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One only thing, at present, seems clear—that they have no connexion with Buddhism, or with any Buddhistic ceremony with which we are at present acquainted. The middle of the picture is occupied by deer, below which is a scene which it seems impossible to interpret. A Hindu, apparently of rank, is addressing, with his hands joined as in supplication, a stout Dasyu boy, who bears a large waterpot — on his shoulder. ‘To their right two Hindu soldiers, in full equipment, are standing, one of whom is deliberately shooting a Dasyu boy, who is half concealed in the water. There is nothing -in the picture to explain why the poor boy should: be. shot, and I know of no legend which could throw any light on the transaction. The dress of the soldiers is worthy of remark. They wear a -kilt, and the usual cummerbund or waistband, and cross straps to carry their quivers. Their bows are bows of double flexure, which we usually. associate with the. Parthians or Amazons, but it is doubtful whether any ethnographic distinction can be founded on this peculiarity. DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 139 PLATE XXXVII. Ir the two scenes depicted in this Plate can be cénsidered as anything like a fair representation of Buddhist feeling. or Buddhist manners in the first century of our era, they present this faith in a marvellously different aspect from anything we have hitherto been taught to believe. If these had been found on a Palace Gateway, it might have been said that the manners of the Palace were not those of the Temple; but the upper one of these is that carved on the front of the Northern Gateway (Plate XII.). The other is the upper compartment in front of the fallen pillar of. the Western Gateway. In the first we have on the right hand a Hindu gentleman playing on a harp, and singing to a lady who is sitting beside him, with her feet in the water of a fountain, and listening with no unwilling ear to her lover’s song. In the opposite compartment the lady is sitting on the-gentleman’s knee, and he is drinking something out of a cup which certainly is stronger than water. , | | In the foreground some ladies are disporting themselves in the water with two .elephants, and the whole scene is one of pleasure and sensual enjoyment. The only costume of the ladies, except their chignons, is. their bead belt and their bangles, but they have not all of them even this. The men are slightly better clad, but even they have more cloth in their turbans than in any other part of their dresses. : \ The lower bas-relief is of a very. similar character. It is divided practically into four compartments, in each of which two persons, male and female, are seated on couches. Two of these groups are close to the waters of a lake, in which lotus are shown as growing; two others are on a terrace, in the centre of which a flight of steps leads from the lake. On each: of the couches a man and woman are seated in close conversation, to use the mildest term, and all are drinking. Below, or in front of the couch of the couple in the left-hand upper corner, is the wine pot or jar, which continually recurs in the lithographs from the first (Plate XXIV.), but nowhere can it be so distinctly surmised that it contains an intoxicating liquid as here.* | . . On the top of the steps, between the two upper. couple, stand a man and woman, evidently servants, the woman giggling most unmistakeably, and holding her hand to her mouth to prevent an explosion of hilarity, and: not without reason. The man, too, turns up his eyes in amazed ‘astonishment. * We ought not to be surprised that drinking should be a favourite indulgence in these days. The Maha Bharata is full of drinking scenes, and many of its episodes turn on the results of intoxieation. Even the gods in those days got drunk on Soma juice; why not poor mortals ?. In addition to this, we must bear in mind that though the Hindus of the plains are so remarkable for their temperance, all the hill tribes drink joyously to the present day. No cereniony, civil or religious, takes place without drinking and dancing, and the festival generally is brought to a close by all—the men, at least—being so drunk as to be unable to continue it, s 2 140 : THE TOPE AT SANCHI. The arbours under which two of the couples are seated, are curious instances of that sort of summer-house which may be found adorning tea gardens in the neighbourhood of London at the present day. It: is scenes like these that make us hesitate before ee ‘that thier could not possibly be any connexion between Buddhism and Wodenism. As we shall sce in the next Plate, Buddhists could also fight—for a religious purpose, it is true,—but still if Hindus of that faith could fight and drink even to the modificd cxtent to which we find them practised here