Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/138

 IO4 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. BOOK I. suffice for this purpose. In so far, however, as the evidence at present available enables us to judge, it seems nearly certain that the Bharaut sculptures are somewhere between those of the gateways at Sanchi and those at Bodh-Gaya ; and conse- quently we may, for the present at least, assume the latter rail to be B.C. 250, that at Bharaut B.C. 200, and the gateways at Sanchi to range from about B.C. 160 to say B.C. 100. The Bodh-Gaya rail is a rectangle, measuring 145 ft. by 108 ft, and is very much ruined. Its dimensions were, indeed, only obtained by excavation. 1 The pillars are apparently only 6 ft. 8 in. in height, standing on a plinth, and are generally ornamented with a semi-disc top and bottom containing a single figure, or a group of several. They have also a central circular disc, with either an animal or bust in the centre of a lotus. Portions of the coping of the rail have been recovered, the inner faces of which are ornamented with long lines of animals elephants, deer, bulls, winged horses, makaras, centaurs, etc.; and the outer faces are carved with bands of flowers. The intermediate rails between the pillars are sculptured with circular lotus flowers on both sides, some of them containing busts or animals. As the most ancient sculptured monument in India, it would be extremely interesting to have this rail fully illustrated, 2 not so much for its artistic merit as because it is the earliest authentic monument representing manners and mythology in India. Its religion, as might be expected, is principally Tree and Serpent worship, mingled with venera- tion for dagabas, wheels, and Buddhist emblems. The domestic scenes represent love-making, and drinking anything, in fact, but Buddha or Buddhism, as we afterwards come to understand the term. BHARAUT OR BHARHUT. Whatever interest may attach to the rail at Bodh-Gaya it is surpassed ten times over by that of the rail at Bharaut, which, taking it all in all, is perhaps the most interesting monument certainly in a historical point of view known to exist in India. The tope itself, which seems to have been 1 Gen. Cunningham assumed that the original rail formed a rectangle, about 74 ft. from north to south by 54 ft. from east to west ; but at a later date it was reconstructed as an enclosure for an enlarged temple, measuring 145 ft. from east to west, and 108 from north to south ( ' Archaeological Reports, ' vol. iii. p. 90, and plate 25). In ' Archaeological Reports,' vol i. plate 4, he gave the dimensions of the enclosure as only 131 ft. by 98 ; and Rajendralal Mitra (' Buddha-Gaya,' p. 73), contends that it measured 154 ft. by 114 ft. 8 in. 2 Major Kittoe made careful drawings of most of the medallions to be seen seventy years ago. Two of them are reproduced here, the first representing a