Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.25

c12.s3.25

HARMIKĀ RAILING: After the completion of the brick Stūpa in Aśoka's time the first adjunct to be added to it was the harmikā, i. e. the platform and railing on the summit with the crowning umbrella and post fixed in the centre. This contingent of the harmikā with its proper architectural form was found in the case of all the three principal Stūpas. The shaft of the chhatra was supported by a pedestal which took the form of a heavy stone box (Dhātugarbha-mañjūshā or relic coffer) with a lid measuring 5'7" in diameter and 1'8" in height in which the relics were once preserved. Over seventy pieces of the harmikā railings were found by Marshall with which he restored the original from of the railing. The stone of which it was made was the fine, grey-white sandstone of Nagouri which was chistle-dressed and fitted with more than usual accuracy. The harmikā railings on the summit of the Stūpa was square measuring 21'6" on each side with a diagonal of 30'1". It consisted of upright posts, cross-bars and copings as usual with other railings and each upright post spaced at even intervals was 9'11" in height including 2'6" of hammer-dressed base embedded in the masonry of Stūpa top. The diameter of the flat top of the Stūpa is only about 38'.