DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0327
Chap. II.
STUPAS OR CHAITYAS.
303
No very precise information is to be liad about the date of either,
but, in their present form at least, they are not the oldest in the
valley. According to Brian Hodgson, there are several low, flat,
tumuli-like chaityas, with very moderate tees, which are older, and
may be of any age; but, as will be seen from the previous woodcut
(No. 170), that at Swayambunath is of an irregular clumsy form,
and chiefly remarkable for the exaggerated form of its tee. This
is, in fact, the most marked characteristic of the modern Thibetan
dagoba, which in China is carried frequently to such an extent that
the stupa becomes evanescent, and the tee changes into a nine or
thirteen storeyed tower. According to Kirkpatrick (p. 151), "this
temple is chiefly celebrated for its perpetual fire, the two principal
wicks having preserved their flames from time immemorial." The
continual presence of the fire-altar, in connexion with statues of
Buddha in Gandhara, would lead us to suspect a connexion between
fire-worship and Buddhism in that province, but hardly so intimate
as this would seem to
indicate.
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 build-
ings 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. 171), i„ which
the dagoba is only the crowning ornament, and between these there
is every conceivable variety of shape and detail. Among others,
there is the four-faced lingam of Siva, with a corresponding emblem
with four Buddhas; and altogether such a confusion of the two
171.
Xepalese Kosthakar. No scale.
STUPAS OR CHAITYAS.
303
No very precise information is to be liad about the date of either,
but, in their present form at least, they are not the oldest in the
valley. According to Brian Hodgson, there are several low, flat,
tumuli-like chaityas, with very moderate tees, which are older, and
may be of any age; but, as will be seen from the previous woodcut
(No. 170), that at Swayambunath is of an irregular clumsy form,
and chiefly remarkable for the exaggerated form of its tee. This
is, in fact, the most marked characteristic of the modern Thibetan
dagoba, which in China is carried frequently to such an extent that
the stupa becomes evanescent, and the tee changes into a nine or
thirteen storeyed tower. According to Kirkpatrick (p. 151), "this
temple is chiefly celebrated for its perpetual fire, the two principal
wicks having preserved their flames from time immemorial." The
continual presence of the fire-altar, in connexion with statues of
Buddha in Gandhara, would lead us to suspect a connexion between
fire-worship and Buddhism in that province, but hardly so intimate
as this would seem to
indicate.
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 build-
ings 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. 171), i„ which
the dagoba is only the crowning ornament, and between these there
is every conceivable variety of shape and detail. Among others,
there is the four-faced lingam of Siva, with a corresponding emblem
with four Buddhas; and altogether such a confusion of the two
171.
Xepalese Kosthakar. No scale.