DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0094
72 EASTERN CAVES.
pointed out before, she occurs at least ten times at Sanchi in exactly
the same attitude, standing on a lotus with two elephants, on lotuses
also, pouring water over her.1 General Cunningham has since
pointed out another in the centre of the gateway of another tope,
at Bhilsa,2 and she occurs on a medallion on the Bharhut Rail,
precisely as she is represented here. She is, in fact, so far as I
can ascertain, the only person who was worshipped by the Buddhists
before the Christian era, but her worship by them was, to say the
least of it, prevalent everywhere. As a Brahmanical object of wor-
ship she first occurs, so far as I know, in the caves of Mahavallipur,
and in the nearly contemporary kailasa at Elura, in the eighth cen-
tury, but afterwards became a favourite object with them, and
remains so to the present day.3
¥rom our knowledge of the sculptures of the Bharhut Tope we
may safely predicate that, in addition to the Tree and the image of
Sri, the two remaining tympana were filled, one, with a represen-
tation of a wheel, the other, of a dagoba, the last three being
pratically the three great objects of worship both there and at
Sanchi. At the latter place, as just mentioned, the worship of the
tree occurs 76 times, of dagobas 38, wheels 10 times, and Sri 10,
which is, as nearly as can be ascertained from its ruined state, the
proportions in which they occur at Bharhut, and there is consequently
1 Loc. cit.
3 Notwithstanding this, General Cunningham (Bharhut Stupa, p. 117) states "that
the subject is not an uncommon one with Brahmanical sculptors, but I am unable to
give any Buddhistical explanation of it." Unfortunately the General considers it
necessary to ignore all that has been done at Sanchi since the publication of his book
on that Tope in 1854. He has not consequently seen Colonel Maisey's drawings, nor
Capt. Cole's exhaustive transcripts, nor was he aware of the Udayagiri image published
in the second edition of my Tree and Serpent Worship, Plate C. It is not, therefore,
surprising he should not be aware how essentially it is a Buddhist conceit adopted lon<>-
afterwards by the Brahmans. It occurs frequently in the Buddhist caves at Junnar
and Arungabad.
3 One of the most curious representations of this goddess occurs on a tablet, Mr.
Court calls it "symbole" which was found by that gentleman at Manikyala, and was
lithographed by Mr. Prinsep from a drawing by him and published as Plate XX.
vol. V. of his Journal. The drawing probably is not quite correct, but it is interesting,
as it represents the goddess with her two attendants and two elephants standing on a
band containing eight easily recognised Buddhist symbols, such as the vase, the
swastika, the wheel, the two fishes, the shield, and the altar. If the drawing is to be
depended upon it may belong to the fourth or fifth century. It is not known what
has become of this tablet.
pointed out before, she occurs at least ten times at Sanchi in exactly
the same attitude, standing on a lotus with two elephants, on lotuses
also, pouring water over her.1 General Cunningham has since
pointed out another in the centre of the gateway of another tope,
at Bhilsa,2 and she occurs on a medallion on the Bharhut Rail,
precisely as she is represented here. She is, in fact, so far as I
can ascertain, the only person who was worshipped by the Buddhists
before the Christian era, but her worship by them was, to say the
least of it, prevalent everywhere. As a Brahmanical object of wor-
ship she first occurs, so far as I know, in the caves of Mahavallipur,
and in the nearly contemporary kailasa at Elura, in the eighth cen-
tury, but afterwards became a favourite object with them, and
remains so to the present day.3
¥rom our knowledge of the sculptures of the Bharhut Tope we
may safely predicate that, in addition to the Tree and the image of
Sri, the two remaining tympana were filled, one, with a represen-
tation of a wheel, the other, of a dagoba, the last three being
pratically the three great objects of worship both there and at
Sanchi. At the latter place, as just mentioned, the worship of the
tree occurs 76 times, of dagobas 38, wheels 10 times, and Sri 10,
which is, as nearly as can be ascertained from its ruined state, the
proportions in which they occur at Bharhut, and there is consequently
1 Loc. cit.
3 Notwithstanding this, General Cunningham (Bharhut Stupa, p. 117) states "that
the subject is not an uncommon one with Brahmanical sculptors, but I am unable to
give any Buddhistical explanation of it." Unfortunately the General considers it
necessary to ignore all that has been done at Sanchi since the publication of his book
on that Tope in 1854. He has not consequently seen Colonel Maisey's drawings, nor
Capt. Cole's exhaustive transcripts, nor was he aware of the Udayagiri image published
in the second edition of my Tree and Serpent Worship, Plate C. It is not, therefore,
surprising he should not be aware how essentially it is a Buddhist conceit adopted lon<>-
afterwards by the Brahmans. It occurs frequently in the Buddhist caves at Junnar
and Arungabad.
3 One of the most curious representations of this goddess occurs on a tablet, Mr.
Court calls it "symbole" which was found by that gentleman at Manikyala, and was
lithographed by Mr. Prinsep from a drawing by him and published as Plate XX.
vol. V. of his Journal. The drawing probably is not quite correct, but it is interesting,
as it represents the goddess with her two attendants and two elephants standing on a
band containing eight easily recognised Buddhist symbols, such as the vase, the
swastika, the wheel, the two fishes, the shield, and the altar. If the drawing is to be
depended upon it may belong to the fourth or fifth century. It is not known what
has become of this tablet.