Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/157

 CHAP. IV. RAIL AT AMARAVATI. 123 that the stupa called a "great chaitya" belonged to the Chaitika or Purva^aila school, and must have undergone a great restoration about A.D. 1 50 ; l but we find pieces of very ancient sculpture, some of which have been reworked on the back to fit into new places ; and at least one inscription was found that is engraved in pure Maurya characters of about B.C. 200. It seems probable then that an early stupa existed here, of which only a few archaic sculptures have survived. This was restored perhaps reconstructed and much enlarged a century or more B.C., the sculptures of the rail represent- ing the veneration of relics, the Triratna, domestic and other scenes, etc., but without the figure of Buddha. Then, in the 2nd century A.D., the stupa itself seems to have been restored when the sculptures wainscotting its base were added, picturing scenes from the legend of Buddha. 2 When Hiuen Tsiang visited this place in the year 639 it had already been deserted for more than a century, but he speaks of its magnificence and the beauty of its site in more glowing terms than he applies to almost any other monument in India. Among other expressions, he uses one not easily understood at first sight, for he says, " it was ornamented with all the magnificence of the palaces of Baktria " 3 (Tahia). Now, how- ever, that we know what the native art of India was from the sculptures at Bharaut and Sanchi, and as we also know nearly what the art of Baktria was from those dug up near Peshawar, especially at Jamalgarhi, we see at once that it was by a marriage of these two arts that the Amaravati school of sculpture was produced, but with a stronger classical influence than anything of its kind found elsewhere in India. 4 With this, which is certainly the most splendid specimen of its class, we must conclude our history of Buddhist rails. No later example is known to exist ; and the Gandhara topes, which generally seem to be of this age or later, have all their rails attached to their sides in the shape of a row of pilasters. If they had any figured illustrations, they were either in the form of paintings on plaster on the panels or 1 There is no record of the positions of the sculptures belonging to the basement ; and the Government excavation of the whole area in 1881 destroyed the last chance of any further determination. 2 For a full account of the Amaravati stupa, see thevolume of the Archaeological Survey, ' The Buddhist Stupas of Amara- vati and Jaggayyapeta,' 1887. 3 ' Histoire de Hiouen Thsang traduite par Julien,' vol. i. p. 188 ; Beal, ' Life of Hiuen Tsiang,' pp. i^6f. 4 In some of the technical details of the sculptures, notably in the treatment of drapery, the influence of classic art is perceptible ; and it is perhaps here alone in India Proper that this foreign impress is seen. The age of the later sculptures nearly coinciding with the same influence in Gandhara may account for this. Conf. Dr. Le Bon, ' Les Monuments de 1'Inde,' p. 14.