English
One of the most interesting points connected with these wheel pillars is, that they almost exactly reproduce the pillars that stand in front of the Caves at Karlee and Salsette; not only is their architectural form identical, but the four lions which surmount them are the same, and my impression is that the Karlee pillar once supported a metal wheel, which has now. disappeared; but be this as it may, if we are correct in assigning the Karlee Cave to the first century 3.c.—which I see no reason for doubting—it is a satisfactory confirmation of the date to find identically: the same architectural forms at Sanchi at the same period. At Amravati, three or four centuries later, the wheel pillars became even more important, and also infinitely more elaborate, and are among the most promment ornaments of that building. In Fa-Hian’s travels (a.p. 400) we have a description of two villas 70 feet high, which adorned the entrance of the Jetavana monastery, outside - the gates of Sravasti, the old capital of Koéala in Oude, in the time of Sdkya Muni. One of these was surmounted by a wheel, the other by an ox.* So at least he says; but Hiouen Thsang corrects him. When he saw the pillars, more than 200 years aftetwards, he calls the ox an elephant, which is much more likely; but the wheel had been replaced by a Dagobat—a very common form. If the wheel was of metal, it may have been stolen during the reign of some Brahminical king. It is curious that we almost lose sight of Tree Worship in the sculptures of these smaller Topes, though it forms so prominent a feature in those of the great one. It does occur in Wo. 8. (see Plate XXI.), but in a very subordinate manner, and I can find no trace of it in Colonel Maisey’s descriptions of No. 3. Tope. I do not, however, _ know that any argument can be based on this. Tree Worship certainly did prevail long before they were erected; but their preference for the Serpent and, neglect of the Tree is worthy of attention, and may hereafter lead to’some interesting conclusions. * Foé-Koué-Ki, p. 17s + Si Yi Ki, I. p. 296.. It is curious, however, to remark that even he was fitaben at Sankissa, where | he deseribes an elephant on the top of.a pillar as a lion, when it was an elephant with only his trunk broken off. It was drawn by General Cunningham, and is engraved from his drawing in my History of Architecture, Woodcut 970. “STIE LEA IRAINLOGLIBOGY * wnetAw, eiON "RD “799 ABSIVW NOD 74 ~ 4 y (i NY Wa HW C hdl ddidddaiidéldan Wi aia fi & Wola ¢ SI4 a 2 - BHILGS xX, PLATE XLV. & Ss Dane EO KD NAGK GCRPITALS. DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 147 PLATES XLIV. ann XLV. Tue statue and capital (Figs. 1. and 2.) represented on Plate XLIV. were found lying near the North Gateway, with only a fragment of the shaft that once ‘supported them, the rest having probably been used for sugar mills long ago. The execution of the statue is so extremely good that it would be interesting to fix its date, if possible; but there is no inscription and no indication on the spot to enable us to do so directly. There is, however, at Eran, not far away, a pillar bearing a Gupta inscription, with a capital and statue so nearly identical. with this, that the probability is that they may be of about the same age. If I am correct in the date, “Lassign to the Guptas a.p. 318 to 490; this would place the statue with its pillar in the fourth or fifth century, which, from its style, I am inclined to think is by no means an unlikely date. What adds to this probability is the knowledge that Chandragupta was a benefactor to fhe Tope at Sanchi. His inscription is seen on the Rail,. Plate VIII., and will be found translated in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic’ Society, vol. VI. 455, and is just such as would Iead us to expect some additions. to the fane by him about the year 400. . | The rays round the head, the absence of a Chatta, or anything indicating kingly state, render it possible that it is intended as a statue of Buddha; in that, case one of the earliest known. There are no statues of the great founder. of this religion _ either at Karlee nor the early Caves of Ajanta, and I fancy we must come down to the age of Buddha Ghoso, a.p. 420, before any free standing statues were carved in his honour, But we know too little as yet to express any distinct opinion on such a subject. Itis more probable that it represents one of the Gupta kings, or perhaps it is only some other benefactor to the shrine. The two pillars, Figs. 3. and 4., are from the portico to the Chaitya hall, photo- graphed, Plate XXII. They are very elegant examples of Hindu architecture. Colonel Maisey suggests that the portico may have been added afterwards, and that this may account for their more