Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s2.t1.24

c12.s2.t1.24

In this connection the cult of the Four Great Animals found a gushing admittance in the religious concept of the Stūpa. The Niddeśa referes to them as *Hasti-vrata*, *Aśva-vrata*, *Go-vrata*, *Suparṇa-vrata* amongst others and the Bharhut Stūpa shows these animals freely sculptured in a religious atmosphere. In one scene the deer and lions join in a Chaitya festival and in another the herd of elephants offers homage to the Banyan tree. These are not ordinary denizens of the forest but typical of creatures on the pilgrim's path of spiritual progress who had claims to the rank of a Bodhisattva. As deities presiding over particular *Vratas* or special cults, their religious significance in the Stūpa was an established fact.