DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0249
Chap. VII.
GANDHARA MONASTERIES.
213
west corner, a court, D, 51 ft. square, surrounded by a high wall
with only one door leading into it. A corresponding court and
of similar size exists at Jamalgarhi ; but it lies about 30 yards to
the east, so that it could not be included in the woodcut. This
has been identified by M. Foucher with the Service Hall, so often
referred to in Buddhist literature, where all the Bhikshus or
“ members of the order ” met privately on the nights of new and
full moon to read their rules and go through their confessional
forms, and where they met for all their more solemn purposes—
as ordination, excommunication, and the like; and it was often
used also as a refectory. This was known as the Upasthanaj’ala
or Meeting Hall. If this was the purpose of these buildings,
which seems very probable, they must have been roofed in wood.1
When we attempt to compare these plans with those of
rock-cut examples in India, we at once perceive the difficulty
of comparing structural with rock-cut examples. The monastery
or residential parts are the only ones readily recognised. The
pantheon does not apparently exist at Ajanta, nor is anything
analogous to it attached to other series of caves. A group
of small rock-cut memorial dagabas exists outside the caves at
Bhaja, and a much more extensive one of structural topes
formed the cemetery at Kanheri, and similar groups may have
existed elsewhere: but these are nowise analogous to the above.
Numbers of small models of topes and votive offerings are found
in the neighbourhood of all Buddhist establishments, and were
originally no doubt deposited in some such place as this. The
circular or square base of the stupa marks the place which the
chaitya occupies in all the rock-cut chaitya halls.
One of the most remarkable ornamental features that adorn
this monastery is 'a series of bas-reliefs that adorn the front
of the steps of the stairs leading from the so-called pantheon
or vihara to the circular court at Jamalgarhi. They are sixteen
in number, and each is carved with a bas - relief containing
twenty, thirty, or forty figures according to the subject.2
Among these the Vishvantara and Sama jatakas can easily
be recognised,3 and so may others when carefully examined.
1 Foucher, ‘ L’Art Greco-Bouddhique,’
tomei.pp. 162-163. Ithadbeensuggested
that this roofless hall rnight have been
a cemetery (Cunningham ‘ Archteological
Reports,’ vol. v. p. 32) ; and it was
pointed out that Turner in his ‘ Embassy
to Tibet ’ (p. 317), describes a similar
enclosure at Teshu-lumbu in which the
bodies of the deceased monks were ex-
posed to be devoured by the birds; and
what happened there in 1800 might
possibly have been practised at Peshawar
at a much earlier age ; but that this was
not the purpose of the two enclosures
referred to is quite obvious.
2 These were removed by Gen.
Cunningham, and several are now in
the British Museum^?-‘Journal of Indian
Art and Industry,’ vol. viii. p. 40, and
plates 23, 24 ; ‘ Ancient Monuments, etc.
of India,’plate 151 ; Cunningham, ‘Arch-
mological Survey Report,’ vol. v. p. 199.
3 ‘ Tree and Serpent Worship,’ plates
24 (fig. 3) and 36 (fig. 1) ; and ‘Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ 1893,
P- 313-
GANDHARA MONASTERIES.
213
west corner, a court, D, 51 ft. square, surrounded by a high wall
with only one door leading into it. A corresponding court and
of similar size exists at Jamalgarhi ; but it lies about 30 yards to
the east, so that it could not be included in the woodcut. This
has been identified by M. Foucher with the Service Hall, so often
referred to in Buddhist literature, where all the Bhikshus or
“ members of the order ” met privately on the nights of new and
full moon to read their rules and go through their confessional
forms, and where they met for all their more solemn purposes—
as ordination, excommunication, and the like; and it was often
used also as a refectory. This was known as the Upasthanaj’ala
or Meeting Hall. If this was the purpose of these buildings,
which seems very probable, they must have been roofed in wood.1
When we attempt to compare these plans with those of
rock-cut examples in India, we at once perceive the difficulty
of comparing structural with rock-cut examples. The monastery
or residential parts are the only ones readily recognised. The
pantheon does not apparently exist at Ajanta, nor is anything
analogous to it attached to other series of caves. A group
of small rock-cut memorial dagabas exists outside the caves at
Bhaja, and a much more extensive one of structural topes
formed the cemetery at Kanheri, and similar groups may have
existed elsewhere: but these are nowise analogous to the above.
Numbers of small models of topes and votive offerings are found
in the neighbourhood of all Buddhist establishments, and were
originally no doubt deposited in some such place as this. The
circular or square base of the stupa marks the place which the
chaitya occupies in all the rock-cut chaitya halls.
One of the most remarkable ornamental features that adorn
this monastery is 'a series of bas-reliefs that adorn the front
of the steps of the stairs leading from the so-called pantheon
or vihara to the circular court at Jamalgarhi. They are sixteen
in number, and each is carved with a bas - relief containing
twenty, thirty, or forty figures according to the subject.2
Among these the Vishvantara and Sama jatakas can easily
be recognised,3 and so may others when carefully examined.
1 Foucher, ‘ L’Art Greco-Bouddhique,’
tomei.pp. 162-163. Ithadbeensuggested
that this roofless hall rnight have been
a cemetery (Cunningham ‘ Archteological
Reports,’ vol. v. p. 32) ; and it was
pointed out that Turner in his ‘ Embassy
to Tibet ’ (p. 317), describes a similar
enclosure at Teshu-lumbu in which the
bodies of the deceased monks were ex-
posed to be devoured by the birds; and
what happened there in 1800 might
possibly have been practised at Peshawar
at a much earlier age ; but that this was
not the purpose of the two enclosures
referred to is quite obvious.
2 These were removed by Gen.
Cunningham, and several are now in
the British Museum^?-‘Journal of Indian
Art and Industry,’ vol. viii. p. 40, and
plates 23, 24 ; ‘ Ancient Monuments, etc.
of India,’plate 151 ; Cunningham, ‘Arch-
mological Survey Report,’ vol. v. p. 199.
3 ‘ Tree and Serpent Worship,’ plates
24 (fig. 3) and 36 (fig. 1) ; and ‘Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society,’ 1893,
P- 313-