Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c18.65

c18.65

Fig. 59 Toraṇa gateway of Bharhut Stūpa. Showing a section of the railing, two upright posts with capitals, supporting a complex superstructure of three horizontal architraves and small uprights (*trivalī jāla*). The whole structure being known as *śiṃśumāraśiraḥ* from the crocodile motif on the spiral ends. On the top-most architrave is the Dharmachakra symbol on a honey-suckle, flanked by two *nandipadas*. On the lower architraves are rows of lions and elephants worshipping the Bodhi-tree. See p. 130.