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Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.s2.t5: Stadium (Ākrīḍa or Mallaśālā)

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c15.s2.t5

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Stadium (Ākrīḍa or Mallaśālā)

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A unique monument exposed at Nagarjunikonda to the north of the citadel is the Ākrīḍa or the place of wrestling tournaments, Mallaśālā, also called Akshavāṭaka. Although described many a time in literary texts actual examples are not preserved excepting this unique building at Vijayapurī sited along the bank of the Kṛṣṇā. It appears that this arena or ground for wrestling contests was conceived on a grand scale and the royalty seated under the central pavilion on the western side also witnessed the bouts. According to the excavator:

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Oriented along the cardinal points, the stadium, consisted of a central arena, 309' long, 259' wide and 15' deep, enclosed on all four sides by flights of steps with 2' wide treads and having a pavilion on the west, the all constructed of burnt bricks. In continuation of the topmost steps, there was a platform all round, the width of which as noted on the southern side, was 11'. On this side six staircases, placed at regular intervals, each measuring 6' in width, connected the arena with the platform. They were strengthened by wooden or stone nosings, for the fitting of which slits were provided on side in the structure. Both treads and risers of the staircases were smaller than those of the steps that ran around the stadium, indicating that while the former served as passages the latter were evidently meant for sitting. The pavilion, at the middle of the western side, showed three distinct phases. Square or oblong holes in the floors of the first and second phases suggested the use of pillars for holding the roof, of which tiles and finials were found all over the area. The dimensions of the pavilions of the three phases, beginning from the earliest, were respectively 48' x 39', 69' x 33' and 50' x 44'. Associated with the latest pavilion was an enclosure-wall, with an entrance on the west. The debris of the structures of the third phase was covered with a 9' thick layer of dark silt, which was disturbed and finally sealed by a 10' to 12' thick deposit of sand. A 2' wide drain passing through the northern wall of the stadium, cleared out the rain-water from the arena.¹

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¹ Indian Archaeology, A Review, 1957-58, pp. 7-8.

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The Nagarjunikonda Stūpas like that at Amaravati are remarkable for the wealth of their sculptures. The carved slabs are rich in beauty and contents. They were fixed in the drum, dome and the āyaka-platforms. The favourite scenes depicted on these slabs were generally representations of Stūpas (Stūpapaṭṭa), while those ornamenting the āyaka-platforms portrayed the Buddha or his life-scenes. Above the drum the slabs decorating the base of the dome were also about 2' in width and from 3 to 4 ft. in height and cut on the curve, that is with a slightly convex front and a concave back to fit the curved surface of the dome. The front of the slab was divided into two or three separate horizontal panels with an ornamental border at the top which formed the frieze around the dome and also denoted the cessation of the stone work, as above this line, all ornamentation was in plaster owing to the difficulty of fixing stone slabs to the curved surface of the dome. Sometimes, the frieze was built separately with smaller horizontal slabs specially cut for the purpose and the favourite design for such slabs was the festoon device in the form of figures carrying huge garland (mālādhārī devāḥ).

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The following scenes are depicted on the slabs found by Longhurst: 1. Bodhisattva in the Tushita Heaven being exhorted by the Devas to take birth on the earth. The Bodhisattva is seated in the centre on a throne with right leg flexed and left hanging down (ardhamahārājalīlāsana), with right hand in the attitude of accepting the request and a number of eight divine figures standing and seated around him. The composition is well conceived with a symmetry that is usual on the Veṅgi slabs and the neat beauty of the carvings is as attractive as possible; all the figures being embellished by conspicuous crowns and ornaments. The slab is framed on the top by a three-fold frieze consisting of a meandering lotus garland, a line of lions (Vyāghrapaṅkti) and a row of triratna symbols (triratna-paṅkti) (Longhurst, pl. XIX c).

