Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/137

 CHAP. IV. RAILS. 103 the Sunga dynasty, or about two centuries before the Christian Era. On the whole, I am inclined to believe that the Bodh- Gaya rail was really erected by Asoka, or during his reign. At all events, we know from the fifteenth chapter of the ' Mahawansa ' that even if he did not worship this tree, he is said to have reverenced it to such an extent that, as tradition reports, when he sent his daughter Sanghamitta to aid in the conversion of Ceylon to the Buddhist creed, he cut off and entrusted her with a branch of this tree planted in a golden vessel. That tree was replanted with infinite ceremony at Anuradhapura, and it, or its lineal descendant, remains the principal numen of the island to this day. Hiuen Tsiang tells us that Ajoka built a small vihara to the east of the tree on the spot where the present temple stands ; l and nothing is consequently more probable than that he should have added this rail, which is concentric with his vihara, but not with the / tree. There certainly is no inherent improbability that he should have done so, for it seems hardly doubtful that this was the traditional tree under whose shade Sakyamuni attained " complete enlightenment," or, in other words, reached Buddha- hood ; and no spot consequently could be considered more sacred in the eyes of a Buddhist, or was more likely to be reverenced from the time forward. The Bharaut rail, according to an inscription on it, was erected by a Prince "Vatsi-putra Dhanabhuti, son of Gaupti- putra Angaradyut, and grandson of Gargiputra VLsvadeva " " in the time of the .Sungas." 2 This helps us only to a small extent, indicating, however, that this rail is of somewhat later date than the time of Aroka. Some fragments of another rail of early date were also found at Patna the ancient Pataliputra in excavations conducted there by Dr. L. A. Waddell, in 1895, which are much of the same type as those of Bodh - Gaya. 3 As already mentioned, we have no complete set of photographs of the Bodh - Gaya rail. It is true the drawings by Major Kittoe, in the India Office Library, are very much better than those published by General Cunningham in his report; 4 but they do not 1 Griinwedel, ' Buddhist Art,' Eng. tr. p. 7 j Julien, ' Memoires,' tome i. pp. 464-465; Deal, ' Records,' vol. ii. p. 118. 2 ' Indian Antiquary,' vol. xxi. p. 227. 3 Waddell's ' Report on the Excava- tions at Pataliputra ' (Calcutta, 1903), plates i and 3. 4 ' Archaeological Reports,' vol. i. plates 8 to ii. In Rajendralal Mitra's ' Buddha-Gaya,' plates 34-38 and 44, 45, a number of medallions from the rail- pillars are given ; but the drawings in the volume are so often inaccurate in details that we cannot altogether trust them. In Cunningham's ' Mahabodhi,' plates 8 and 9, are given small photographs of a few discs. A complete survey should give the whole pillar in each case ; of eight of them there are photographs in the Calcutta Museum and India Office.