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—_ li Lite, ant OJ) )>, 2a : pp Oe rt il ii ple eee ey it eb bo) eB af ip apa fal | ee nA ARE mee WT fi Oe ei) Oy rd cane ; — rem sriees, - FIGURES OF BUDDRA-AND DWABY CAPITAL. a a ee af ise DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 143 PLATES XXXIX., XL, anp XLI. PLATE XXXIX. Tue lion capital (Fig. 1.) in this Plate once adorned a lat that stood immediately in front of the Southern Gateway of the great Tope. From a comparison of the style, and especially of the honeysuckle ornament and the sacred geese of its abacus, with what we find on pillars at Allahabad and Tirhoot, which undoubtedly were erected by Agoka, we may feel quite confident that this too was erected by him. If this is so, it proves either that the great Tope was erected by that monarch, or that he erected this pillar as an additional ornament to a pre-existing monument. For reasons above. given, my conviction is that the Tope was erected by him also, and its date conse- quently is not far from 250 B.c. | The other capital is that of the fallen Southern Gateway, and seems evidently to be imitated from the older one in its immediate proximity. The honeysuckle ornament has become Indianized, and the execution of the lions is stiff and conventional. It may be suggested that this inferiority may be partly owing to the circumstance that the original lion sculptors came from the north-west—from Bactria—where lions abounded, and that Malwa afforded no models from which the true nature of the animal could be studied. But, on the whole, it seems as probable that they indicate a decay of art from the time ‘when it was first introduced into India under Grecian or rathér Bactrian influence, till about the Christian era. Unfortunately we have very little that was executed between these two periods that would enable us to settle this question. The one thing at present known that seems to belong to the period, is the sculpture in the Caves at Cuttack,* but they have not yet been drawn with that critical accuracy which would enable us to reason regarding them. Against this view, on the other hand, we have the superior elegance of the figure sculp- ture at Amravati three centuries later. It is of course rash to generalise from the very few data we have, but judging from them alone, it may be said that animal sculpture declined from Aéoka’s time till the Christian era, but that figure sculpture improved, or at least became more refined, between the ae of Sanchi and Amravati. — It may be observed, en passant, that the winged lion on the abacus of Fig. 2. | is much more nearly allied to his Assyrian, or rather Persian prototype, than his degenerate descendants at Amravati. * J.A.S. B., vol. VIL, plates XLIL and XLIV. 144 THE TOPE AT SANCHI. PLATE’ XL. The lower group of elephants in Plate XL. is likewise from the Southern Gateways ,it,is on one of the blocks over the pillars which separate the architraves into parts (Plate XVI.). It is another indication of the greater antiquity of the Southern Gateway, inasmuch as though not a capital itself, it is evidently just such a sugges- tion as might lead to the design of the elephant capitals of the Northern or Basten Gateway, one of which is fepresentel in the upper figure of this Plate. The figure on the elephant in front of the lower one appears to be royal, from the Chatta borne over his head, and to be followed by another elephant, bearing a relic casket”on his head, over which the Chatta of State is displayed. The standard which is borne behind him is of the stars and stripes pattern, while that on the upper capital from the Eastern Gateway is the union jack design ; both have the Buddhist Trisul emblem, though in the lower one it is partially broken away. The truth and vigour with which the elephants are sculptured in both these groups go far to disturb the theory just hinted at of a general decline of art at the period they were sculptured, and must rather favour the idea that it was in the representation of lions only that the sculptors of Sanchi had broken down. PLATE XLI. The lower figure of the Plate represents the capital of the Western Gateway, which is identical in design with those of the smaller or No. 3. Tope (Plgte XXL), and therefore probably of the same age, though, as before hinted, it is a little difficult to determine what that age may be. I have before stated my reasons for believing that the Western Gateway was the last erected, though it is difficult to understand how, after executing anything so beautiful as the lion and elephant capitals of the other Gateways, they could perpetrate anything so.detestable as these. A desire of novelty may have led to the adoption of the dwarfs, after their introduction on the middle architrave of the Northern