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Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.s2.t3: The Great Stūpa (Mahāchetiya, Mahāthūpa)

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.s2.t3

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The Great Stūpa (Mahāchetiya, Mahāthūpa)

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The Great Stūpa at Nagarjunikonda was unencased by marble slabs, but only a plain brick-structure (size of bricks, 20″ × 10″ × 3″) with a wheel-like interior having a hub and radiating walls. This was covered with plaster from top to bottom and all its decoration executed in stucco relief excepting the āyaka-platforms and pillars which were of marble. Its diameter was 106′, probable height of the dome 70 to 80 feet, a pradakshiṇāpatha on the ground floor 13′ wide, enclosed by a wooden railing erected on brick foundations. The āryaka platform projecting as an offset from the rising height of the dome measured 22′ in length and 5′ in width. There was an intermediate circumambulatory path about 7′ wide, also enclosed by a railing. On the top of the dome was the usual harmikā with a stout post in the centre which was crowned by a series of three parasols, the lowermost of which was known as Human (Mānusha-chhatra), the middle one as Divine (Divya-) and the uppermost as the symbol of Deliberation (Vimukti-, Mahāvaṃśa, 31.91). [Fig. 218].

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These being the three parasols over the head of the Buddha, the lord of the three worlds (Trichhatradhārī Lokanātha Śāstā), it was considered essential to honour his relics with this emblem (dhātuchhatena pūjesi). The Stūpa-slabs show that the central chhatrāvali was flanked on the two sides by a series of seven parasols probably corresponding to the seven lokas and by figures holding garlands (mālādhārī), and other figures holding hands in adoration (anjalipaggahā) or flying devas holding full-vases (pūrṇaghaṭadhārī), or sometimes dwarfish Yaksha figures. The āyaka slabs showing these various details of the architecture of the big Stūpa from its bottom to the top are of the finest description and works of great merit.

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The excavations exposed that there were forty inside chambers filled with earth. In one of them to the north-west, removed from the centre as was invariably the case with all the Stūpas at Nagarjunikonda, was found the relic-casket (dhātu-manjūshā), containing a gold reliquary placed inside a Stūpa-shaped silver one together with a few gold flowers, pearls, garnets and crystals (hema-pushpa and ratnapushpa). No portion of any carved slab was found in the debris round the Stūpa, testifying to its originally plain character.

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The inscriptions state that the Māhāchetiya was dedicated to the Buddha and hence the relics may be taken to be those of the Great Teacher. It is thus very probable that the original Stūpa was much older and it was a case of converting an alesākhya into a mahesākhya Stūpa as often mentioned in the Divyāvadāna, and this enlargement seems to have been the work of queen Chāmtisiri.

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Longhurst found nine Stūpas in the valley in a more or less ruined condition. Only four of them were embellished with highly decorative slabs of the śilākañchuka type which was then being evolved as the divine corpus of the Lokottara Buddha. It was this belief exemplified in the renovated Mahāchetiyas at Amaravati, Nagarjunikonda and Sarnath (Dhamekha).

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Stūpas 2 and 3 although small ones, were profusely decorated with carved stone slabs and several āyaka-cornice stones of great beauty that were recovered from the site. In fact, the best sculptures of the art at Vijayapurī belong to these two Stūpas. Near Stūpa 2 were found an apsidal chaitya-hall and several Vihāras.

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Stūpa 4 was a plain structure with āyaka-platforms and pillars and its chambers contained the relics of some saints or teachers who were resident in the local Vihāras. Similar was the case with Stūpa 5.

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Stūpa 6 was originally of the decorative class, about 40' in diameter, situated away from the monastic sites. It was provided with āyaka-platforms and pillars and the front face below the central pillar was carved with a bas-relief showing the Buddha preaching or Turning the Wheel-of-Law. The contents of the reliquary included two thin medallions of gold bearing stamped figures of a male and a female in genuine classical type as shown by their coiffure, eyes and necks. Probably the small bone-relic in the gold casket belonged to a foreign distinguished monk teacher at this site. [Figs. 219-20].

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Near Stūpa 7 was found a Vihāra having a large square maṇḍapa of 60', with pillars and cells. The relic-casket found in Stūpa 8 is worth mentioning being the finest and most carefully made unlike the relic-caskets found in other Stūpas which were placed in ordinary small red earthenware pots, those recovered from Stūpa 8 were placed inside a stone casket shaped like a miniature Stūpa, one foot four inches high with tee (i. e. harmikā) and umbrella complete. The tiny umbrella canopy was of stone fixed to the tee with a small iron rod. The casket is made of four separate pieces of stone and the dome is ornamented in relief with the usual garland device. Inside the stone casket was a pottery-made casket of similar shape, 6 inches high, recovered with a pale green glaze. This again contained a copper casket 4 inches high and of similar shape to the last. Within the latter was a small silver casket, 2 inches in height, containing a beautiful little gold reliquary in the from of a Stūpa, 1½ inches high. The latter contained a bone relic, gold lotus and jasmine flowers and a few decayed pearl and coral beads. (Longhurst). [Fig. 221].

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Stūpa 9 (42' in diameter) was of the cased type with a good number of beautifully sculptured slabs most of which were recovered.

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In the later excavations of 1954 some more Stūpas, Vihāras and temples were exposed, built on the same wheel-like architectural pattern (chetiyāvaṭṭa). A shrine of the goddess Hārītī built on the hill and approached by a flight of steps was brought to light. The seated image is in style of 4-5th century A.D. Two more temples of Śiva (Pushpabhadraswāmin) and Kārttikeya are also worth mentioning.

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