Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c15.24

c15.24

From inscriptions, as well as from the character of some of the sculptural fragments, it is inferred that the Amaravati stupa in its earliest form may have been built about 200 B.C. Later, a very complete reconstruction of the monument took place, and much of its final effect may be assigned to the half century between A D. 150 and 200. Certain of the sculptures indicate that it was begun during the Hinayana period of Buddhism, gradually changing during the progress of the work into the Mahayana form of the belief, as the introduction of numerous representations of the Buddha himself plainly prove. In size it was the largest of all stupas, as the base of the dome on the ground was 162 feet across, while outside and concentric with it was a railing enclosing the *pradakshina patha*, the entire monument thus measuring 192 feet in diameter. Various calculations have been made as to the height, but to be in reasonable proportion with its width, this would be from 90 to 100 feet. Around the dome, some 20 feet from the ground, there was an upper processional path, with the offsets previously mentioned projecting from it opposite each of the entrances, and each displaying the five prominent *aryaka* pillars. There was a balustrade about eight feet high around the terraced path, a feature which probably led early writers to assume incorrectly that there were two railings, an inner and an outer one. This balustrade to the terrace appears to have consisted of uprights which, instead of being joined by bars had a rectangular slab morticed between, on the same principle as a railing excavated on the site of the Vishnu shrine at Besnagar (c. 140 B C.). It was probably on the inner side of these panels that the reproductions of the stupa already mentioned were sculptured in bas-relief, as although at least a score of copies have been preserved, on none of them is this emblem to be seen. It is safe therefore to presume that, as they were not visible in a general view, they must have formed the inner ornamentation of the terrace balustrade.¹