A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c8.16

c8.16

*Stūpas*, not to speak of miniature votive models, varied greatly in size. The very ancient specimen at Piprāwā on the Nepalese frontier, which may possibly be earlier than Asoka, has a diameter of 116 feet at ground level, and stands only about 22 feet high. The diameter of the great Sānchī monument at the plinth is 121½ feet, the height about 77½ feet, and the stone railing is a massive structure 11 feet high. Several monuments in Northern India, some of which were ascribed to Asoka, are recorded to have attained a height of from 200 to 400 feet; and to this day the summit of the Jetawanārāma *dāgaba* in Ceylon towers 251 feet above the level of the ground.¹ The larger monuments afforded infinite scope to the decorative artist.