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Ge In the left upper compartment we have ‘Suddhodana and : right May4’s dream. The upper part of the slab be ei , his, umbrella“ ant i her elephant haye both disappeared. Below we hay; on the right the scene i the — Lumbini Garden, which immediately preceded the 1 ) rth of Buddha, It $s-not quite — clear what the fourth compartment is intended to represent, as it is not to be found : in any edition of the legend I am acquainted with, _ Tt looks as if it were intended that the old woman who appears in the first compaftment should announce to the King in his bath the birth of the miraculous son, The cloth she carries - in her hands bears the same impression of ‘the sacred feet as that which is wound or to be wound round Maya, in the next compartment, ey ie Tense “PLATE xorr, _ The upper figure in this Plate orice formed part of the frieze of some Rail, It may have been one of the returns of the great Rail, but it is difficult to see, if _ that is so, where it would fit. It is the now familiar subject, the adoration of the — wheel, by men, behind the throne on which the cushion or relies are placed — (compare Plate LXXI. Fig. 2.). The inscription upon it merely records that it is the pious gift of Akasavidi and Samiriti householders.* ‘ Se The three fragments in the centre certainly belong to the outer frieze of the great Rail, Fig. 4. shows its commencement. Fig. 5. is a portion of another Rail belonging to some unknown building. It is very carefully executed, and though the “ motivo ” is the same as the first frieze, still the introduction of the dwarfs and the arrangement of the whole is novel and of great beauty, PLATE XCIll. gy S.No <a> tt Pek Filia t east ST + LDING TRAL BUL CEN oF RESTORATION OF &X PORTION SET. DESCRIPTION ‘OF PLATES. 213 PLATE XCIII. Looxen at from an architectural point of view, the most difficult question con- nected with the Amravati Tope was to ascertain whether any building occupied the centre of the enclosure, and if any, whether it was a Dagoba or a Chaitya hall, or a Vihara or monastery. Owing to the excavation of the tank in the centre of the mound, as mentioned above, absolutely no trace of its foundation remained, and it ‘might as probably have belonged to one as to any other of these classes. A priori, both from what Hiouen Thsang says* and the general probabilities of the case, I should have felt inclined to restore it with a Sangharama or Buddhist choir, like ~ that at Stonehenge. But on looking carefully through the Mackenzie drawings, I soon perceived there existed among them representations of a class ef sculpture which certainly did’ not belong to either of the enclosures; and from some pencil memoranda on the drawings, some of these were identified with the loose stones lying in the centre of the enclosure (Plate XLVII.). In the Elliot Collection, also, there are some twenty fragments, some of which are those drawn by Colonel Mackenzie’s assistants, others so exactly in the same style, that it was easy to group them apart. Having got so far, it was not difficult to see that these fragments formed part of a_ Dagoba similar: in design to those of the inner Rail, and which consequently must have formed the central object of the group of buildings. If anyone will look carefully at any of the Dagobas represented in Plates LXV., LXVI. to LXXIX., he will perceive that the solid part to the height. of the Rail is divided into slips by long pilasters, between which are various sculptures, generally hid by the Rail, but terminating upward by a Dagoba, with the three umbrellas.on each side, or a Wheel or some such emblem, as in Figs. 1., 3., and 5. of Plate XCIV.- eh The historical subjects belonging to this group of sculptures were all found to be two-storied—if such an expression may be used. The lower group stand in a simple three-barred Rail of the Sanchi type; above them is a-flat band, variously ornamented. Besides these, there are a considerable number of fragments, which all- ' terminate upwards by a cornice or battlement of ‘Trisuls, evidently forming the crowning ornament of a wall. All the principal fragments of this class have been arranged in this manner in Plate XCIITI., and, if compared with any of the Dagobas of the inner Rail, it will be seen, I think without, doubt, that the one is a copy of the other. There is first. the perpendicular part, terminating in the Wheel or Dagoba. ‘Then the two stories of sculptured panels, and then the rich cornice, which invariably terminates the whole before the springing of the dome. . Arranged in this manner, these fragments make up a wall 22 feet high, and taking the widest of those of the Rail as our model, this would make the central — * Voyages, 188. , ; P - .. fe. 8 - 214. + qe rope AT ampavaTT ¢ 0 0 4 Dagoba 