The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c33.24.2

v1.c33.24.2

Around the base was a massive stone railing of the usual type, divided into four quadrants by entrances at the cardinal points, while other railings of smaller dimensions, of which fragments have been found around the structure, once flanked the berm and ascending stairway, and no doubt enclosed the crowning *hti*. At the eastern entrance was a gateway about 22 feet 6 inches in height (Pl. XV, 41), and possibly similar gateways may once have adorned the other entrances also, though no remains of them have been found. Both gateway and railings are lavishly enriched with sculptured reliefs, many of which illustrate incidents in the *Jātakas* or scenes connected with the life of the Buddha, and these illustrations are made all the more valuable by the descriptive titles attached to them, which leave no doubt as to their identification. Thus, one relief depicts the Nāga Jātaka; another (Pl. XVI, 42), the dream of Māyā; a third, the Jetavana at Çrāvastī, with its trees and shrines and the ground half strewn with coins which Anāthapiṇḍa is taking from a bullock cart; others, again, represent the royal processions of Ajātaçatru or Prasenajit visiting the Buddha (Pl. XVI, 43); and in others is depicted the worship of Buddha's head-dress in the Devaloka (Pl. XVI, 44), or of the Bodhi-tree by the Nāga king Erāpata (Pl. XVI, 45).