A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s2: Section II. Post-Asokan Sculpture
A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s2
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Section II. Post-Asokan Sculpture
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A detached pillar standing to the north-east of Besnagar has been invested with special interest by the recent discovery of a long-concealed inscription on the base,² which records the erection of the monument in honour of Vishnu by Heliodoros, son of Dion, envoy from the great King Antalkidas of Taxila to a local prince. Antalkidas is supposed to have reigned about 170 b.c. The inscription states that the column was crowned by an image of Garuda, the monstrous bird sacred to the god, but no such image is now visible. Cunningham found, lying close by, a square pinnacle, 2 feet 7 inches in height, formed in the shape of a fan-palm, which he supposed to belong to the column. If it does, the fan-palm capital must be of later, perhaps Gupta date, and substituted for the original Garuda capital. It is known that in the fourteenth century Sultan Fīrōz Tughlak replaced the sculptures crowning the Asoka columns which he moved by ornaments of his own design, and earlier Hindu kings may have done likewise. The fan-palm capital, whatever be its age, is unique. It is
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² Concerning the inscription, see Marshall, Fleet, and Barnett in *J. R. A. S.*, 1909, pp. 1053-6, 1087, and 1093; also D. R. Bhandarkar in *J. Bo. Br. R. A. S.*, 1909, art. xiv. Dr. Fleet clearly is right in maintaining that the record ends with a date.
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Fig. 32. Part of coping and pillar, Bodh-Gayā. (*Photo. 56, I. M. List.*)
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Fig. 33. Part of coping and pillar, Bodh-Gayā sacred tree, &c. (*Photo. 58, I. M. List.*)
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reproduced from Cunningham's drawing in Fig. 31, and the pillar, as it stands, is shown in Fig. 30, from a photograph. The shaft is 17 feet 11 inches in height.
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Most of the examples of early post-Asokan sculpture are found on the decorated stone railings which became fashionable in the time of the Sunga dynasty within the century after Asoka's death, or on the gateways which were inserted into the openings of the plain railing at Sānchī. Besnagar offers an excellent example of a sculptured railing certainly not later than 100 b. c., and perhaps as early as 200 b. c., which once surrounded a small *stūpa*. The coping-stone is adorned with a frieze representing a religious procession, with elephants, horses, &c., divided into compartments by the graceful sinuosities of a lotus stem. The pillars exhibited scenes of Buddhist legend in panels, and on the cross-rails elegant lotuses are carved.¹
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¹ Cunningham, *A. S. Rep.*, vol. x, p. 38, Pl. XIII.
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A better-known example is the often described railing at Bodh-Gayā, which used to be called 'the Asoka railing', but has been proved to date from Sunga times. Thirty pieces have been found, evidently belonging to two distinct structures, some pieces being of granite (? gneiss), and others of sandstone. All are similar in style, irrespective of material, and may be dated about a century after Asoka's death, more or less.
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Most of the subjects are treated in low relief. Those on the coping are purely fanciful; those on the panels and medallions include weird centaurs, winged beasts, domestic animals, sacred trees, and sundry scenes of human life, all no doubt significant and readily intelligible to ancient Buddhists versed in the legends of their scriptures and traditions, but now difficult of interpretation. Most of the more interesting sculptures have been published more than once; a few are here reproduced from photographs. They are simply pictures in stone, and should be criticized as drawings slightly in relief rather than from the point of view of a sculptor. They exhibit a lively fancy,
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FIG. 34. Winged lion. (Photo. 56, I. M. *List*.)
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FIG. 35. Winged ox. (Photo. 56, I. M. *List*.)
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considerable skill in drawing, and much neatness of execution; but whenever the subjects agree with those of the Gandhāra reliefs, the technique of the latter is superior.
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In Fig. 32 is shown a part of an animal frieze on the coping, very similar to what we shall meet later at Amarāvatī. The pillar panel gives an interesting picture of an early Buddhist chapel enshrining the symbol of the preaching of the Law. Images of Buddha do not occur at this period. The façade, with its curved roof, originally derived from a bamboo form, illustrates the architecture of the western cave-temples, and the origin of curved roofs.
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The next illustration (Fig. 33) is equally instructive concerning the practice of early Buddhist cult. The railing round the sacred tree is perfectly plain. The fact that the railing is drawn in sufficiently correct linear perspective deserves notice.
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The figures following (Figs. 34, 35) give specimens of the winged animals, borrowed from Western Asiatic, or perhaps Hellenistic art. Similar figures occur in the earliest of the western cave-temples, but are not to be found, I think, after the Christian era. They are used freely for decorative purposes, and if they had any definite symbolical meaning I do not know what it was.
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Another medallion (Fig. 36) gives the Indian form of centaur, a conception familiar in variant shapes to Asiatic art from very remote times. A frieze on the coping pictures queer fish-tailed monsters, which recall many forms in Hellenistic art, and like them came from Western Asia (Fig. 37).
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Another piece of coping exhibits more strange beasts, and one of the Sunga inscriptions which fix the approximate date of the monument. The medallion below gives a picture of a more specially Indian fantasy, the *kinnara*, or horse-headed female (Fig. 38). A similar sculpture has been found near Patna.
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The series of illustrations may be closed by two purely naturalistic pictures—an excellent buffalo (Fig. 39), and a husband and wife seated together (Fig. 40).
