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102 THE TOPE AT SANCHI, * usually seen in the only class that can be identified with priests, ascetics, and “ saints.” (Vide ante, p. 98.) “Above this group, and facing towards the city, ‘is another empty | chariot, which a man, dressed as the preceding, is about to _ “ harness; the four horses are seen in front.” Colonel Maisey then goes on to state that he considers this to represent a religious procession, and the dedication of the chariot to the Sun. As before stated, I am more inclined to regard it as a meeting between Asoka or some Hindu Prince with the Dasyu Chief of the place, either on the occasion of a treaty of peace or to obtain a cession of land for the service or building of the Dagoba, or it may be his conversion to Buddhism. ‘If the Prince is Agoka, it is probable that the children in the chariot _ may be Mahendra and Sanghamitté, and not impossible that the Dasyu Chief may be ° their maternal - grandfather; but such speculations must wait for more intimate knowledge of the subject than we now possess. | On the back of the architrave the same subject is apparently continued, and fortunately we have a drawing of the central portion (Plate XXXIT.), in describing which its subject will be more easily made out than from the present photograph. _ On the left hand projection, behind the Hindu Raja, we have a walled city. with figures. On the right hand projection, two Hindus, accompanied by two females and three very small children, watching two animals in a as Was there a Zoological Garden at Wessanagara? _ ‘The upper architraves of the Northern Gateway are more easily described and understood. The second or central one in front is wholly devoted to Tree Worship. Seven Trees of different species stand on or behind altars: They are all surmounted ' by Chattas and adorned with wr@gghs, and between each are persons in attitudes of adoration. The bas-relief in the rear of this architrave is a little more complicated. In the centre is a King or Prince seated on a high-backed throne, before whom are women and boys (?) dancing and singing. Beyond these, to the left, a. Hindu Chief, with his wife and child, worship a Tree, over which float winged figures bearing offerings. .To the right of the throne are “grotesque giants with pointed. ears, like “ the classic fawns, playing musical instruments, dancing, and drinking. Had this “ sculpture occurred in a Hindu temple, it would have been called the- Court of “* Indra, and as Indra was one of the deities most anciently acknowledged by the “ Buddhists, it may possibly be so in this: instance,” —a suggestion in which I entirely | concur. _ The top lintel in front is devoted to tied Dagoba and. Tree Worship ; there being five Dagobas and two Trees, each with all the accompaniments of honour, terrestrial and celestial, which marks the respect shown to these objects in the sculptures of Sanchi. On the rear space of this architrave, Elephants and their young are represented as bringing lotus flowers and garlands to do honour to the sacred Tree. On the blocks that divide these bassi-relievi over the pillars, we have in front men riding on. cows or oxen—a very common practice at Sanchi; boys on bridled winged lions, and winged deer; on the rear, men mounted on kneeling horses; boys on deer, and at the top winged deer again. The other subjects and emblems will be more easily described and better understood when we come to describe the lithographs further on. ad “2 * ; TINNY! LV YNkY MY AE QD NY MITYIV KY XY R ROOT MO Oe MAID A AUAKAN LRA REAL AD Ao - ‘ DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 103, PLATES VIII. anp IX. Eastern GATEWAY, THe Easterr Gateway, for reasons hinted at above, but which will i more intel-— :ligible when the whole are described, appears to be more modern than the N oon though it is difficult to put this difference of age into years. It has also this’ further peculiarity, tha its sculptures are much more mythological and much less historical. *.than those of the Gateway just described. As lithographic representations of the sculptures, of . the ee will be found in the following Plates, it will be convenient to reserve them for future description. — At present, as in the case of the Northern Gateway, we shall only deal with the horizontal architraves above the Elephant capitals. eA The lowest of these in frontis wholly occupied. by one composition, representing the worship of the Tree, with its usual accompaniments. In the centre stands a tree . behind an altar, under which is the Trisul emblem,—to be described hereafter,—and above it float heavenly winged figures. “On the left is a procession of musicians, “ and men: carrying bunches of flowers, standards, and long poles capped with discs “and emblems. To the right of the tree are two worshippers, together with a~ “ number of female musicians, and a kneeling caparisoned elephant, over which a “ woman waves a Chaori.. Upon the hind leg of the elephant stands a man shaded by a Chatta, in the undress seen in Plate XVII., which seems to be a kind of *“ devotional costume.