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Of these, probably not less than 800 to 1,000 examples are still known to remain in. India, of all ages, and extending - from a century or two before the Christian era to the tenth or eleventh century afterwards. They also are of all sizes, from the simple cell of a single anchorite.to a great hall 80 feet square and more, and sometimes surrounded by sixteen or twenty cells for the accommodation of the monks. The difficulties of lighting naturally limited the extent of each individual example in the rock, but. they are generally found in groups of twenty or thirty Vibdras, . affording, when taken together, accommodation for a large religious community. The ruins of .a very large. Vihdra have been recently excavated at Sarnath, near Benares.* It had, however, been destroyed by fire, and nothing but: the foundation of the walls now remains. A still larger one was cut through by the railway works near Sultangunge in Bhagulpore, and destroyed of course; but here also nothing but the foundations remained, sufficient to show the plan, . but ‘nothing more. In 1861-2 General Cunningham found the remains of the great Nalanda Vihdra to extend 1,600 feet in one direction by 400 in another, and no doubt excavations might bring some interesting ‘particulars to light regarding this most celebrated of Indian monasteries, but too much must not be hoped for.+ It was built of wood and brick, and for more than 1,000 years it has been used as the. quarry of the fertile district in which it stood. - At Sanchi there are the remains of several Viharas. One of the best preserved is represented in the Photographic Plate, No. XXIII. Its date. is comparatively modern, probably ranging from the eighth to the tenth century, and its dimensions are so small—about 100 feet across—that it would hardly be worth notice were it , not that it happens to be the best preserved specimen of a Buddhist structural — “Vihara known to exist in India. It will be described further on. As might be expected, the Chaitya Caves are much fewer in number than the Viharas; not more than twenty have been described; and it is hardly probable that more than thirty exist. As before hinted, they are almost exact counterparts of the” choirs of Christian churches, consisting of a central nave, at the inner end of which ‘ stands the Dagoba or Stone Altar, either containing or simulated to contain a. relic. Round this and along either side runs an aisle, which is entered by one tpn * J. A.S.B., Volume for 1844, p. 473. + General Cunningham’s Report to Government for 1861-62, p. 11. 80 THE TOPE AT SANCHI. of three doors, which open outwardly under a gallery corresponding to the rooc- loft of Christian churches. The central aisle was covered ‘with a roof, supported by wooden ribs, like the hull of a ship turned upside down—semicircular internally, but of an ogee shape outside. In all the earlier Caves the ribs were put up in wood, and at Karlee ‘remain to this day as they were put up 1800 years ago, but in later Caves their form was repeated in stone, and ereEnands merged into a purely lithic ornament. | The only example of a structural Chaitya yet brought to light is a small one at Sanchi, which will be described when speaking of Plate XXII. Like the Vihaira it is small, and so much ruined that it is not easy to feel sure how it was originally finished, but as a unique example it is well worthy of attention. We should not, perhaps, be justified in asserting that the St&pas* or Topes ¥ were at all times the most important monuments of the Buddhist. They have become so now, but that may be owing to their form and the solidity of their construction, which has prevented their decay, while the more complex structures of the Vihdras and Chaityas, and the frailer materials of which they were composed, have caused - their disappearance. Judging from the glowing descriptions’ given by the Chinese -vellers of the Sanghéramas (Halls of Assembly) which they visited, and the monas- ies in which they were entertained, it would appear Be they considered them at’ liane as important. The Tope *is, however, a solid circular pyramid} of brick or stone, and from. its form, and under similar circumstances, might have lasted as long as those of Egypt. Those, however,—especially in the valley of the Ganges,—have long been used as quarries by the inhabitants of these thickly-peopled plains, and have con- sequently disappeared. With very few exceptions, it is only in remote or in thinly- peopled districts that any examples are now to be found. Tt scarcely admits of a doubt but that the Tope is thie lineal and direct :scendant of the fanereal Tumulus which, from the very earliest age to which our knowledge extends, the Turanian races—and probably some others—raised over the graves of their dead. Such Tumuli exist all over the north of Asia; they are found in Asia Minor and in Greece. They crowd the cemeteries of: Etruria. They are far from being uncommon in Germany, and in the western parts of France. We all know what numbers of them dot the downs of Wiltshire and Devon, wherever an open country enabled a pastoral people to despasture their flocks without the necessity of cloaring away the forest; and they are frequent in Scandinavia, and over the whole of the north of Europe. It is doubtful whether any sepulchral- Tumuli exist in India. If these were of earth, the probability is they would be washed away by the overflowing rivers or by the tropical rains, but they do exist in Afghanistan, grouped around the Topes.