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[Figure: FIG. 36. Centaur. (Photo. 58, *I. M. List.*)]
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[Figure: FIG. 37. Coping: fish-tailed monsters. (Photo. 57, *I. M. List.*)]
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Every form, however outlandish, is Indianized by its close association with the lotus, the most characteristic and universal of all Indian art motives. Infinite variety in the treatment of the conventionalized flower is exhibited in the minute details both at Bodh-Gayā and elsewhere.¹
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¹ For numerous drawings of the sculptures on the Bodh-Gayā railing, see Cunningham, *A. S. Rep.*, vol. i, Plates VIII to XI; vol. iii, Plates XXVI–XXX: and *Mahābodhi*; also Rājendralāla Mitra, *Buddha Gaya*.
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In 1873 Cunningham discovered at Bharhut (more accurately 'Barhut', 24° 37′ N., 80° 53′ E.), about midway between Allahabad and Jabalpur, the remains of a Buddhist *stūpa*, surrounded by a stone railing adorned with sculptures of surprising richness and interest. The *stūpa* had then been almost wholly carried off by greedy villagers in search of bricks, who treated the sculptures with equal ruthlessness, and were prevented from destroying them all only by the great weight of the stones. During the following years to 1876, Cunningham and his assistant uncovered the ruins and saved a large number of the sculptured stones by sending them to Calcutta, where they now form one of the chief treasures of the Indian Museum.¹ Everything left on the site was taken away by the country people and converted to their base uses.
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¹ Anderson, *Catalogue*, Part I, pp. xiii–xx, 1–120.
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PLATE XV. Bharhut, inner view of eastern gateway. (Photo. 1070, I. O. *List* = Cunningham, Pl. XII.)
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The railing, constructed after the usual pattern, in a highly developed form, was extremely massive, the pillars being 7 feet 1 inch in height, and each of the coping stones about the same in length. The sculptures of the coping were devoted mainly to the representation of incidents in the *Jātakas*, or tales of the previous births of the
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[Figure: FIG. 38. Horse-headed female. (Photo. 57, I. M. *List*.)]
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Buddha. The carvings on the rails, pillars, and gateways, all treating of Buddhist legends, were exceedingly varied in subject and treatment. The general appearance of the structure will be understood from Plate XV. The composite pillar of the gateway, made up of four clustered columns crowned by a modified Persepolitan capital, is worthy of special notice. An inscription records that the eastern gateway with the adjoining masonry was erected during the rule of the Sunga dynasty (185–173 B.C.), but it is not possible to determine the date of the monument with greater precision. The execution of work so costly and elaborate must have extended over many years. Certain masons' marks in the Kharoshthī character of the north-western frontier prove that foreign artists were called in to teach and assist local talent. The railing exhibits a great mass of sculptures of a high order of excellence. The subjects and style are described by Cunningham as follows :—
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@H Subjects and style of the sculptures.
‘The subjects represented in the Bharhut sculptures are both numerous and varied, and many of them are of the highest interest and importance for the study of Indian history. Thus we have more than a score of illustrations of the legendary *Jātakas*, and some half-dozen illustrations of historical scenes connected with the life of Buddha, which are quite invaluable for the history of Buddhism. Their value is chiefly due to the inscribed labels that are attached to many of them, and which make their identification absolutely certain. Amongst the historical scenes the most interesting are the processions of the Rājās Ajātasatru and Prasēnajita on their visits to Buddha ; the former on his elephant, the latter in his chariot, exactly as they are described in the Buddhist chronicles.
Another invaluable sculpture is the representation of the famous Jetavana monastery at Srāvasti—with its mango tree and temples, and the rich banker
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FIG. 39. Buffalo. (Photo. 59, I. M. *List*.)
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FIG. 40. Man and woman. (Photo. 59, I. M. *List*.)
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Anāthapinda in the foreground emptying a cartful of gold pieces to pave the surface of the garden.
But besides these scenes, which are so intimately connected with the history of Buddhism, there are several bas-reliefs, which seem to represent portions of the history of Rāma during his exile. There are also a few scenes of broad humour in which monkeys are the chief actors.
Of large figures there are upwards of thirty alto-rilievo statues of Yakshas and Yakshinīs [Yakshīs], Devatās, and Nāga Rājas, one half of which are inscribed with their names. We thus see that the guardianship of the north gate was entrusted to Kuvera, King of the Yakshas, agreeably to the teaching of the Buddhist and Brahmanical cosmogonies. And similarly we find that the other gates were confided to the Devas and the Nāgas.
The representations of animals and trees are also very numerous, and some of them are particularly spirited and characteristic. Of other objects there are boats, horse-chariots, and bullock-carts, besides several kinds of musical instruments, and a great variety of flags, standards, and other symbols of royalty.
About one half of the full medallions of the rail-bars and the whole of the half-medallions of the pillars are filled with flowered ornaments of singular beauty and delicacy of execution.’¹
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¹ *The Stūpa of Bharhut* (1879), p. 18.
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The medallions on the rail-bars and the half-medallions on the pillars are filled with a wonderful variety of bas-relief subjects. The comic monkey scenes collected in Cunningham’s Plate XXXIII display a lively sense of humour, freedom of fancy, and clever drawing. They must, of course, like all the early bas-reliefs, be judged as pictures drawn on stone, rather than as sculpture. The rollicking humour and liberty of fancy unchecked by rigid canons, while alien to the transcendental philosophy and ascetic ideals of the Brahmans, are thoroughly in accordance with the spirit of Buddhism, which, as a practical religion, makes human and animal happiness its avowed object. Everything seems to indicate that India was a much happier land in
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[Figure: FIG. 41. Bharhut; comic scene. (Photo. 1034, I. O. *List* = Cunningham, Pl. XXXIII, 3.]
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[Figure: FIG. 42. Bharhut; elephant and monkeys. (Photo. 1034, I. O. *List*.)]
