Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/323

 CHAP. II. CHAITYAS. 279 No very precise information is to be had about the date of either, but, in their present form at least, they are not the oldest in the valley. According to Brian H. Hodgson, there are several low, flat, tumuli - like chaityas, with very moderate chhattravalis or finials, which are older, and may be of any age ; but, as will be seen from the previous woodcut (No. 155), that at Swayambhunath is of an irregular clumsy form, and chiefly remarkable for the exaggerated form of its tee or finial. 1 This is, in fact, the most marked characteristic of the modern Tibetan chaitya, which in China is carried frequently to such an extent that the stiipa becomes evanescent, and the chhattrdvali or spire changes into a nine or thirteen storeyed tower. This chaitya stands on a narrow plinth projecting about 2 ft. from the face of the dome; and the five shrines of the Dnyani Buddhas, built partly into this plinth, were constructed by Raja Pratapa Malla in the i/th century. 2 The great Bodhnath chaitya is ascribed to King Manadeva of the 6th century, as also to a Tibetan Lama, named Khasa, of later date. 3 It is raised on three successive platforms or terraces, together about 45 ft. high, on which stands the great dome, 90 ft. in diameter and rising another 45 ft.,and over this is the pyramidal brick spire, reconstructed in 1825-1826. and of about the same height. These chaityas are so subject to periodical repairs and " restorations " that it is hard to say how much of them is original. In Mr. Hodgson's collection there are nearly one hundred drawings of chaityas in Nepal, all different, most of them small, and generally highly ornamented ; but none of them grand, and none exhibiting that elegance of form or beauty of detail which characterises the buildings of the plains. From a low, flat mound, one-tenth of its diameter in height, they rise to such a tall building as this, which is a common form, bearing the name of Kosthakar (Woodcut No. 1 56), in which the chaitya is only the crowning ornament, and between these there is every conceivable variety of shape and detail. Among others, there is a four-faced lingam of Siva, with a corresponding emblem with four Buddhas ; and altogether such a confusion of the two religions as is scarcely conceivable. By far the most characteristic and beautiful temples of the 1 For a detailed account of this chaitya and its surrounding shrines, see Oldfield's ' Sketches from Nepal,' vol. ii. pp. 219- 246. 2 In an upper room of a small temple on the west of it is preserved a perpetual flame as a symbol of Adi-Buddha, which is believed to have been derived from heaven. It is tended by a family of Tibetan lamas, in two cauldrons half- filled with ghl, on which the lighted wicks float. If by any mischance it should be extinguished, it must be renewed from another similar flame preserved at the temple of Khasa Bodhnath. 3 The legend of its erection is given in Waddell's ' Lamaism,' pp. 315-317; conf. S. Lvi, ' Le Nepal,' tome i. p. 151.