} There are two peculiarities which distinguish the Tope of India from the Tumuli of other countries. The first is, that being of ‘brick or stone the material enabled. them to assume a rounded or domical form, while the earthen Tumulus was as generally * From the Sanscrit, Stupa, a mound or heap. b + Clemens of Alexandria, Stromat. I. 15. { Masson, in Wilson’s Ariana Antiqua, 61, et seqq. GATEWAYS. AND PILLARS 85 degenerated into a mere ornamental band at some height from the ground, and sradnally lost all trace of its original significance. When thoroughly investigated there are few architectural arrangements that will afford a more curious illustration of architectural development than these Buddhist rails. Already we can trace’ them from the rude circular sepulchral enclosure to such plain unadorned erections as those at Sanchi or. Stonehenge, and thence to those of Buddh Gya; from that we can go on to that at Amravati, and till ‘ they lose themselves in the north of India: Many of the links are yet missing though they will no doubt be easily supplied so soon as attention is really directed to the investigation. Another interesting feature connected with these rails is the cateways attached to them. These are frequently represented in the sculptures at Amravati and the paint- ings at Ajanta, but the only examples known to exist standing are those at Sanchi. They are more modern than the rail to which they are attached, being slightly subse- quent to the Christian era; but still betray, like everything else in this style of archi- tecture, their wooden origin. Such a form could never have been invented in stone; and the reason they are not more frequently found, is 'probably that they were generally executed in wood, even when attached to stone rails. The Chinese Pailoo is undoubtedly the lineal descendant of these gates; but ewen that is very generally at the present day constructed either wholly or partially in wood. ‘Tt. must, indeed, have required considerable courage to ‘attempt such a construction in* stone,* and the wonder is rather that several should have survived. the wreck of eighteen centuries, rather than that so few should “be found. The form of those at Sanchi and their sculptures form the first division of this work, and need not, therefore, be further enlarged on here; and as they are the only examples of their kind, no classification is possible. . The lats or Stambhas form another group of early ‘Buddhist monuments that must not be passed over. Four or five out of a larger number of those erected by Aéoka still exist, either standing or in recognized fragments, They form, however, such excellent rollers for the British road maker, and such capital sugar or rice mills for the native zemindar, that the wonder is that so many are left. All those of Asoka are similar to one another,—circular stone shafts of a single block, 30 or 40 feet in length, and surmounted by a capital with the falling leaf or bell-shaped form found at Persepolis. This form of the capital, together with the Grecian ‘or rather Assyrian honeysuckle ornament with which it is generally associated, are. two of the most valuable ethnographic indications which the architecture of this age affords. As we have every reason to suppose that the real architecture of Aéoka’s time remained essentially wooden in all its forms, it is curious to observe him eopying the details of the architecture of the countries of his allies, Antiochus or Antigonus, in his first attempts at a more permanent style in stone. So far as we now | know, the use of. these foreign forms were confined to lats and detached objects, and : 2 Sie + ef * Henry of Huntingdon’ s description of the Trilithon at Stonehenge is curiously applicable here:—“ Ubi lapides mire magnitudinis in modum pus elevati sunt, ita ut porte portis superposite videantur.’— Monument. Hist., p. 694. 2 86 - THE TOPE AT SANCHI. were :not employed. in buildings, properly so called, till more than two centuries _ after their introduction,. and then very much modified from their original forms. The object for which Asoka’s pillars were erected was, that certain edicts might be engraved upon them, which he desired to enforce on’ his people. Those at Pathari and Erun.