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the days when Buddhism flourished than it has ever been since. The first medallion selected for illustration is a very funny picture of a tooth being extracted from a man’s jaws by an elephant pulling a gigantic forceps; and the second (Fig. 42) is nearly equally humorous. The stories alluded to are presumably traceable somewhere in a *Jātaka*.
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Figure 43 gives a characteristic and well-preserved specimen of the bas-reliefs on the coping. The large fruit is that of the jack (*Artocarpus integrifolia*), and the deer are the spotted hog-deer kind (*Axis porcinus*). The artists who could design and execute such pictures in hard sandstone had no small skill. In general appearance they are not altogether unlike the much later reliefs from Boro-Būdūr in Java.
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The large alto-rilievo images of minor deities on the pillars vary much in quality. Some, as for instance the image of Sirimā (Cunningham, Pl. XXIII, 1), are ill designed, with the attenuated waist and exaggerated hips which disfigure so many Indian sculptures. Others are thoroughly natural, life-like representations of women, admirably modelled, skilfully executed, and pleasing but for the ugly snub-nosed faces, apparently representing people like Tibetans. The statue of Chukalokā (Cunningham, Pl. XXIII, 3), not reproduced, is specially interesting as the earliest extant example of the 'Woman and Tree' motive, common in Alexandrian art and a great favourite in India, which will be discussed in Chapter XI. One of the best statues is that of the Yakshī Sudarsanā (Fig. 44), which exhibits a good knowledge of the human form and marked skill in the modelling of the hips in a difficult position. Mr. Havell observes that the technique is that of a wood-carver.¹
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¹ The forms *Yakshī* and *Yakshinī* both occur.
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FIG. 43. Bharhut; *jātaka* scene on coping. (Photo. 1072, I. O. *List*.)
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Equally good is the image of the nameless Yakshī on a pillar removed from the *stūpa*, and found by Cunningham at Batanmārā, a village near Bharhut. I am not sure that this is not the best of the series. The modelling would do credit to any sculptor, and the execution of all details is perfect. At Sānchī the reliefs are more refined than those of Bharhut, but I doubt if any of the larger sculptures are as good as the best Bharhut Yakshīs.
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The Bharhut sculptures, having escaped the destructive zeal of Muhammadan iconoclasts by reason of their situation in an out-of-the-way region, lay safely hidden under a thick veil of jungle until a century ago, when the establishment of general peace and the spread of cultivation stimulated the local rustics to construct substantial houses from the spoils of the old monuments for which they cared nothing. The extensive group of early Buddhist buildings at and near Sānchī in the Bhopāl State similarly evaded demolition because it lay out of the path of the armies of Islam. Although the monuments of Sānchī have not suffered as much as those of Bharhut from the ravages of the village builder, they have not wholly escaped injury. During the first half of the nineteenth century much damage was done by the ill-advised curiosity of amateur archaeologists. Now, however, the authorities concerned are fully alive to their responsibility, and everything possible is being done to conserve the local memorials of India's ancient greatness.
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The importance of Sānchī in the history of Indian art rests chiefly upon the four wonderful gateways forming the entrances to the procession path between the *stūpa*
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[Figure: FIG. 44. Sudarsanā Yakshī, Bharhut. (Photo. 1067, I. O. *List* = Cunningham, Pl. XXIII, 2.) FIG. 45. A Yakshī, Batanmārā, near Bharhut. (Photo. 1090, I. O. *List* = Cunningham, Pl. XXI, 2.)]
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(Plate I and Fig. 1) and the surrounding railing. The stone railing itself is a perfectly plain copy of a wooden post and rail fence, dating probably from the time of Asoka. The four gateways, a century later, more or less, are covered with masses of sculpture so intricate as almost to defy description in detail. The most ancient portal, the southern, was already prostrate when visited by Captain Fell in 1819; the western one came down between 1850 and 1860; while the northern and eastern gateways have never fallen. All have undergone thorough repairs during recent years, and are now erect. The work on the sculpture, which must have continued for many years, may be assigned approximately to the period between 150 and 100 B. C.
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Plate XVI. Eastern gateway of great *stūpa*, Sānchī, back view. (I. O. Photo.)
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Gateways of this kind, derived from temporary structures erected on the occasions of festivities, are the prototypes of the Chinese *pailus*, to which they have a general resemblance.
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The Sānchī gateways, or *toraṇas*, stand 34 feet high, and are all substantially alike, while differing much in detail.
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‘Two massive square pillars, one on either side, 14 feet high, forming as it were the gate-posts, support an ornamental superstructure of three slightly arched stone beams or architraves placed horizontally, one above the other, with spaces between them. The topmost beam of each gate was surmounted by the sacred wheel flanked by attendants and the *triśūla* emblem.
The faces, back and front, of the beams and pillars are crowded with panels of sculpture in bas-relief representing scenes in the life of Buddha, domestic and silvan scenes, processions, sieges, adoration of trees and *topes*, and groups of ordinary and extraordinary animals, among which are winged bulls and lions of a Persepolitan type and horned animals with human faces.’¹
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¹ Cousens, *Progr. Rep. A. S., Western India, for year ending June 30, 1900*, para. 9.
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Plate XVI, representing the eastern gateway, will enable the reader to appreciate the wealth of ornament lavished on the four monuments. The same gateway may be further studied by the aid of full-sized casts supplied to the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, and other institutions, some of which, however, do not exhibit the casts. Numerous illustrations, more or less accurate and satisfactory, will be found in the works of Fergusson, Maisey, Cunningham, and other writers on Indian archaeology, but nothing approaching a complete description of the sculptures exists. In January and February, 1901, Mr. H. Cousens succeeded in photographing the whole mass of sculptures on 225 negatives to a uniform scale of one-eighth, but so far little use has been made of the huge supply of material thus accumulated.² The preparation of a descriptive and critical monograph would be an arduous undertaking, and the work would probably fill several large quartos. It is not likely to be written just yet. In this chapter a few illustrations must suffice.