Gateway (Plate VII.), or they may pie a mythological meaning we fail to detect. The figure of Buddha (Plate XHI. Fig. 1.) from the Vihara is introduced here because it is similar to four figures which now stand against the Tope inside the Rail, and on which it has been attempted to found an argument as to their anti- quity. This one, however, has upon it the familiar “ Ye hetu dha*ma” inscription in the Kutila characters of the tenth. century, and these, with other indications from the locality where it. is found, prove that it cannot be earlier than that date. This is, besides, about the date that must be assigned to it from its style, by anyone familiar with Indian sculpture. The others may be earlier, but not by any long period, though without photographs or drawings it is impossible ‘to. say what their exact age may be. a ES = _ i 2 Sy on Ew : Me K Seu Gi, Th TDN S SSS _ Emm ASG aS WII ‘) ¥7 7 SY TA, mt) LULA LISA 2ZC0C0ithSC YY FAS Hs A QW y WE OY) : Ps AYN) eon Cs Qh IX? a } g \ Nr, ‘ I SSAA: <i) Ti LOW S70 Be mT 7 . ra > x z ’ . & W.GRIGGS, LITH. INDIA MUSEUM | >~< ih Z , a) | =a Ze 9S ee 1 |S es (LT. £—\ Qe: 1] Ay 2: 6S EERE SE SRR ed Ce ar CI ROORROIOS LSS aa SSCS IOC |. \, > Ms ‘ *. a j Ae : = 3 PE 2 Wy as i SSS S. os a IT COL. MAISEY DEL. CHAKRA PILLABS FROM SMALLER TOPES, PLATE XLIIt SANCHI. ELCs FLG. 3 FIG. 4 > BEG 2 a \ fLEEZEL SV FMM YS S FMM nd VY p J ¢ a . : IT Sn ae A Q > Ae NG ALLL b> SSS LS NATTA ANN PIG. Ss CSREES IS CZresgrVevgsgsige W. GRIGGS, LITH. DETAILS OF SCULPTURE, DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 145 PLATES XLIT. and XLII. For reasons given above, page 91, it seems probable that the Rail of the smaller Tope (No. 2., in plan, Plate I.), is intermediate indate between that of the Rail of the great Tope and of the Gateways which were added to it in the first century of our era. Were it not, however, for the form of the characters in which its inscrip- tions are written, there are circumstances which might induce us to ascribe to it a date even more modern than their erection. Eventually it may tui: out that it is so, but for the present we must be content to assume that it was erected about one century before the Christian era. There are no bas-reliefs, properly so called, on the Rail, but all the discs on the pillars are sculptured (Figs. 2. and 5., Plate XLIII., are examples) “ either with * rosettes, human or animal figures, monsters, emblems, and other objects, very * poorly executed, and, with one or two exceptions, not worth a detailed description.” Among these, Colonel Maisey enumerates “elephants, seated female with lotus, bull, * monster with alligator’s head and fish’s tail, five-headed Naga, wheel,. tortoise,— * emblem of Késyapa,—monster half lion half fish, lion, lion with bull in his mouth, “ woman riding a male centaur, horseman, female centaur, snake, canopied female “ figure mounted on human-headed animal, bird killing snake, &.” “The angle ** pillars of the entrance,” he adds, “are rather more decorated, and some of them “ of very superior execution.” Two of these are represented in Plate XLII. Figs. 1. and 2. The first represents the sacred wheel adorned with garlands, and standing on a pillar, surmounted by four elephants; three only are shown, of gourse; and on "one side a woman offering a lotus bud, on the other a man in the attitude of prayer. No. 2. is‘very similar, except that there are two lions and two elephants on the top of the pillar, and no human figures. Both these wheels are adorned exter- nally by objects like hatchets, but which I have no doubt are meazt for the Trisul emblem so frequently alluded to above. Fig. 3., in Plate XLII. is a representation of a similar object from the Gateway of the small Tope No. 3. (Plate XXI.). It is hardly distinguishable in design from the other two, except that it is more crowded with figures, and Garudas or Devas bringing offerings, which apparently do not occur at No. 2. Tope. There is also an attempt at perspective in the capital, and on the whole it looks more modern, but how much it is impossible to say. PLATE XLIIL Fig. 1. in this Plate is from one of the gate pillars of No. 2. Tope, and represents two men apparently turning the wheel and two women in attitudes of devotion. Is this the original of the prayer wheel of the Thibetans? Fig. 4, is a combination often met with of athe Wheel, with the Trisul emblem. If I am not 4799.) ; 7 T 146 THE TOPE AT SANCHI. mistaken, it means Buddha and the Law; or it may be the Law of Buddha. Fig. 3 on this Plate is a similar combination of a wheel on an altar, with the ennobling Chatta over it. Figs. 2. and’ 5. have already been described. ‘The first is one of the pillars of No. 2. Tope, the on a rosette, which replaces the five-headed 2 Naga on another of these pillars.