modern aspect. Applying to them the same test as to the capital and statue, it would seem that they too belong to the Gupta age. If at least the fragments of architecture which are found at Eran belong to the fifth century, ~ which I see no reason to doubt, these must also certainly be ascribed to the same date. It would “be extremely interesting if this could be established, for we “have no other structural remains in Central India which are known to belong to that age, and the gap so formed is one it wouffl be most desirable to fill up. The two Naga shrouded statues represented in Plate XLV. are found in the _immediate neighbourhood of Sanchi—No. 1. at the village of Ferozepore, the other on the Nagore hill, not far off. They are both probably more modern than the Topes or their sculptures, and, like the statue in the last Plate, may date from the time of the Guptas. Fig. 2. is evidently the most modern of the two. Neither are _remarkable.as examples of sculpture, but are curious as exemplifying the belief in , the efficacy of the protecting hood of the Naga. T2 148 THE TOPE AT SANCHI. Our lithographed illustrations began with a representation of this snake hood on Plate XXIV., which is nearly as old as the Christian era. They terminate with it here, at a period probably as late as the sixth or seventh century. After this period it seems to have faded out of use as applied to mortals, but to have been appropriated either to the Jaina Tirthankars, or to some of the forms of Vishnu. It is the common accompaniment of the image of that god even to the present day. Although it died out in India, the custom still exists elsewhere. In Nepaul, for instance, when it was. desired to do honour to one of the late kings, a statue of him was placed on the top of a tall pillar, exactly as is done here; and a cobra, standing on his tail, is represented as spreading his protecting hood over his sacred head. _ All this, as well as many other things advanced in the preceding pages, will be much more clear and intelligible when we have described the sculptures at Amravati. The ‘two together form a nearly complete illustration of the arts and architecture of India during the first five centuries of ‘the Christign era; but Amravati is scarcely intelligible without Sanchi, and. the contrary is equally the case. Many things which the older and simpler forms leave obscure, become clear when they are read by the light of the more modern gloss. We have hitherto been wholly dependent on the rock-cut examples for all we know on the subject, and they, as before explained, are rude, from the nature of the material in which they ‘are carved, and imperfect from the exigencies of their situation. These two Topes supply their deficiencies, and when the sculptures at Amravati have been described, we shall have a tolerably clear conception of the earliest forms of lithic art in the peninsula of Hindostan.*, * All the emblems which adorn these Gateways, and which are alluded to in the preceding descriptions, are . found with more or less distinctness on the coins of the period. In the annexed example, for instance, No. 16, Woodcut No. 16, borrowed from Mr. Thomas’s paper in the Ist vol. New ; Series of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, we have nearly all of them. In the centre of the left-hand figure is the conventional representation of a Dagoba surmounted by a Chatta, and above this the circle, and over that the Trisul. If the interpretation suggested in the Woodcut, No. 13, is correct, these symbolize water and air. On the right of the Dagoba is the Tree, very similar in form to the Persian example, Woodcut No. 5, and in the field on the left the swastica, and below it an emblem which is found in the necklace, Plate IIL, Fig. 4. It may be an altar. Below the Dagoba is seen the Serpent, which is hardly ever omitted from these early coins, and often occupies ‘@ more pron.inent place than he does here. On the other face of the coin the field is occupied by a conventional representation of a deer, attended by a female as lightly clad as those in the bas-reliefs generally are. Over the deer what seems intended as repetition of the Treé emblem, or it may be only the symbol of a sacred enclosure with the ennobling Chatta over it. The inscription on the two. faces of the coin, in old Pali and in Aryan characters, reads, “ This is the “ coin of the great king, the king Krananda, the “brother of Amogha.” On the strength of the name, and other indications, Mr. Thomas ascribes this coin to one of the nine Nandas who reigned before 325 B.c. My own impression is that it is more modern, probably subsequent to Asoka, but certainly anterior to the sculptures of the Sanchi Gateways. Corn oF. Krananpa. THE TOPE AT AMRAVATI. CHAPTER I. Un.