* ‘A child holds his girdle, and a woman seems to be addressing ~ “him. On the extreme right a personage of coos in a chariot, i oe by “ a second chariot, and a number of armed men.’ So far as I can make out, this appears to. me to. be the same scene as that represented in Plate LIX. Fig. 2. of the Amravati sculptures. If I am correct in my conjecture regarding that bas-relief, the figure standing on the foot of the elephant would be Sakya Muni himself, and the woman and child his wife Gopi and his sun Rahula.}. It is impossible, however, to speak with confidence witfout.a more detailed representation than the photograph affords. . The rear of this architrave is is ie wholly by a number of lephants ‘worshipping the Dagoba. . The second or middle architrave in fork i is occupied copa like the one below it, with Tree Worship. “In the centre stands a sacred tree, surmounted by numerous * I have copied this literally from Colonel Maisey’s manuscript, though, as far as I can make out from the photographs, the man standing on the elephant’s foot is a Hindu, not a Dasyu, as Colonel Maisey states. { If the principal figure is Buddha, it would reconcile the apparent discrepancy between Colonel Maisey’s ‘description and the appearance of the photog graph ; the garb on an ascetic might easily at that aoe Be mistaken for that of a Dasyu. 104: THE TOPE AT SANCHI. “ fioures, some shaded by Chattas. On the left of the tree are the buildings and walls of a city, which are crowded with spectators. On the right a number of “ praying figures, and the footmarks of Buddha shaded by a Chatta.” Both to right and left of the central tree are richly-caparisoned horses, not mounted, but led by the hand; over two of them at least are Chattas, and they seem to be objects of almost as much respect as the tree itself, or the footprints of Buddha. This worship of the horse we shall have frequent opportunities of ene in future, but more frequently at Amravati than at Sanchi. The rear of this architrave is one of the most curious at Sanchi. It represents all the beasts of the field doing homage to the sacred tree. We have long been familiar with the animals worshipped by the Egyptians, and by other nations who have followed their example to a certain extent; but we must go to India to meet with that elevation of the brute creation which consisted in associating them with men in acts of devotion. In this instance we can recognize “lions, deer, sheep, buffaloes “or oxen, camels, rams, and large eagles.” But the most remarkable among: this strange congregation is the five-headed Naga- himself! THe is easily recognized, and there can be no doubt as to the intention of the sculptor; but it does seem strange that the god who everywhere else. is worshipped should here be represented as worshipping, and not a human or celestial god, but the Tree. It is evident we are here still far removed from the supremacy which the ee afterwards esos at Amravati. The top lintel of the Gateway in front is identical in subject with that of the. Northern Gateway. Five Dagobas and two Trees occupy the centre, with the “projections. Both Dagobas and Trees are hung with garlands; each is surmounted by a Chatta, and adored by winged figures floating above, and human worshippers standing between them. The rear of the lintel, like the eens front Rail ‘of the Northern Gate, is occupied by seven sacred trees, each of a different species, but all similarly honored. The only other remarkable peculiarity on this. Gateway that it is worth mentioning here, is that the intermediate block behind is: occupied by men mounted on two- humped Bactrian camels. We would zow consider this a proof positive that they ‘came from Central Asia, as this animal is not now known in’ India, but we do not know when the single-humped camel was first. introduced into India, nor whether or not the two-humped was the usual beast of burthen in those days. The emblem tit crowns this Gateway, and other details, will, as in the case of the Northern Gateway, be more easily understood when the subsequent Plates have been described.* It will be convenient, therefore, to pass them over for. the present. ; * When in 1247 I published my work entitled “ Picturesque Illustrations of Indian Architecture,” I engraved a view of this Gateway as the frontispiece from a drawing in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society. I never learnt by whom that drawing was made, but, from some circumstances, I fancy it must have been taken about 1830. At that time both the Trisul ornaments on the top were standing and the pedestal for the Wheel in the centre, besides many other details which have since disappeared.