pended by ropes from both ends of a pole. Beyond him are two women, naked to the waist; one stooping to fill her water jar from a tank or stream, and the other with a water jar under her left arm. On their right is a male personage, also naked to the waist, his loins and thighs covered in the folds of a dhoti, standing with hands joined in adoration before an altar. On the left of the compartment there is a very lively kitchen scene. A woman, naked to the waist, is husking corn in a large wooden mortar, with a two-handed pestle. A second woman is seated winnowing the corn from the chaff in a flat shovel-shaped basket. A third woman is standing at a four-legged table rolling out chapattis, or unleavened cakes; and a fourth woman is seated grinding spices or condiments on the sil, or "flat stone," with a bánt or round muller. Behind her, seated on the ground, is the Raja, or master of the household; and in the background are two houses with dome-shaped roofs. The lower portion of the compartment is filled with goats, sheep, and oxen.*

This scene is one of the most curious and interesting of all the Sánchi bas-reliefs. Women only are employed in all the domestic occupations: in drawing water, in husking and winnowing the corn, and in

See Plate XV., fig. 2, of this volume, for the kitchen scene, which is copied from one of Lieutenant Maisey's beautiful sketches.

as the

The primi

the cooking of food. The last fact is noticed by Quintus Curtius, who, speaking of the Indian king, says: "Women prepare his food."* The mortar and two-handed pestle are the same as those in use at the present day in India. The mortar (okhli) is exactly the same as the Greek iyon, and the Roman pila; and the pestle (musar) is the same Greek Kóπavov, and the Roman pilum. tive method of winnowing represented in the above scene is still used in India; and it recalls one of the blessings of the prophet promised to the children of Israel: "The oxen likewise, and the young asses that ear the ground, shall eat clean provender which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.” Bishop Lowth reads, "winnowed with the van and the sieve." But shovel is the nearest descriptive word in English for the present winnowing-basket, which does not seem to differ, even in the slightest, from the ancient one represented in the bas-relief. II. Worship of the Supreme Buddha as Flame.— Temple with altar inside, and a small vessel filled with fire, behind which a five-headed nága, or snake, forms a canopy. Flames issue from two windows in the roof of the temple. To the left,

viii. 9.-Feminae epulas parant.

+ Isaiah xxx. 24.

See Plate XXVIII., vol. xvi., Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, for a sketch of the roof of this temple. The worship of fire was repudiated by the Buddhists; and one of the principal objects of the assembly of the Third Synod was the expulsion of worshippers of fire from the Vihárs.

three figures in the dress of arhatas, with caps on their heads; their right hands raised, and gourds or water-vessels in their left hands. To the right, five figures, in the same religious costume, with both hands joined in adoration. In the lower corner, to the right, a small hut roofed with leaves; before or in which a very holy arhata is seated on a mat, with only the sangháti, or kilt, about his loins.* His uttarasangháti, or cape, is hanging up inside the house. Apparently he is in deep abstraction, for a cord is passed round his waist and knees as if to keep him from losing his position. In front stands another arhata, with hands joined in supplication to the holy ascetic. Behind the last ascetic there is a fire-vessel, and some instruments, apparently a spoon, a ladle, and a pair of pincers. In the foreground is a sheet of water filled with lotus flowers, wild ducks, and shells. One ascetic is bathing, a second is filling his water-vessel, and two others are coming down to the water with jars. The intermediate space is occupied by an elephant and several buffaloes.

At first sight this scene has every appearance of genuine fire-worship. But as Buddhism has nothing in common either with sun-worship or fire-worship, some other explanation must be sought for the scene of this bas-relief. According to the modern BudSee Plate XV., fig. 1, of this work, for an ascetic and his

hut.

Light," is sup

dhists of Nepal, VAIROCHANA, or (6 posed to occupy the centre of every chaitya dedicated to Adi Buddha. Amongst the numerous titles of Buddha contained in the Tibetan works, are "the universally radiant sun," and "the chief lamps of all the regions of space." A common name also for Buddha was Chakku, or "the eye." In all these titles, "light" is considered as a mere attribute of the all-seeing Buddha. "Adi-Buddha was never seen," said Mr. Hodgson's old Bauddha friend: "he is light." Now, as light could not be represented, the sculptor was obliged to seek some form which should be typical of it. In the present instance he has selected flame, and in another instance, as we shall see in the next bas-relief, he has taken a pair of eyes. Both are sources of light, and therefore types of the All-seeing. The Sambhu Purána, indeed, distinctly states that Buddha was manifested in the shape of flame (jyoti-rupya, or "flame-formed"). From these statements it is clear that the fire itself was not worshipped by the Buddhists, but was looked upon simply as the visible type of the All-seeing. This explanation is fully confirmed by the occurrence of other symbols in temples of the same description, both at Sánchi and at Gya, and by the total absence of image-worship. Indeed at this time the Buddhists would appear to have repudiated image-worship, and

* Prinsep's Journal, i., 383. Wilson's Abstract.

+ Hodgson, p. 67.

Hodgson, p. 86, and p. 103 note.

P

to have paid all their adoration to symbols of Buddha and of Dharma, and to Topes and trees which had been dedicated to Buddha.

III. Tope dedicated to the Supreme Buddha. Ascetic Life in the Woods.-A Tope marked with horizontal layers of masonry, and decorated with a pair of eyes, one placed above the other. The Tope is surrounded by a square Buddhist railing.* Background of various trees, amongst which the plantain is easily distinguishable. To the left, a hermit naked to the waist is bringing in a pile of faggots on his shoulder; a second is carrying a banghy, or pole, with baskets slung at the ends by ropes. A third is seated on a mat, and is apparently feeding a fire kept in a small vessel. A fourth is seated in the same way, and is fanning a fire in a similar vessel. A fifth is fanning an empty-looking vessel, but which may be supposed to contain some hot embers that could be fanned into flame. To the right, two other ascetics are engaged in splitting a log of wood with large felling axes.

It appears to me that this scene is intended to represent the fewness of the wants of ascetic life. Each hermit is employed in looking after his own wants, which would seem to be limited to the collection of a small quantity of firewood. At first sight I thought that this scene represented the building of a wooden

*See Plate III., fig. 7, of this volume.