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² A brilliant lecture by M. A. Foucher, entitled *La Porte orientale du Stûpa de Sânchi* (Moulage du Musée Guimet), Paris, Leroux, 1910, throws much light on the meaning of the sculptures, and is illustrated from the new photographs. The right or northern pier of the southern gate depicts six of the Buddhist heavens, and other sections represent the leading incidents of Buddha’s life, told by ingenious symbolical contrivances, the effigy of the Master being rigorously excluded. The most surprising discovery made by M. Foucher is that incidents in the history or legend of Asoka are shown on both the southern and eastern gates (*op. cit.*, pp. 76, 77).
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All critics are agreed that the southern gateway is the earliest of the four. One of its pillars is shown in Plate XVII, Fig. B. The capitals of its gate-posts are formed by four lions seated back to back, ‘indifferently carved,’ and evidently intended as imitations of those on Asoka's inscribed pillar already noticed (*ante*, p. 60). The marked decline in skill demonstrated by the contrast between the lions on the gate-post and those on the inscribed pillar is surprising considering the shortness of the interval of time, about a century, between the two compositions. The decadence is most easily verified by comparing the treatment of the lions' paws on the gate-post capital (Maisey, PLATE XVII. Sāñchī sculptures. (Photos. supplied by Prof. Macdonell.)
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A. West gate, back.
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B. South gate, pillar.
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Plate XIX) and of the same members on the capital of the inscribed pillar, or the similar Sārnāth pillar (*ante*, Plate XIII). The paws of the early Asokan sculptures are correctly modelled with four large front claws and one small hind claw, the muscles also being realistically reproduced. In the later work five large claws, all in front, are given to the paws, and the muscles are carelessly indicated by some straight channels running up and down.
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The change does not correspond with a deliberate resolve to substitute a generalized ideal for a realistic form. It simply indicates a decline of skill in animal sculpture in the round. The case does not support the theory of Dr. Coomaraswamy that the animals represented in Oriental decorative art need not resemble any beast on the face of the earth, and are the better for their lack of likeness. According to his view, 'the sculptured lions of Egypt, Assyria, or India are true works of art; for in them we see, not any lion that could to-day be shot or photographed in a desert, but the lion as he existed in the minds of a people, a lion that tells us something of the people who represents him.'¹ The theory thus enunciated certainly does not apply to elephants and monkeys, which notoriously are represented in Indian art, both plastic and pictorial, with the utmost fidelity to nature and the fullest understanding of the character of both animals, as may be seen from many examples in this book. It is not easy to perceive why a bad lion should be extolled in preference to a good elephant. Probably the critic cited was anxious to justify the fearsome beasts so common in Ceylonese art, which certainly could not be found in any desert. But the theory does not fit the case even of lions, because nobody can deny that the best lions in Indian sculpture are those of Asoka's time, which are by far the most naturalistic.
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¹ *The Aims of Indian Art* (Essex House Press, 1908), p. 14.
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The capitals of the gate-posts of the northern gateway, the next in date, exhibit four elephants standing back to back, and carrying riders. Those of the eastern gateway (Plate XVI) are similar. On the capitals of the latest gateway, the western, four hideous dwarfs, clumsily sculptured, take the place of the elephants or lions (Plate XVII, Fig. A).²
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² Compare the frequent occurrence of similar dwarfs in the sculpture of Ceylon. I do not understand the symbolism.
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All the Sānchī sculptures, like the Ajaṇṭā paintings, deal with Buddhist subjects. If a composition seems in our eyes to be purely secular, that is only because we do not understand its meaning. Genre pictures, whether in paint or bas-relief, do not exist in the ancient art of India. The main object of the artist was to illustrate his Bible, and if, perchance, the illustration could be made into a pretty picture, so much the better; but anyhow, the sacred story must be told.
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In addition to his desire to tell edifying stories in a manner readily intelligible to the eyes of the faithful, the old artist clearly was dominated by the feeling that he was bound to impress on all beholders the lesson that the dead Teacher, the last and greatest of the long line of Buddhas, had won and continually received the willing homage of the whole creation—of men, women, and children, of the host of heaven, the water-sprites, and the demons—nay, even of the monsters of romance and the dumb animals. And so, in all the ancient Buddhist art, whether at Sānchī or elsewhere, weird winged figures hovering in the air, snake-headed or fish-tailed monsters emerging from their caverns or haunting the deep, offer their silent homage to the Lord of all, and the monkeys bow down in adoration before the Master who had turned the wheel of the Law and set it rolling through the world. The early artists did not dare to portray his bodily form, which had for ever vanished, being content to attest his spiritual presence by silent symbols—the footprints, the empty chair, and so forth.¹ But, whether the Master was imaged or symbolized, the notion of his adoration by all creation was continually present in the minds of the artists and influenced their selection of decorative motives. Although concerned in the main with thoughts of religion and worship they were not unmindful of beauty, which they often succeeded in attaining in no small degree.
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¹ 'The outward form, Brethren, of him who has won the truth (*Tathāgata*) stands before you, but that which binds it to rebirth is cut in twain. So long as his body shall last, so long do gods and men behold him. On the dissolution of the body, beyond the end of his life, neither gods nor men shall see him' ('Brahmajāla Sutta,' transl. Rhys Davids, *Dialogues of the Buddha*, p. 54). The absence of images of Buddha from early Indian art does not imply that images of the Hindu gods were then unknown. They were certainly in use as early as the fourth century B.C. (*Ind. Ant.*, xxxviii (1909), pp. 145–9).
