CHAPTER XV.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SÁNCHI BAS-RELIEFS.

THE bas-reliefs are carved upon the front and rear faces of the architraves, and upon the front and inner faces of the gateway pillars. The outer faces of the pillars are ornamented with flowers, garlands, and other devices, which need not be detailed. I will begin with the pillar of the eastern gate, and follow in my description the course of the sun round by the south, and west towards the north. The bas-reliefs on the pillars are divided into compartments, which I have numbered from top to bottom. The lowest compartments of the inner faces of all the pillars are occupied by large figures of porters or doorkeepers, some with spears, some with chaoris, &c.*

EASTERN GATEWAY.

RIGHT PILLAR-FRONT FACE.

I. Palace Scene.-Audience Hall.-Upper apartment of palace. Two royal personages seated with several attendants.

* A very correct view of the Eastern Gateway will be found in Fergusson's Illustrations of Ancient Indian Architecture: Frontispiece.

II. Palace Scene.- Women dancing before the king. Raja seated on a morha, or throne, in the palacehall, holding the vajra, or thunderbolt, in his right hand, and in his left a gourd. Two attendants behind him hold the chatta and chaori, both being insignia of royalty. On his right is seated either the heir-apparent or the prime minister, attended by two chaori and chatta bearers. On the king's left are two Nachnis, or dancing women, who are dancing to the sound of two sárangis (or lutes) and two drums. III. IV. and V. are the same repeated.

The whole of this front of the pillar represents a six-storied palace. Each story is supported on a front of four octagonal pillars, with bell-shaped capitals surmounted by recumbent winged horses.

RIGHT PILLAR-INNER FACE.

I. Adoration of tree.-Royal figures paying their adorations to a tree.

II. Dream of Maya.-MAYA, the mother of Buddha,

represented asleep, and the Chádanta elephant touching her feet with his trunk. Below her the Prince Siddhartha is passing through the city gate of Kapila in a chariot drawn by two horses. He is preceded by musicians, and attended by elephant riders and horsemen. The rear of the procession is inside the city. In front are three figures with joined hands adoring

a holy Bo-tree enclosed in a square Buddhist railing.

This second compartment is one of the most interesting bas-reliefs at Sánchi. The upper portion represents the dream of Maya the Queen of Suddhodana, Raja of Kapila. She dreamed that she was touched by a Chádanta elephant, which the wise men interpreted as a divine conception. It thus represents the incarnation of the last mortal Buddha, Sákya Sinha.

The lower portion represents the last act in the life of the Prince Siddhartha, before he took the Vows of asceticism. It is in fact the last of the "four predictive signs."* On emerging from the city in his chariot, Sákya saw some healthy, wellclad persons wearing the peculiar robe of those dedicated to religion. These are the three ascetics paying their adoration to the Bo-tree.

EASTERN GATE.

LEFT PILLAR-FRONT FACE.

I. Adoration of Symbol of Dharma.-Temple containing the symbol or monogram of Dharma on an altar; over which some fabulous Kinnaras are waving garlands and making offerings. On each side of the temple are two royal or lay

See the account of the four predictive signs in the second chapter of this work.

personages with hands joined in adoration (see Plate XXXII. for symbols of Dharma).

II. Boat Scene.-Sákya's Nirvána.-A boat is represented on the ocean; containing three persons; one rower, one steersman, and one passenger, all of whom are clad in the costume of the higher ranks of Buddhist ascetics. In the right and left upper corners there are trees; and scattered about in the waters there are lotus flowers, alligators, ducks, and shells. On the shore below are represented four figures also in a religious garb; one with dishevelled hair and uplifted arms; and the others, who wear caps, with hands clasped together in attitudes of devotion. In the right hand corner below is a tree with an altar.*

This scene I have already described in my account of Sákya's death. The passenger is, I think, Sákya Muni, who is represented, after the attainment of Nirvána, or freedom from transmigration, as being wafted over the waters which are said to surround this transitory world. The figures on the shore are a Bhikshu of the lower grade, bewailing the departure of Sákya with dishevelled hair and uplifted arms, which, from the accounts given in the Páli

See Plate XI. of this volume. The manner in which the planks of the boat are secured together is the same as that which is now practised. I have reduced Major Durand's sketch to onehalf size. Numerous shells, ducks, and lotus-flowers have been omitted.

annals, would seem to have been the customary manner of expressing grief at that period. The other figures are Bhikshus who had attained the higher grade of Arahat, and who comforted themselves with the reflection that "all transitory things are perishable." The difference of rank is known by the bare head of the mourner, and the capped heads of the others; a distinction which still prevails in Tibet, where the lower grades Ge-thsul and Chhos-pa invariably go bare-headed, whilst all the Lámas (or higher grades), including the Grand Láma himself, have their heads covered.

III. Prince in chariot leaving Kapila.-Gate and walls of city. Chariot with three persons leaving the city, followed by elephant riders and horsemen, who are represented inside the city. Beyond the walls there are an altar and two royal or lay personages standing before it with hands joined in adoration. The three figures in the chariot are the king, the driver, and the chaori holder.

This scene probably represents another of the "four predictive signs;" and the figures at the altar may be intended either for the sick or aged persons, whom Sákya met before he became an ascetic.

EASTERN GATE.

LEFT PILLAR-INNER FACE.

I. Kitchen Scene.-To the right is the city gate, and a man carrying a banghy, or small load, sus