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The symbolic art which found expression in the construction and decoration of the stūpa will be better understood if the stūpa itself is first considered as an Aryan royal tomb, rather than as a Buddhist monument. The stūpa in its earliest known form was a dome roughly hemispherical in shape, the procession path at the base being usually enclosed by the massive railing, known as a vedikā, such as surrounded an Aryan palace, fortified camp or settlement, or kept off the "impure" at Vedic sacrifices. The vedikā had an entrance gateway, or torana, at each of the cardinal points, similar to that which is represented in Buddhist sculptures as the approach to a royal palace or town. On the summit of the stūpa was the receptacle for the cinerary urn of the king or hero, crowned by the royal umbrella, and often surrounded, like the stūpa itself, by the vedikā which marked off holy ground. Sometimes, for greater safety, the urn was buried deeply in the structure of the stūpa. The exterior of the dome was plastered, so that the deeds of the hero or saint might be depicted on it for the edification of the relatives or pilgrims as they went round in solemn procession. The stūpa, as it now exists, is nearly always a solid structure of brick or stone, but probably it was originally a domical hut built of bambu or wooden ribs. Thus the earliest stūpa may have been the Aryan