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Fig. 46. Bracket figure, &c.; eastern gateway, Sānchī. (I. O. photo.)
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In the early works, like those of Sānchī and Bharhut, the absence of images of Buddha has the advantage of saving the stone pictures from the formal symmetrical arrangements grouped round the central figure which often weary by their monotonous iteration in Gandhāra and at Amarāvatī.
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In a general way, the style of the Sānchī reliefs resembles that of those at Bharhut, but is rather more refined and delicate. If we have no Yakshī statues as at Bharhut, compensation may be found in the elegant bracket figures, practically statues in the round, which are a specially pleasing feature of Sānchī art. A good example of such a figure is shown in Fig. 46. It is a form of the Woman and Tree motive. The beautiful decorative details of the pillar are worthy of careful study. No nation has surpassed the Indians in the variety and delicacy of the floral designs enriching their sculpture and pictures.
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Two more photographs must conclude the illustration of the Sānchī sculptures.
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In the upper panel of Fig. 47 we see the worship of a Nāga spirit represented by an image of the hooded cobra housed in a shrine with a domical roof.¹ Such Plate XVIII. Processional scenes, Mathurā; in a *toraṇa* arch. (Photo. by Dr. Führer = *Jain Stūpa*, Pl. XIX.)
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¹ It is possible that the object of worship may be Buddha himself sheltered by the hoods of Muchalinda, the Snake King. The Real Presence of Buddha in these sculptures is always indicated symbolically.
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FIG. 47. Nāga shrine, &c.; eastern gateway, Sānchī. (I. O. photo.)
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FIG. 48. Three men in a boat, &c.; the inundation miracle; eastern gateway, Sānchī. (I. O. photo.)
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a temple roof, I think (*ante*, p. 17), was the origin of the domed *stūpa* as seen in the central panel. The figure of the guardian deity in the lowest panel is a good sample of Sānchī sculpture on the larger scale, and may be compared with the doorkeepers on stelae at Anurādhapura in Ceylon (*post*, Pl. XXI).
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The scenes represented in Fig. 48 are not less interesting for their subjects and dainty ivory-like carving, and each might supply material for lengthy comment. The most curious panel is the central one with three men in a boat, the record of a miracle on the occasion of an inundation of the Niranjana river. The lowest panel, M. Foucher informs me, appears to represent the visit of Bimbisāra to Buddha. The men and trees on land will assume their proper relative places if we imagine the figures to be on hinges and set up standing. This substitute for perspective continued to be used in Hindu pictures many centuries later in date, as we shall see in due course.
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FIG. 49. Part of frieze on *toraṇa* beam, Mathurā; worship of a *stūpa*. (Photo. by Dr. Führer = *Jain Stūpa*, Pl. XV, 2.)
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Certain early bas-reliefs, dating probably from the first century B. C., discovered in the Kankālī mound near Mathurā, and apparently associated with the very ancient Jain *stūpa* which once existed there, are extremely curious for various reasons, and present remarkable forms not found elsewhere. As art they are far inferior in delicacy and definition to the work at Sānchī, the trees especially being sketched quite roughly. Fig. 49 represents the adoration paid to a *stūpa*, presumably Jain, by fabulous creatures, *suparṇas*, or harpies, and *kinnaras*, or centaurs.
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The form of the *stūpa*, with two procession-paths and railings round the dome, in addition to the path and railing on the ground level, is unusual. No other example is known of a leaf being used to mask the junction between the human and equine bodies in the centaurs.
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The larger fragment (Plate XVIII), apparently from the same building, offers many points of interest. The abnormal elongation of the principal worshipper in the spandrel is due seemingly to the necessity for filling the space. The garland bearers of the middle concentric band are depicted in an unusual manner. The oxen are fairly well drawn, but the horse is atrocious, and the floral patterns are feeble.
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Two fragments (Fig. 50) in the Mathurā Museum, of uncertain origin, are very like the Bharhut sculptures. The modelling and execution are good (Mathurā Museum, Nos. I, 15, 18; *Catalogue* (1910), Pl. XXI). The fragments are 1 foot 3 inches, and 1 foot 4 inches in height respectively.
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[Figure: FIG. 50. Fragments in Bharhut style, Mathurā Museum. (Photo., A. S., No. 45 of 1908–9.)]
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[Figure: FIG. 51. Visit of Indra to Buddha, Mathurā Museum. (Photo. No. 40 of 1907–8.)]
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A relief of unknown origin in the local Mathurā Museum (Fig. 51) depicts in a strangely stiff and archaic wooden style the famous visit of Indra to Buddha seated in a cave. It should be contrasted with the very different treatment of the same subject by the Gandhāra school (*post*, Fig. 60). I hesitate to assign a date to the Mathurā version. The relief seems to be a direct copy of work in wood, and may be compared with the frieze from Chambā (Chap. X, Sec. 7, *post*). Dr. Vogel regards this work as a 'clumsy imitation' of Gandhāran art. The height is 1 foot 6 inches (Mathurā Museum, No. 11, *Catalogue*, pp. 31, 130).
