariyâ pitaka_, of about the
same date, has been edited, but not translated. Other collections both
in Pali and Sanskrit are known to be extant in MS; and a large number
of Jataka stories, not included in any formal collection, are
mentioned, or told in full, in other works.
AUTHORITIES.--V. Fausböll, _The Jataka_, Pali text (7 vols., London,
1877-1897), (Eng. trans., edited by E. B. Cowell, 6 vols., Cambridge,
1895-1907); _Cariyâ pitaka_, edited by R. Morris for the Pali Text
Society (London, 1882); H. Kern, _Jataka-mala_, Sanskrit text
(Cambridge, Mass., 1891), (Eng. trans. by J. S. Speyer, Oxford, 1895);
Rhys Davids, _Buddhist Birth Stories_ (with full bibliographical
tables) (London, 1880); _Buddhist India_ (chap. xi. on the Jataka
Book) (London, 1903); E. Kuhn, _Barlaam und Joasaph_ (Munich, 1893);
A. Cunningham, _The Stupa of Bharhut_ (London, 1879). (T. W. R. D.)