Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c4.18

c4.18

Chapter VIII, Śuṅga-Kāṇva Art, includes the explanation of the symbolism of Stūpa monuments from the earliest times to the days of Buddhism. The correspondence between Stūpa and Yūpa has been set forth as known from the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa on the one hand and Buddhist texts on the other. The building of a monumental Stūpa (Mahāchetiya) was regarded as an event of universal acclamation, in which the whole community poured forth the highest ecstasy of its soul. Both the rich and the poor adored the Mahā-thūpa as the visible symbol of the heavenly light that incarnated on earth in the form of the Mahā-Purusha. A vivid description is available in the Mahāvamsa recording a number of architectural terms which help us to understand the building of a *Mahā-Stūpa* in all its details from the foundation to the top. It was no ordinary pile of stone and bricks but Divine Glory made manifest on earth in which many popular cults of the *Yakshas*, *Nāgas*, *Suparṇas*, *Kinnaras* and *Devatās* were mingled. The Great Buddha himself had expressed his last will in favour of raising a Stūpa for the *Tathāgata* and worshipping it as they did for the ancientmost *Chakravartin* sovereigns. A detailed account of the architecture and sculpture of the great Stūpas of Bharhut and Sāñchī is given with special reference to the Uttarakuru motif with its Wish-fulfilling Trees (*Kalpa-vriksha*) as recorded in the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata and Jātaka literature and as depicted on the railings and gateways.