Page:The Buddhist Antiquities Of Nagarjunakonda MASI 54 Longhurst A. H..djvu/27

14 served as receptacles for valuable offerings made to the shrine and their lids are always shown as though made of heavy slabs of stone or wood placed one above the other and invariably surmounted by one or more umbrellas, the Indian emblem of religious sovereignty. These umbrellas were originally made of stone or wood and usually gilded and in later times they were executed in brick and plaster. The two upper figures depicted flying above the dome of the stupa and holding a mass of conventionalised umbrellas over the tee are meant~for cherubs, While the two male figures standing below represent human worshippers. The three bas-relief scenes portrayed below the line A, B, are purely decorative and are not connected with the stupa shown above. The three scenes represent a prince watering the Bodhi tree, the Buddha’s throne enshrined in a circular temple, and the ‘wheel of Light’ denoting the Buddha's first sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath near Benares, It was at Sarnath where the great Asoka erected one of his famous edict-bearing pillars crowned by a group of sitting lions placed back to back and supporting a large stone wheel on their backs, in the same manner as is shown in the bas-relief illustrated here (Plate XI (a)).

In Plate XI (b) we have a faithful portrayal of a profusely decorated Andhra stupa. Here again, the correct ground level of the building depicted is on the line-A, B: Below, the artist has portrayed the wooden railing and one of the gateways. The well-executed standing figure of the Buddha is purely decorative and has no real connection with the rest of the subject. The summit of the stupa is shown in the usual manner while the lower part of the dome, the drum, and ayaka-platforms are depicted decorated with bas-relief sculptures, probably meant for stone work, as these portions of the more important stupas were often faced with carved stone slabs, the rest of the ornamentation being in stucco.

The fronts of the ayaka-platforms were usually decorated with a central sculpture illustrating one of the leading events in the life of the Buddha, or a portrait image of the Great Teacher, and as a rule, these particular sculptures were better executed than the others, In this example (Plate X] (2), it will be noticed that the ayaka-pillars are shown supporting capitals in the form of Buddhist symbols, four of them with trisula ornaments and the fifth or centre pillar with a miniature stupa symbolising the Buddha’s death. As explained above, in reality, these ayaka-pillars did not support any kind of capital or ornament, and therefore, their representation here is purely conventional, the symbols merely denoting that the pillars were set up in honour of the Buddha and in commemoration of the principal events in his life, or the five great miracles—the Nativity, the Renunciation, the Sambodhi, the First Sermon, and his Death, These five miracles are portrayed in the bas-reliefs. and also as symbols, over and over again both at Nagarjunakonda and Amaravati, where as symbols, such as trees, wheels or stupas, they are actually carved on the bases of the ayaka-pillars clearly denoting their object. An illustrated account of these ayaka-pillars will be found in the Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India for the year 1929-30, so I need not describe them in detail here.

The ornamentation of the decorated stupas Was a curious mixture of stone carving and stucco work. When stone was. used, it was applied to the face of