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The sandstone hills known as Khandagiri, Udayagiri, and Nīlagiri, situated in the Purī District, Orissa, a few miles from the Bhuvanesvara temples (*ante*, p. 25), are honeycombed with Jain caves of various dates, the oldest of which date from the second century B. C. The local worship appears to have been devoted chiefly to the early Tīrthankara, Pārsvanāth, who lived some centuries before Mahāvīra, usually regarded as the founder of Jainism. The elaborate, but ugly, and semi-barbaric sculptures in the Rānī Gumphā, or Queen's Cave, are interpreted as representing a procession in honour of Pārsvanāth. Plate XIX is a good illustration of the style, which shows no trace of foreign influence, so far as I can see.¹
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¹ 66 caves, viz. 44 on Udayagiri, 19 on Khandagiri, and 3 on Nīlagiri. The inscription of King Khāravela in the Hāthī Gumphā, or Elephant Cave, is of the second century B. C., but not precisely dated, as formerly supposed (Fleet, *J. R. A. S.*, 1910, p. 242). See *Imp. Gaz.* (1908), *s. v.* Khandagiri; *Ann. Rep. A. S., India*, 1902–3, pp. 40–2. The best account of the caves is that by Bābū Monmohan Chakravarti in *Gaz. Purī District* (1908). See also Fergusson, *Hist. of Indian and Eastern Architecture*, 2nd ed. (1910), vol. ii, pp. 9–18.
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FIG. 52. Female statue, Jayavijaya cave, Udayagiri, Orissa, ? 2nd cent. B. C. (Photo. 407, I. M. *List*.)
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At the Jayavijaya cave on Udayagiri a female statue (Fig. 52), about 6 feet high, and almost in the round, seems to be of early date and to possess considerable merit. The goddess, or whoever the personage may be, is represented as leaning her weight on the right leg, the left foot being bent in behind the right, so that only the toes touch the ground. In her right hand she holds up an object, presumably a flower, while the left forearm is bent horizontally across her waist. She apparently wears drawers, and is nude above the waist, in accordance with the fashion of ancient India, maintained in the south until recent days. The head-dress is a peculiar ribbed cap with long lappets. The features have been destroyed. The form is naturalistic and the pose easy.
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The sculpture in the most ancient cave-temples of Western India, at Bhājā and Bedsā (Poona District), Pītalkhorā (Khāndesh District), and Kondānē (Kolābā District) offers little of aesthetic interest. The small five-celled hermitage at Bhājā, [Figure: PLATE XIX. Portion of frieze in Rānī Gumphā Cave, Udayagiri, Orissa, ? 2nd cent. B. C.
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dating probably from the second century B. C., is supposed to be the most ancient. The cornice is supported by male figures used as caryatids, wearing waistcloths, large turbans, and much jewellery. The statues of the armed door-keepers are similarly clothed. The early date of the Pītalkhorā church cave is attested by two short inscriptions in script of the Maurya age or a little later. Two ugly little winged sphinxes on the back wall may be compared with the winged horse at Bhājā and similar creatures at Bodh-Gayā (*ante*, p. 67). At Bhājā the Persepolitan bell-capitals are surmounted by groups of queer sphinx-like figures without wings, having male or female busts with the bodies of oxen. At Kondānē, a statue labelled in characters of about the Maurya period as 'made by Baluka, the pupil of Kanha (Kṛishṇa)', is supposed to have been intended for a portrait of the excavator, but is so much mutilated that the skill of the sculptor can be judged only by the elaborate head-dress, most carefully chiselled.¹ The most interesting early sculptures of the western caves are the capitals of the two pillars in front of the Bedsā cave, which are surmounted by 'horses and elephants bearing men and women of bold and free execution'.²
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¹ *A. S., Western India*, vol. iv, p. 9, Fig. 9. The founders of temples often inserted portrait statues of themselves and their wives (*Ann. Rep. A. S., India*, 1905–6, p. 149).
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² Fergusson, *Hist. of Ind. and E. Archit.*, 2nd ed. (1910), p. 138, fig. 64 = photo. 987, *I. O. List*.
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In Southern India the amount of early sculpture as yet discovered is extremely small. The Bhattiprolu *stūpa* in the Guntūr District, Madras, dating from about 200 B. C., and utterly destroyed in recent times, is known to have been once surrounded by a marble screen and decorated with accessory sculpture. But all is gone, and when Mr. Rea explored the site, his researches, although rewarded by important inscriptions, disclosed no sculpture worth mentioning.³
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³ Rea, *South Indian Buddhist Antiquities* (Madras, 1894).
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At Jaggayapeta, or Betavolu, in the same District, a little has been saved from the wreck of another richly adorned *stūpa*, dating from either the later Maurya or the Sunga period. The original construction of the Amarāvatī *stūpa* goes back to the same times, and a few examples of the ancient sculptures survive, obviously related to the art of Bharhut and the earliest cave-temples of the west, and in some cases showing affinity with that of Mathurā. The best is the slab from Amarāvatī, of uncertain date, representing a man with his hand on the head of a boy (Fig. 53), which is good work.
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Ceylon is rich in sculpture of many kinds, beginning probably, as in India, from the third century before Christ. Fergusson's belief that the 'almost total absence of sculpture' was one of the most striking peculiarities of Ceylonese art has been disproved abundantly by the fruitful researches of the Archaeological Commissioner and his staff.⁴ But it is extremely difficult to affix dates, even approximate, to the numerous specimens of the Ceylonese sculptors' skill. Dated dedicatory inscriptions, so common in India, are rare in the island, and the principal monuments have been subject to such extensive alterations at various times that it is almost impossible to distinguish the sculptures of different periods. It is possible that when systematic study shall be applied to the local styles of art closer discrimination will be feasible,
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⁴ The London collections do not include any Ceylonese sculpture deserving of notice, except a few examples in metal.
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[Figure: FIG. 53. Man and boy, Amarāvatī. (Burgess, *Amarāvatī*, Pl. LI, 2, reduced.)]
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but in the present state of knowledge anything like accurate chronological classification of the sculptures of Ceylon is unattainable. The brief discussion of the subject which limits of space permit me will be arranged under two headings, Early and Mediaeval; the former comprising everything up to about A. D. 700, and the latter everything later. Ceylon has not produced any noticeable modern sculpture. Although the Early sculpture will be treated in this chapter for convenience, very little of it can be assigned with any confidence to the chronological limits of the Indian works described above.
