Page:The Buddhist Antiquities Of Nagarjunakonda MASI 54 Longhurst A. H..djvu/29

16 originally about 4 feet square, 3 inches in thickness and richly carved. Three broken specimens are shown in Plate XIV (a), (b) and (c). They must have been very handsome slabs when intact.

—When complete, the Great Stupa at Nagarjunakonda must have been a perfect example of a plain Andhra stupa. It is built of large bricks measuring 20" x10" x3", and in the usual form of a wheel (Plate XII). It was covered with plaster from top to bottom, the dome being decorated with the usual garland ornament, and the drum with a few simple mouldings executed in plaster, No stone was used in its construction, the ayaka-pillars alone of that material, and, as at Amaravati, they probably represent a later addition They were gifts, as their inscriptions show, and were erected between and third centuries AD, The diameter of the stupa including the drum is 106 feet. The drum is raised 6 feet above the ground level, and the total height of the monument, excluding the tee, must have been about 70 to 80 feet. On top of the drum is a narrow path, 7 feet wide, extending all round the base of the dome. No traces of steps up to this-path were found, but it is possible that they may have existed. No steps are depicted in the bas-relief representations of stupas, so perhaps there were none to any of these monuments. The ayaka-platforms are 22 feet in length and 5 feet in width, and the bases of the five stone pillars were securely built into the brickwork. Tn the stone-faced stupas the ayaka-platforms were the most highly decorated features. of the stupa, Here the Andhra sculptor exhibited his best works of art, partly because these platforms were regarded as very holy structures resembling altars on which votive offerings were placed, and mainly perhaps, because they faced the four open gateways of the stupa, so. that they were the first objects seen by anyone entering the sacred precinct around the stupa. The stupa was surrounded by a processional path 13 feet in width, and enclosed by a wooden railing standing on brick foundations, which still remain. The gateways were formed by extending the railing outwards, so as to form a screen on each side of the entrance, but there were apparently no transoms spanning the entrance, like those of the Sanchi toranas, No traces of stone rails or toranas were found at Nagarjunakonda, and it is quite clear that none existed there.

As a rule, the rails and gates were constructed of carved woodwork, no doubt resting on brick foundations, to protect them from damp and the ravages of white ants. It was only in very special cases that they were ever executed in stone, and then they were merely stone models of carved wooden originals.

When first discovered, the Great Stupa at Nagarjunakonda was 4 large mound of earth and broken brick overgrown with grass and jungle, with two ayaka-pillars standing erect, the remaining eighteen pillars having fallen, Ag the whole of the dome of the stupa had been demolished, the ayaka-pillars and platforms thrown down and broken by treasure-seekers, the chances of finding any relics in the edifice appeared very remote indeed. The first thing was to remove the debris and trace out the plan of the structure and recover the broken pillars. When this work was finished and the excavations completed, the appearance of the Great Stupa may be gathered from Plate XII (a).