Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c11.6

c11.6

Taking the sequence of events at Sanchi as typical of the movement as a whole, one of the first measures of reconstruction at this sanctuary began as early as 150 B.C., when the existing stupa was enlarged to nearly twice its previous size. In carrying out this important alteration Asoka's brick tumulus was not removed but left intact in the interior of the new construction, for as with religious buildings of more than one creed it was regarded as an act of impiety to demolish an edifice once consecrated. It thus became a deed of merit to encase a stupa within a large "envelope" (*achchhaday*), and a number of these monuments, as for instance that of Jagat Singh at Sarnath,¹ and another at Manikyala in the Punjab, show as many as three and four stupas each enclosed one within the other. In the enlargement of the stupa at Sanchi the new structure was made to cover an area of 120 feet in diameter, and to rise to a total height of 54 feet, the size it is at the present day. (Plate XII, Fig. 1.) Around it was also added a terrace (*medhi*), 16 feet from the ground, thus providing a separate and upper ambulatory passage, access to which was obtained by a double stairway (*sopana*) on the southern side The whole of the building was then finished off by means of a facing of dry masonry composed of hammer-dressed stones laid in fairly even courses, a technical process of some importance because it appears to be the first instance of true stone masonry being used for constructional purposes in an Indian building. At about the same time the flattened crest of the dome was surmounted by a superstructure of a particular design consisting of a square railing enclosing a pedestal (*harmika*) which supported the shaft *yashti*) if a triple umbrella, every member being made of stone. This form of finial is only seen in the very earliest type of stupas, as almost immediately afterwards another and more universal kind was devised in which the *harmika* was expanded above into a shape resembling an inverted stepped pyramid.