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Mr. H. C. P. Bell, Archaeological Commissioner, acting under instructions from the Government of Ceylon, has liberally supplied me with a collection of considerably more than a hundred photographs, from which I have selected a few. The general impression on my mind is that, with the exception of some of the colossal statues, the bronzes, which are very good, but may have been cast in India, and a few other works, the production of the island sculptors is by no means equal to that of the best artists on the mainland. The style is Indian, with a difference. We must remember that many of the Ceylonese images were originally plastered and coloured, and that the rough, weather-worn blocks now visible do not produce the effect designed by the artists. I have endeavoured to select typical examples.
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The highly decorated stelae at the entrances to chapels connected with the great *dāgabas* are characteristic of Ceylonese art. The examples chosen from the Abhayagiri *dāgaba* at Anurādhapura may be assigned with considerable probability to the time of King Gajabāhu I, in the second century of the Christian era, but it is possible that they may be later, or even earlier. The floral patterns differ widely from those used in the mediaeval stelae of Polonnāruwa. The devices springing from vases (Plate XX, Fig. C) recall many examples of the same motive in Alexandrian and Indian art.
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The human figures in panels (Plates XX–XXII) have a general resemblance to those at Sānchī (*ante*, Fig. 47), but are not so finely executed. The dwarf in the Atlas pose may be noticed in Plate XXI, Fig. A. The seven-headed Nāga or cobra shown in Plate XX, Fig. B, is a good example of an art form extremely common in Ceylon, and usually well sculptured; the number of heads varies, nine being the maximum.
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Door-keepers intended to ward off the attacks of evil spirits were deemed essential for most Ceylonese buildings. The Nāga at Ruwanveli (Plate XXI, Fig. B) is a good example of, I think, an early type, but it is not easy to be certain. I should be inclined to assign it to the early centuries of the Christian era.
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Ugly dwarfs were regarded as very effective janitors. The specimens from the Ruwanveli and Jetāwanārāma *dāgabas* (Plate XXII, Figs. A, B) are typical. They may be compared with the somewhat similar figures on the capitals of the western gateway at Sānchī.
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Fig. C in the same plate is a characteristic example of the small grotesque figures used decoratively in early Ceylonese art. Like Gothic gargoyles, they are cleverly done, though ugly.
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Portrait statues supposed to be those of ancient kings are a speciality of Ceylonese art. Mr. Smither has described two battered examples which seem to be of high antiquity. One of these, traditionally believed to represent King Devānampiya Tissa, the contemporary and friend of Asoka, which was found near the Ambusthāla *dāgaba* [Figure: A. East stele of south chapel.
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[Figure: B. The same stele, and a Nāga. (Photo. A. 463.)]
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[Figure: C. East stele of north chapel. (Photo. A. 443, A. S., Ceylon.)]
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PLATE XX. Sculptured stelae at Abhayagiri *dāgaba*, Anurādhapura.
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[Figure: A. North stele, east chapel, Abhayagiri. (Photo. C. 288.)]
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[Figure: B. Nāga door-keeper, Ruwanveli *vihāre*.
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[Figure: A. Dwarf door-keeper, Ruwanveli *dāgaba*.
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[Figure: B. Dwarf right-handed door-keeper of south porch of west chapel of Jetawanārāma. (Photo. C. 302.)]
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[Figure: C. Part of dado, Ruwanveli *dāgaba*, *vihāre*.
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at Mihintalē, eight miles from Anurādhapura, may be correctly attributed by the popular voice. It is described as follows:—
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‘The stone was in four pieces, but these have been put together and the statue placed erect on its circular base. The figure, which is 6 feet 5 inches in height, originally stood facing the *dāgaba*, and doubtless in a devotional attitude; the arms, however, are broken off close to the shoulders and cannot be found. The king is clothed in the “dhoti”, or waist-cloth wrapped round the loins and falling to the ankles, the upper part of the body being uncovered. The head-dress consists of a plain and slightly elevated pear-shaped cap, encircled by a jewelled band, or diadem; the ears are adorned with pendant ear-rings, and the neck with a jewelled neck-piece. The base is carved to represent an expanded lotus-flower, and is precisely similar in design to that found at the Thūpārāma *dāgaba*. Both statue and base are much weather-worn, although originally sheltered beneath a covered structure of which three stone octagonal pillars, formerly surmounted by capitals, are the only remains.’¹
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¹ Smither, *Anurādhapura*, p. 11.
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The second example is the reputed portrait of King Bhātika Abhaya (Batiya Tissa), who reigned during the first century of the Christian era. It was found near the Ruwanveli *dāgaba*, and has been set up, after undergoing repair. The material is hard dolomite, much weather-worn, and the height is about 8 feet. The dress of the figure resembles that of another statue commonly believed to represent King Dutthagāmini, which stands on the terrace of the Ruwanveli *dāgaba*, and has been published by Mr. Havell. It seems probable that these works represent saints or religious teachers rather than kings. Both are old, but it is difficult to find reasons for more exact determination of their age.²
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² Smither, *op. cit.*, p. 11; Havell, *Indian Sculpture and Painting*, Pl. XII; Parker, *Ancient Ceylon*, Fig. 72. The dates of early kings of Ceylon are uncertain; Bhātika Abhaya is assigned to A.D. 42–70, and Dutthagāmini to 106–84 B.C.
