Studies in Indian Art c12.s13.2

c12.s13.2

There is, however, a word in the early Buddhist art terminology which throws welcome light on the meaning and purpose of an Āyāgapaṭṭa. In the excavations at Jaggayyapeta on the site of the old Stūpa, Dr. Burgess discovered in 1882 three inscribed pillars, bearing each a dedicatory inscription in Prākrit recording the gift of five Āyaka-Khambas at the eastern gate of the Great Chaitya at that place. The great Stūpa at Amarāvati also was adorned with such pillars, since the highly ornamental chaitya slabs from that site exhibiting in miniature the Stūpa in all its details show a row of five columns surmounting a balcony in the procession-path opposite each cardinal entrance. The explorations at Nāgārjunikoṇḍa have also brought to light seventeen inscribed specimens of Āyaka-pillars. According to Dr. Lüders who edited these inscriptions such pillars do not appear to have had any structural function as supporting members, but, besides carring well-known Buddhist emblems, they were utilised for dedicatory inscriptions (*Ep. Ind.* Vol. XX, p. 2). The Āyāgapaṭṭas likewise were devoid of an archetectural purpose but were carved with sacred symbols and figures of Tirthāṅkaras for being worshipped. The words *Āyāga* at Mathura and *Āyaka* at Jaggayyapeta seem both to have been derived from *Āryaka* which in Sanskrit means 'honourable' or 'worthy of reverence'. Since the sacred symbol or the figure of the saint carved on the slab was an object of veneration, the slab on which it was carved rightly came to be regarded as a tablet of homage bearing the technical name of Āyāgapaṭṭa¹.