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2. Descent of Bodhisattva in the form of a white elephant (Garbhāvakrānti). The Bodhisattva is being worshipped by Devas and his Vimāna is being transported on the shoulders of Devas (Longhurst, pl. XIX d). [Fig. 223]

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3. Interpretation of Dream (svapna kathana). King Śuddhodana hearing the dream of Māyā Devī summoned an astrologer to interpret the dream, who declared that the queen would give birth to a son who would either be an universal monarch (a Chakravartī) or a Yogī Buddha. On the left are shown King Śuddhodana and queen Māyā seated on their respective thrones with female attendants. On the right are four seated figures, apparently four Devas to protect Māyā in her pregnancy. Below is the soothsayer in the form of an old Brāhmanical Ṛishi. The central figure holding a spouted waterpot is Indra.

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4. Birth and Seven Steps--Queen Māyā Devī is standing in *tribhaṅga* pose under a blossoming Śāla tree of much bigger size than usual with a female chowri-bearer on left and a spouted water jar. The presence of the jar is indicative of the First Bath. A female figure is repeated on the right side with a *chhatra* and two chawries over her head under a spreading Śāla tree. Figures of four Lokapāla gods hold, indicative of the royal presence of the Bodhisattva, the long scarf bearing the marks of the first seven steps of the Bodhisattva. The seven steps (*sapta-pada*) was an ancient Vedic symbol having reference to the seven component parts of creation and admitted into the Buddhist cosmology as illustrated here so prominently. The Nativity (*jāti*) and the Seven Steps are graphically treated in bas-relief in plate 20 (b) of Longhurst.

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5. ARRIVAL OF ASITA :—Buddha's birth was an event of great rejoicings in the heavenly world of the 33 gods (*trayastriṃśa svarga*) and also the royal palace of Kapilavastu. Asita, an old Brahmanical Ṛishi hearing of the news came to the royal palace, cast the horoscope at the request of the king and foretold the future greatness of the child. . The sculptured slab (Longhurst pl. XXI (a) ) shows the scene of the presentation of child Buddha at the Śākyavardhana Chaitya. Queen Māyā Devī is presenting the child to the deity who stands up in a human form and offers his adoration with folded hands to the Bodhisattva whose foot-prints are stamped on a cloth flanked by two Chawri-bearers. On right side under a pavilion is seated king Śuddhodana on a royal throne having a high backed *toraṇa*, a couple of Chawri-bearers stand at the back, Queen Māyā is standing with folded hands, in front is seated an old sage with a spiral pile of matted locks on his head and the child Buddha in his arms shown by two small foot-prints on a scarf.

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6. THE GREAT RENUNCIATION (*Abhinishkramaṇa*) :—Part of the panel is lost but what remains shows on the left Gautama giving his ornaments to Chhanda and bidding him return with horse to Kapilavastu. Standing behind the Bodhisattva is the hunter with whom he exchanges garments. Three gods in *añjali-mudrā* await the cutting of the hair to take it to heaven. In the righthand corner of the panel Chhanda and the horse are depicted returning home (Longhurst, pl. XXI (b) ).

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7. TRANSPORTATION OF GAUTAMA'S HEADDRESS TO HEAVEN AND THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHŪḌĀMAHA FESTIVAL :—This is a favourite subject of the Andhra sculptors which they have depicted with great zest and joyous feeling. In the centre a dancing *Deva* figure with two other *Devas* is transporting the basket with the bejewelled head-dress and the large number of dancing and merrymaking *Devas* frame the panel on the four sides (Longhurst pl. XXII (a) ).

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8. ASSAULT OF MĀRA AND ENLIGHTENMENT (*Māra-dharshaṇa, Saṃbodhi*):—In this panel Māra is depicted on the left in a mood of discomfiture with two of his daughters baffled in their attempt to tempt the Buddha. In the right side is a host of Māra’s demons armed with weapons and shown with ugly faces. The majestic figure of the haloed Buddha is shown in the centre seated in *Padmāsana* under the Bodhi tree (Longhurst, pl. XXII (b) ).

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Another panel depicts the Buddha protected against rain by the canopy of hoods of the Nāga Muchalinda who dwelt in a neighbouring pond of the Uruvilva village at Bodha Gayā.