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A curious collection of eight life-size images on the embankment of a tank at Minnēriya, N.C.P., is popularly believed to represent King Mahāsena (*cir.* A.D. 300) with his wives and courtiers. The images obviously are ancient, but too much injured for appraisement as works of art.³
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³ *Ann. Rep. A. S., Ceylon*, 1893, p. 10; photos. A. 344–7, C. 806.
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Large and often colossal images of Buddha, seated, standing, or recumbent, are numerous in the island, some of which undoubtedly must be very ancient. One of the oldest, probably, is a battered seated figure at Tantrimalai, which wears a conical cap, and is believed by Mr. Parker to date from about the beginning of the Christian era.⁴
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⁴ Parker, *Ancient Ceylon*, pp. 219, 244; Bell, *A. S. Rep.*, 1896, p. 8; photo. A. 183, not suitable for reproduction. The other great image at the same place (photos. A. 181, 182), with a Siamese look, appears to be many centuries later. Mr. Bell dates the Tantrimalai figures about A.D. 1200 (*A. S. Rep.*, 1907, p. 34). He does not distinguish the one which seems to be ancient.
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One of the best Buddhas of early age is the now well-known image from the Toluvila ruins, Anurādhapura, represented *in situ* in Fig. 54, with a native seated beside it in exactly the same attitude. The photograph helps the European reader to realize the facts on which the forms of the canonical images are based.
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PLATE XXIII. Kapila relief, Isurumuniya, Anurādhapura. (From a photo. by Dr. Coomaraswamy.)
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I think that I am right in including among the early works a fine sculpture of uncertain date, proved by Dr. Coomaraswamy to represent Kapila, a legendary sage (Plate XXIII). It is cut in rather high relief on the face of the rock on the right-hand side of the Isurumuniya Vihāra at Anurādhapura, where many other notable works of sculpture exist. They appear to be of various ages and to deserve more attention than they have received.
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[Figure: Fig. 54. Seated Buddha, 5 ft. 9 in. high; *in situ* at Toluvila, Anurādhapura; now in Colombo Museum; probably of early date; a native seated at side. (Photo. C. 2, A. S., Ceylon.)]
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The subject is a man curled up in the attitude technically described as 'kingly ease' (*mahārāja līla*), with his left hand resting on the seat, and his right hand extended over the raised knee, holding the halter of a horse, the head of which appears on the rock, but is not included in the photograph. The man's head, covered with thick hair, is partly turned towards the proper left and averted from the horse, which he seems to ignore. The expression is that of calm and abstracted but not unconscious dignity, while the difficult pose is modelled with consummate skill and yet with perfect simplicity. The work may be of early date, perhaps the close of the fifth century, when the parricide king, Kāsyapa I, the builder of Sīgiriya, is recorded to have made many images at Isurumuniya, in the vain attempt to cleanse his soul from the guilt of the murder of his father.¹
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¹ *Bell, A. S. Rep.*, 1906, p. 8. Neither Mr. Bell nor Mr. Cave mentions the Kapila relief, the merit of which was first recognized by Dr. Coomaraswamy. The critical opinion expressed in the text is confirmed by Mr. Lawrence Binyon, who holds that ‘the rock-carved “Kapila” in Ceylon is a tremendous work, impossible to forget when once seen’ (*Sat. Rev.*, Feb. 18, 1911).
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The legend, as told in the *Rāmāyana*, may be briefly summarized as follows:—
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Sagara, King of Ajodhya, had by his queen Sumati 60,000 sons, whose impiety was such that the gods complained to Vishnu and the sage Kapila. King Sagara, having undertaken to perform the rite of the horse sacrifice (*aśvamedha*) in token of his universal sovereignty, deputed the duty of guarding the intended victim to his 60,000 sons, who failed in the trust committed to their charge, and allowed the animal to be carried off to the nether regions (*Pātāla*). Their father having directed them to recover the horse, they dug down and down until they found him grazing in Hades, with the sage Kapila seated close by, and engaged in deep meditation. The princes menaced him with their weapons, but were reduced to ashes by the flames which darted from his person, when he turned his glance upon them.
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This relief seems to me to be one of the most remarkable productions of Indian art, whether on the mainland or in the island of Ceylon.²
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² For the identification, see Coomaraswamy in *Spolia Zeylanica*, vol. vi (1909), p. 132. The legend is given in Dowson, *Classical Dict. of Hindu Mythology*, *s.v.* Sagara. Some description of the shrines of Isurumuniya is given in Cave, *The Ruined Cities of Ceylon*, pp. 47–9. But the term ‘grotesque’ which he applies to the sculptures collectively is not applicable to the Kapila.
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The ‘moonstone’, a semicircular slab placed at the foot of a staircase and carved elaborately in low relief, is specially characteristic of, although not absolutely peculiar to, Ceylonese art. The design is always based on the open lotus flower, the pattern being arranged in concentric circles. At Anurādhapura, where some specimens may be very ancient, the standard arrangement is that of an outermost circle with the ‘cobra pattern’, resembling acanthus leaves in effect; then a procession of quadrupeds in a fixed order moving from left to right—horse, elephant, humped bull, and lion; next, a belt of graceful foliage, which is followed by a row of sacred geese, while the central circles represent the lotus in bud, leaf, and flower. The animal symbolism is the same as that of the Asoka pillars, explained above (*ante*, p. 59).³ In later ages the pattern was modified.
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³ A good early example from the Daladā Māligāwa in Smither, Pl. LVII. See also Tennent, *Ceylon*, 2nd ed., p. 619.
Linked texts (9)
- Jātaka — Pāli
- Dīghanikāya — Pāli
- Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa — Vālmīki, Sanskrit
- Sārnāth
- Sāñcī
- Bharhut
- Sigiriya
- Polonnaruwa
- Bhattiprolu Stupa