UMBRELLA. The use of the umbrella as a symbol of sovereignty in Asia prevailed centuries before its adoption by Europeans as a protection against the weather. Among the ancient Egyptians it served to dis tinguish persons of quality, and among the Assyrians royal personages. The modern state umbrellas of China and Burma have a long history. R. V. Russell and R.
E. Hira LAl note that " when one of the early Indian monarchs made extensive conquests, the annexed terri tories were described as being brought under his umbrella; of the king Harsha-Vardhana (606-648 A.D.) It is recorded that he prosecuted a methodical scheme of conquest with the deliberate object of bringing all India under one umbrella, that is, of constituting it into one state." Over the " Wheel of Light " which symbolises Buddha In Buddhist architecture is placed an umbrella. Nor is the importance attached to the umbrella peculiar to Orientals. Rajendra LA1 Mara points out (Indo Aryans) that " the Greeks used it as a mystic symbol in some of their sacred festivals, and the Romans intro duced the custom of hanging an umbrella in the basilican churches as a part of the insignia of office of the judge sitting in the basilica." According to W. 'W. Skeet (The
Past at our Doors), from about the year 1717 a " parish " umbrella was used in England by the priest at open-air funerals. Russell and Hira Lal suggest that this eccles iastical use may have been derived from its employment as a symbol in Italian churches. According to Skeet, some kind of umbrella as a protection against the weather was used in England at least as far back as 1709, though usually Jonas Hanway is said to have been the first person to use an umbrella in the open street (1750.) The Mobaimmadans associate with the umbrella a sun-symbol (aftdda). The fact that both were carried over the head of a royal personage suggests to Russell and Hira Lal that " the umbrella represents the sky, while the king's head might be considered analogous to the sun." It was part of the principal business of the Dandits (or Dahayats), a caste of village watchmen in India, to carry the royal umbrella above the head of the king. See R. V. Russell.