30 to 35 feet * in diameter, and its height, incl i aetna and “Tee, about 50 feet. 3 : . en” ac To those who are not familiar with the architecture of the country where this Tope is situated, it may appear strange that so magnificent an enclosure should have .been erected to enshrine so insignificant a casket. Such an arrangement is, however, there rather the, rule than the exception. Take, for instance, the great S temple at Seringham. The outer enclosure measures more than 2,500 feeb each — way. Each of its Gateways is 180° feet in width, 100 fect in depth, and would, © if completed, have risen to 300 feet in height. The inner six enclosures, though | less than the outer, are all of great magnificence ; but the central building is smaller and Jess in magnificence than nine-tenths of the village temples “in the — neighbourhood. The cause of this inversion of the usual rule is easily explained. ~ A village temple becomes famous from some miraclé performed by its god, or rich from the endowment of some dying sinner. To pull it down would be desecra- but to add enclosure after enclosure and gateway to gateway was easy, and eat temples of Southern India, and did, I fancy, tion, 0 has happened in nearly all the gr happen at Amravati. ; read In Egypt, too, something of the same sort occurred at Karnac. The little sanc- — tuary of Orsortasen became theré the nucleus of all the subsequent magnificence, and, though overshadowed by the palace of Thothmes and the great hall of | Menephthah, it still remained the most venerated, though the smallest of all the 2 |. areal se erections in that vast enclosure. * The yellow circle in the plan, Plate XLVH., which is meant to mark-its site, is 50 feet in diameter. It — was made so to include a terrace oF procession path, with or without a Rail, which I conceive Must have — eee Tye surrounded it. Y YY KM Rag Y & PLATE. XCIV. a) wWmny ot a Heb ok OF AWA YITIY) a YOYYYY vuy a a OAK OIND Os Sf ~ AAA A SS AAAA PU KAVA KMADRAL APS AADAS AAT Xe ScALE 1 INCH TO 1 Foor. SA fe 4Y YY MNT YY FIG 2. Betas. tek room J i $ YWYYYY YUYXKY B GAA ..AT aq, RAL wry MAAN A SCULPTURE OF C ys Ki 50 OM yyy wang d WY POE SCALE 1 INCH TO 1 Foor. PLATE XCVI, FM RAN KT Le ILOING. YIM XY Y CEN UHH BY. ScaALE 1 INGH FO 1 Foor, Li YY ~ Gxeanrs OF SC ¥ uN RB YwY ¥-¥ wr emmy ax°AIA AGAR RAR AA WO Ppomyryeyyyrya ¥ _ YAYMYY 77¥ yy YVIMY XY Aa USTIONS Ox & SGOVA it Cun TB SCALE 1 INCH TO 1 Foot. WYYY MIA PLATE XGVII. o~_——, LOING. DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. ~ 5 215 ey % s] ‘ - é: ° a ie : : o { ” —_ * “. 4 fle “Vv , - m Mm Sel eS : “4 ae £ " od Nd wa * = “ . oa . 4 es,” mre "PLATES XCLV.. 7 XCVIL. TuEne is very little in the sculptures: of the central Tope that calls. for any particular remark after what has been. said in the preceding pages. The emblem® employed, in its decoration are those with which we are already familiar. ‘The Throne, i with the relies upon it, the Tree, the Wheel, and the Dagoba. In two instances, at least, (Plate XCTV. Fig? 3.¥ and Plate XOV I. Rig. 1.) the five-headed Serpent is in front of the Dagoba, and in both these’ ‘instances the worshippers are unmis- takeably Hindus, and ‘the same who are worshipping the Wheel and the Tree in the - same sculptures. The Naga people Sad oceur in at least one instance in the lower part of the “bas-relief, Fig. 1. Plate XCVI. The slab was complete when Colonel Mackenzie drew it, hut even without. that, enough remains of the lower bas-relief to ‘show that it represented. one male and three female~ Nagas; but who were essentially Buddhists, if we may judge from the seven figures of Buddha,f seated cross-legged, which “appears immediately o oyer their heads, and the five impressions of the ‘sacred foot that are placed - between the snakes’ heads. The Horse, too, forms. an important, sidttent: in the decoration of the central monument. In Plate XOV. Fig. 1. and Plate XOVI. Fig. 1., he, may be merely the favourite charger of the man who is leaning against him, but in Plate KCV. Fig. 4.” he is ‘introduced. in mid air alongside the Wheel-as an object of equal reverence; and on a.piece of sculpture where the Wheel just abgve him is the especial object of ~ worship; and in Plate XCVI. Fig. 8. he issues from the portal with the umbrella of state borne oyer him, the hero off the representation. The same subject is repeated on another slab, Plate XOVITI. Fig. 2., from a drawing in the Mackenzie collection, but which is easily recognized as belonging to the upper or sculptured part of the central building. The first impulse, on looking at these. and on the last-quoted illustrations, is to consider them as representing the commencement of an ASwamedha, ‘or horse sacrifice; but one of the essentials for that is wanting in both. The story of the Aswamedha is easily understood.