Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.t3: Northern Gateway

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.t3

Language: English

Northern Gateway

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This is the best preserved of all the four gateways which preserved the largest portion of its ornamental figures. Above the topmost beam were seven figures, a Dharmachakra in the centre and on both sides of it an attendant Yaksha, a *triratna* and a winged lion. On the edges of the main pillars are sinuous creepers including the vine.

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Front face of the top architrave shows Seven Mānushī Buddhas represented by their Bodhi Trees and Stūpas alternately as on the other three gateways. Middle Architrave—repetition of the Seven Bodhi Trees of the seven Mānushī Buddhas.

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Between the top and middle architraves there are three uprights and four detached figures of horse riders carved on two faces. The horse riders on their breasts are wearing the Śrīvatsa symbol which as an auspicious amulet is included in both the necklaces specially shown on this gateway. On the central upright is shown a wheel-topped pillar inside a railing where two parasols are planted.

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Lowermost architrave : On this lintel one of Sanchi's masterpieces is carved, showing the Buddha in his last but one incarnation born as Prince Vessantara who realised the Perfection of Charity (Dāna Pāramitā). Here the story is told with a great wealth of detail and has the unique distinction of covering the entire architrave, both front and back. Here we see three panels, prince Vessantara giving away his royal elephant; his banishment and saying farewell to his parents outside the city; driving away in his chariot with his family and presently parting with his chariot and horses through some Brāhmaṇas. From the point of view of carving this is one of the most vivid representations at Sanchi marked by the greatest clarity of treatment of city architecture, personal ornaments and dress as well as of the quadriga and the horses. On the soffit or underside of this architrave is a row of beautifully carved lotuses showing in the centre a red lotus (padma) framed between blue lotuses (nīlotpala). On the two die portions of these three architraves there are two Gaja-Lakshmī representations in which the goddess and the elephant are all shown seated and standing on full blown lotuses. This had become an established style for a number of other statuettes of the goddess seen in Mathura art. Between the three architraves on the two sides of the Gaja-Lakshmī figures are to be seen standing Vṛikshakas under distended boughs of mango or Aśoka trees which set the norm for such figures in later art. But the most beautiful and delicate are the toraṇa caryatids festooning the corners on the outside which are also seen in their best preserved form in a similar position on the eastern gateway.

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Other scenes depicted on the backside of the top and middle architraves show Chhaddanta Jātaka, the elephant king paying homage to the Bodhi Tree; and the demon hosts of Māra army at the time of Buddha's temptation (middle); the bottom lintel continuing the Vessantara Jātaka showing life in the hermitage, gift of the children, gift of the wife and the final reunion.

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LEFT PILLAR (front view) depicts the great miracle (Mahā-prātihārya) of the Mango Tree performed by the Buddha at Śrāvastī when he walked in the air, and flames broke out from his feet and water from his head.

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The second panel depicts the Jetavana showing three *Gandhakuṭīs* of Buddha with the throne in front of it. In the foreground are punchmarked coins spread as in a relief at Bharhut. In the third panel another miracle of Śrāvastī is shown in which the Buddha is soaring in the air over his *Chaṅkrama*. Panel four shows king Prasenajit going out of the city-gate of Śrāvastī to meet the Buddha in the Jetavana. Panel five is an inset of the Uttarakuru country where *dampatī* figures drinking wine and playing music are shown with the figure of Māndhātā on elephant carved below them.

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Inner Face—Visit of Indra to the Buddha in the Indraśaila cave. In the upper part of the panel is an artificial cave resembling in its façade many Buddhist shrines hewn in the rocks of western and central India. In front of the door is the throne which marks the presence of the Buddha. The animals, including human-faced rams, peering out from among the rocks serve to indicate the wildnesss of the spot. Below is the company of Indra in attitudes of worship; Indra himself being probably represented twice, first as the principal figure in the foreground and then with his back to the spectator, against the rocks.

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Second panel shows a king with his cortege issuing from a city; probably king Ajātaśatru coming out of Rājagṛiha on a visit to the Āmravana of Jīvaka. Panel three shows the Veṇuvana at Rājagṛiha with the throne of the Buddha in the centre and devotees around.