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9. DECISION OF THE BUDDHA TO BECOME A TEACHER OF THE MANKIND:—When the Buddha had attained enlightenment he first fasted for 49 days seated at the foot of the Bodhi tree. This scence is seldom depicted outside Gandhāra where the skeletal frame of ascetic has been shown in several good sculptures. After accepting Sujātā’s milky food Buddha remained in doubt if he should impart knowledge to others. The Devas then entreated of him and he accepted their request to teach mankind what he had himself learnt. In this panel Buddha seated in a lotus-pose under the Bodhi tree is surrounded by a group of divine figures making their humble prayer to him to became the universal teacher (Longhurst, pl. XXIII (a) ).

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10. FIRST SERMON :—Prevailed upon by the prayers of gods, Buddha decided to preach his law and thought of his five companions who were then living in the Deer Park at Sarnath a suberb of Varanasi. He came there and delivered the First Sermon known as the turning of the law (*Dharmachakra pravartana*) (Longhurst, pl. No. 24 (a)). In the panel the haloed figure of Buddha is seated on a raised platform marked by two antelopes in front and flanked by two Chawri-bearers, two mendicant figures and two princely figures. The identification is not quite certain and it may combine the First Sermon with the conversion of Yaśa.

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11. Amongst other scenes the slabs show the Buddha holding two relic-caskets with spouted vases before a group of Nāgas,—such reliquaries really being found inside the Stūpas (Longhurst, pl. XXIV (b)); Converston of king Kappina (Longhurst, pl. XXV (a)), a Chakravartin surrounded by Seven Jewels (Longhurst, pl. XXX (b)), Conversion of Yaksha Ālavaka (Longhurst, pl. XXXI (b)), Siddhartha stringing the mighty bow, subjugation of the elephant Nālagiri (Longhurst, p. XXXII (b)); Dīpaṅkara paying homage to the Buddha (Longhurst, XXXIV (a)), admission of the six Śākya princes and the barber Upāli to the order (Long. XXXIV (b)); Buddha and Nanda on a visit to heaven (XXXV (a)), the gift of earth, in the left side panel of which occurs the most beautiful standing femal figure on a *siṃha-makara* base ever rendered in Andhra art; the novice Suvana and the Nāga king Paṇṇaka (pl. XXXVII (a)), Lady Amarā and the four wise men, Chāmpeyya Jātaka (XXXVIII (b)), Māndhātā Jātaka (IXL (a b)), Nāga king Apalāla subdued by the Buddha (XL (a b)), Śibi Jātaka XLII (a), Buddha visited by Indra and Pañchaśikha Gandharva XLIV (a-b); Daśaratha Jātaka (XLV (a)) Mahāpaduma Jātaka (XLV (b)), Ghaṭa Jātaka (XLVI (a)), Dighitikosala Jātaka (XLVII (a)). The sculptures from the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa Stūpas illustrate a quality of plastic art in which the perfect chiselling done by the great masters has left behind permanent records of beauty seldom attained elsewhere. The smaller panels specially dividing the slabs from each other or their wider panels and consisting of pairs of male and famale figures in different poses (*Naṭaka strī*) are examples of perfect beauty dwelling out from the hearts of great masters with long experience behind them. A detailed study of the scenes on both kinds of slabs demonstrates that the decorative motifs of preceding Śuṅga and Kuṣāṇa art on the one hand and coming Gupta art on the other are represented in the transitional style of the Kṛṣṇā Valley. Many of the Buddhist scenes depicting the Jātaka and the life details of Buddha were now reorganised by the Andhra artisans with such elaboration as holds good in Gupta art, e. g. the Chāmpeyya Jātaka and the Assault of Māra. The pictorial quality obtained by these sculptors creates the foremost impression in which the detailed execution, the clear composition and the ornate nature of the human figures with definite iconographic details and the integrated accomplishment of the decorative scheme of the drum and the dome and the Āyaka platforms, were conceived in great detail but with superb mastery and skill. The sweet delicacy of carving (*mādhurya*), life-like expressing, rippling movement in the limbs of the figure, the dancing poses on the two sides of the vertical line (*lasatīva cha bhūlambaḥ*), the rendering of all kinds of difficult poses, the metal-like details of carving,¹ the fondness for numerous figures to crowd the composition in a peripheral frame round the conspicuous central figure of the scene, such charming qualities make Andhra art its high rank in the story of Indian aesthetic endeavours.

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¹ *Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa*, III, ch. 43.21.

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