Fergusson, James: A history of architecture in all countries, from the earliest times to the present day: in five volumes (Band 3) (London, 1899)

Chap. VIII.

ANURADHAPUIiA.

191

a seven-headed Naga, as will be observed in the Woodcut No. 99;
at the Abhayagiri, the inner stele is adorned with a pattern so
nearly identical with that on the pillars of the western gateway at
Sanchi,1 that we have no difficult}- in recognising them as belonging
to about the same age; though this one, of course, is the older of

99. View of Frontispiece of Stairs, Ruanwelli Dagoba. (From a Photograph.)

the two (b.c. 104). On the other stele in this tope (Woodcut No. 100),
we recognise the shield, the Swastica, the trisul, the conch (of
Vishnu?) and all the other Buddhist emblems with which we are
already familiar. The Naga here lias a stele of his own and detached
from the other two.

All this is architecturally so unlike anything we find of the same
age on the continent of India, while its sculptured details are so
nearly identical, that, when we come to know more about it, these
differences and similarities may lead to most important inferences;
but we must at present wait for the requisite information to enable
us to see the bearing of these peculiarities.

Besides these four large buildings there are two smaller ones,
known as the Thuparamaya and Lankaramaya, very similar to one

1 ' Tree and Serpent Worship,'pi. 19.
cuts Nos. 34 and 35.

In some respects it resembles the M'nod-