in the first century after Christ, it requires only a moderate knowledge of political arithmetic to calculate what may have taken place a few centuries earlier. The authors of the Mahdbhirata gloat as joyously over the slaughter of the myriads that lay unburied on the fatal battle field of Kurukshetra after eighteen days fight, as any Scandinavian scald could have done over the deeds of any of Wodin’s companions; and if flindus could then drink and fight, as we have every reason to suppose they did, the gulf between the two religions was not at one time so impassable as it afterwards appears to have become. If we would understand the subject, we must turn from those books which have hitherto been our only sources of information, and lcok back to a timé before the iron of asceticism had eaten into the souls of the followers of Sakya Muni. | , x *SOLToa iC OS TOS rim oom OK BvVUIS | é "HLT eee MeM Shee ta iets e lls Gabe te kobe be Box ty, ; A IN | Tu f { j fl | q (Donte U wal f é camavy n A 4 i‘ ¢ se || RSS Se Wh = Poomao connasos iy } can : = _ . * 4 yi i a oS ¢ hh WY, i J Eig > V FG} UU a 5 tx eae neh try yy ‘ / 7 ; 0 hy 4) rN A fos, | ON Ra SoA SA —— CS wee a I/ \ 1 AB ’ y : > .) P / i \ 4 j Pr A SIAL q r (\ 4 2 > Y y as \ hs kG \s =A : ) Os Kei ea Sard A iF a f (OMY fa / Ih tthiy y F<! G y SES, - WAZ) OCD esl NA Z FZ 4 IVa Z¥} VAAAAVAAAAAAAA) VARAAAA/ a <a) HATA Zo v Ti v7 e / s he tr i 2 A <s ' 4 1 4 | | ae Se | Ci eS. = SN | 1 4 y om: j Wa SOS al Ve “ih & ¥ 5 a VAVAKAVAVAVAVAVAVANAVAI, Bele ES i= De } 4 Sy 2 AAAS oe "HIAXYX. LVI TONES 142 _ THE TOPE AT SANCHL “* city whence it is watched by numerous spectators. First, march four standard bearers, then come musicians, men with spears and shields, others with palm branches, “ some look backwards, and seem to be adoring their elephants, which come after “ them. These carry Mahouts, with Chaori and Chatta bearers, and are attended “ by numerous pedestrians, some with swords and shields, some with bundles, and ** one with a spouted vessel. After these come a two-horsed chariot, containing a * man attended by Chatta and Chaori bearers, the hero of the procession, which “is probably a triumphal return from some warlike or religious expedition. The * rear is brought up by horsemen, and two more mounted elephants.” The upper lintel contains what seems a continuation of the above, and is shown in the lower figure of this Plate. On the left is seen a city, into which the head of the procession has already penetrated. Four men, with horse-tail standards, next approach, then a horse led by a boy. ‘The procession is here interrupted by a sacred Tree behind an altar, behind which come the usual array of musicians, led by a man bearing a shield with the union jack upon it. Behind the musicians comes the elephant of state, with three riders; one of whom bears the relic casket on his head, the other two the Chatta and Chaori. The rear is brought up by more elephants and horsemen, one of whom looks remarkably like a modern jockey ! It seems quite clear that the object of these bas-reliefs is to represent the acquisition or recovery of some important. relics by the community at Sanchi, and as the sculptures are the gifts of private individuals, the events depicted probably oceurred at some date considerably anterior to that of the sculptures themselves. My impression is that the relics are those of Sariputra and Moggalana, and the hero of the triumph, Asoka himself. But this, in the present state of our knowledge, to say the most of it, is little more than conjecture. Be this as it may, these two bas-reliefs are of great interest, in the first place, as showing the state of the arts in India in the early centuries of the Christian era. They certainly are superior to any of the Assyrian sculptures depicting similar scenes, and can hardly be said to be inferior to contemporary sculptures on Trajan’s column or similar subjects at Rome. As illustrations of costume,-they are also of great value; but perhaps their most curious peculiarity is their being illustrative of a religious Buddhist war! So far as we know, no war was ever undertaken by a Buddhist community for the sake of pro- pagating their faith or extending the area of their religion. But the desire to possess relics seems to have roused passions antithetical to the usual form of their faith, and they fought either to acquire or to recover these most valued treasures, and they triumphed gloriously when they brought back these treasures to the sanctuary, where they reposed till disturbed by the antiquarian curiosity of two Englishmen in 1854! “ . ‘SIN LIA KO NOY 3 : ‘Hail ‘S99IN9'M \M% PLATE XL. FIG I. \ (W ' Cc FPG. 2; ZZ : Oo Wann seco, IN W. GRIGGS, LITH. ae ae a LT COL, MAISEY: fet. OR DP Tee LS. NOT & y A Ei Te PE rt er ee . oS ee ee ee SANCHIE etek a eae. PLATE XL FIG. I.