Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.s2.t3.1

c15.s2.t3.1

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].