Note 99 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
A somewhat similar phenomenon, described as an "anthelia," may be witnessed in Ceylon. Sir James Emerson Tennent, in his Ceylon [Longmans: 1859, 2nd edition], states that phenomena of this kind may have "suggested to the early painters the idea of the glory surrounding the heads of beatified saints." He adds this description: "To the spectator his own figure, but more particularly the head, appears surrounded by a halo as vivid as if radiated from diamonds. The Buddhists may possibly have taken from this beautiful object their idea of the agni or emblem of the sun, with which the head of Buddha is surmounted. But, unable to express a halo in sculpture, they concentrated it into a flame."—Vol. i. 72 seq.