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Outer Side : This depicts one of the most interesting motifs in the whole range of Sanchi art, showing a golden post (*suvarṇa yaṣṭhi*) with eight parts of pegs (*nāgadanta*) for hanging golden necklace (*hemamālā*). In the treasure-houses of royal palaces and rich men’s houses such golden pillars for the storage of costly necklaces were used as visible symbols of goddess Śrī-Lakshmī since their earliest reference occurs in the apocryphal Śrī-Sūkta of the Ṛigveda where the goddess Śrī is described as *yaṣṭiṃ suvarṇāṃ hemamālinīṃ Sūryaṃ hiraṇmayīṃ Lakshmīm* (hymn 14), i. e. golden Lakshmī resplendent as the Sun, takes the form of a golden pillar loaded with golden necklaces. It appears that in the second stage the idea was connected with the symbolism of the Uttarakuru country and such a post was taken to represent a cross-section of the wealth of the Uttarakuru land in which string of golden amulet especially formed part. In a previous illustration on the southern gateway we have seen that the female figures wear such amulet strings. Here two of these strings or necklaces are shown. The left one having eleven and the right one thirteen auspicious amulet beads as follows:

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Left : 1 sun, 2 wheel, 3 lotus pond (*padmasara*), 4 goad (*aṅkuśa*), 5 Indra’s triangle-headed banner (Vaijayantī), 6 lotus (*paṅkaja*), 7 a pair of fish (*mīna-mithuna*), 8 Śrīvatsa, 9 battle axe (*paraśu*), 10 mirror (*darpaṇa*), 11 lotus (*kamala*).

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RIGHT : 1 lotus, 2 goad, 3 Kalpavṛiksha, 4 mirror, 5 Śrīvatsa, 6 Vaijayantī, 7 Paṅkaja, 8 mīna-yugala, 9 battle axe, 10 flower garland (pushpadāma), 11-12-13 wheel, two other symbols.

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A possession of these divine necklaces was considered apotropaic and seems to have formed part of a cult of goddess Śrī-Lakshmī, later on linked to the Uttarakuru conception. In the third stage it became associated with the physical statue of the Buddha showing him in a visible form like other symbols and therefore labelled as Bhagavato Pamāṇa-Laṭṭhi ‘Height-measuring Staff of the Blessed One’. (Marshall, II, pl. XXVII). Even one of these amulets was considered sacred and efficacious enough to ward off evil. Individual specimens have been found in early Indian art, as amongst relics of the Stūpa. In the next stage the number of auspicious signs became fixed at eight as on the Āyāga paṭṭas in Mathura (J 249 of Lucknow Museum) and this gave rise to a new name ‘Aṣṭha-maṅgalaka-mālā’ which included the following list :

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The Mīna-Mithuna, Deva Vimāna-gṛiha, Śrīvatsa, Vardhamāna, Triratna, Pushpadāma, Indra-Yashṭi or Vaijayantī and Pūrṇaghaṭa. The names had become popular as we find by its mention twice in the Aṅgavijjā of about the second-third century. During the Gupta period its possession was ardently desired by travellers both on land and sea and rich men. The number eight had become stereotyped since Bāṇa compares the eighteen islands encircling Bhāratavarsha to an Aṣṭhamaṅgalaka Mālā (aṣṭādaśadvīpāṣṭhamaṅgalakamālinī medinī, Harshacharita, ch. 6, p. 185).

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RIGHT PILLAR—Front face shows the descent of the Buddha from the heaven of the thirty-three gods; in the centre is the ladder with figures of Indra and Brahmā. Second panel shows the riderless horse depicting the Buddha’s departure from the palace (Abhinishkramaṇa). Third panel—The conversion of the Śākyas and miracle at Kapilavastu.

Linked texts (5)

Jātaka — Pāli
Harṣacarita — Bāṇabhaṭṭa, Sanskrit
Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Nītikāvya
Aṃgavijjā — Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit