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CHAPTER XXVII.

SYMBOLS OF BUDDHA, DHARMA, AND SANGHA.

1. In my account of the sculptured ornaments of the different Topes, frequent mention is made of the symbols of Buddha and Dharma, which occur either singly or united amongst the bas-reliefs at Sánchi, and on many of the most ancient coins of India. The summits of the Sánchi gateways are crowned with these symbols. They occur as objects of worship amongst the bas-reliefs, supported either on pillars or on altars. They form ornaments for the arms and standards of the soldiers; and they are frequently placed both at the beginning and end of inscriptions.

2. The Triad of the Buddhists, which has already been explained, consisted of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Buddha was Spirit, or Divine Intelligence; Dharma was Matter, or Concrete Nature; and Sangha, the "union" of the two, was the universe. This was the esoteric or metaphysical explanation of the terms; but according to the exoteric doctrine, Buddha was Sákya Sinha, the mortal author of the Buddhist

faith: Dharma was the religion, or the "Law,' and Sangha was the "congregation" of the faithful. By the orthodox believers, Buddha was held to be the chief person of the Triad, and the Supreme First Cause and Creator of all things; but the Materialists exalted Dharma to the chief place, and taught that Buddha, or Spirit, was only an emanation from Prajná, or Nature, which was the Divine Source of all.

3. The symbol of Buddha was, I believe, the wheel; which in its revolution was emblematic of the passage of the soul through the circle of the various forms of existence. Hence, the wheel, or whole circle, was typicial of any one who, after obtaining nirvána, or emancipation from this mortal coil, had completed the circle of his existence, and was no longer subject to transmigration. Such a person was BUDDHA, the founder of the Buddhist religion, who was commonly called the Mahá Chakravartti Raja,† or Supreme Lord of the Universe; or, more literally, the Great King who hath turned the wheel (of transmigration). In the institutes of Manu, transmigration is compared to the wheel of a car; and again, in the Vishnu Purána,§ "the mark of Vishnu's dis

* The Buddhist reverence for Dharma, or the Law, will remind the English reader of the law in the Old Testament.

See Fo-kwe-ki, c. xx., n. 10; and also Prinsep's Journal, vol. vii., p. 106, where Turnour states that as Buddha's attributes were those of a Chakravartti Raja, so was he called by that title. ↑ Chap. xii., sl. 124.

§ Wilson's Translation, p. 101.

cus" is said to be "visible on the hand of one who is born to be a universal emperor" (Chakravartti).

4. The wheel is the central emblem on the summit of each of the Sánchi gateways. This would seem to have been its usual position, and it was, no doubt, significant of the supremacy of Buddha. In the Mahawanso, Raja Sirinago of Ceylon is stated to have inserted gems in the centre of each of the four emblems of the "Sun" on the Mahá Stupo, or Great Tope.* This, perhaps, points to the absorption of the ancient sun-worship into Buddhism; for the wheel was one of the most common and obvious emblems of the sun.

5. In Plate XXXI., I have collected together several illustrations of the wheel-symbol of Buddha from the Sánchi bas-reliefs, and from coins.

Fig. 1. Bas-relief on a pillar of the western entrance of No. 2 Tope at Sánchi. A man and woman are represented perambulating the pillar. The illustration shows the importance attached to this symbol by the Buddhists of Asoka's age. The same wheelpillar occurs again at the northern entrance.

Fig. 2. Central emblem on the summit of each of the four Sánchi gateways.†

* Mahawanso, p. 229.

+ See Plate XXXI., fig. 7, for the celebrated wheel and club of Surya, from Udayagiri. This was the god whom the Greeks of Alexander's army mistook for Hercules; but one of them has preserved the true name in Zopoadéos, or Surya Deva, the "SunGod."

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Figs. 3, 4. Reverses of coins found at Ujain— quadruple emblems of the sun.

Fig. 5. Bas-relief on a pillar of the south gate of No. 2 Tope, and also on a pillar of the south gate of No. 3 Tope, both at Sánchi.

Fig. 6. Bas-relief on a pillar at the eastern entrance of No. 2 Tope, Sánchi. A figure is kneeling at its foot.

Figs. 8, 9. On the earliest silver and copper coins found in all parts of India, from Nepál to Ceylon, and from Kandahar to the Delta of the Ganges.

Fig. 10. Ancient Hindu coin of brass, literally covered with Buddhist symbols. On the obverse is a bull; to the left, a peculiar symbol, which is found on other Buddhist coins, and on the necklace of Buddhist symbols on one of the Sánchi gateways. Above is the quadruple emblem of Dharma. On the reverse (in the middle), is a tree surrounded by a Buddhist railing; below is a chaitya, or, more probably, Mount Sumeru; to the right, a swástika, or mystic cross; and to the left, the symbol of Sangha, being the united emblems of Buddha and Dharma. The latter is placed uppermost, which I presume is intended to show the superiority of Dharma, or Concrete Nature, over Buddha, or Spirit.

Fig. 11. Coins, both of silver and copper, found chiefly between the Indus and the Jumna. On the obverse is a deer, with branching horns, and before it a human figure with the arm raised. Behind the deer an emblem of the sun. Inscription in old Indian Páli.

Rajnya Kunandasa Amogha-bhatisa Maharajasa.

"(Coin) of the royal KUNANDA, the brother of AMOGHA, the King."

On the reverse is a chaitya, or Mount Sumeru, surrounded by the monogram or symbol of Dharma; to the right, a tree in a Buddhist enclosure, and to the left, a swástika, and the unknown triangular symbol. Inscription in Ariano Páli the same as on the obverse.

6. The quadruple symbol of Buddha, which is found on the Ujain coins, and the quadruple symbol of Dharma which occurs on coin No. 10, and on one of the pillars at Andher, most probably have reference to the other four mortal Buddhas, Krakuchanda, Kanaka, Kasyapa, and Sakya Muni. The four entrances at Sánchi, and at the Great Tope in Ceylon, with their crowning symbols of Buddha, may, I think, be also referred to the same.

7. Dharma, or Concrete Nature, was, I believe, neatly symbolized by a monogram which united the radical letters of the various elements of matter. According to the Pujá-kand,* "all things with their veja-mantras (radicals), came from Swabháva (the self-existent), in this order :

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One of the Sanskrit Buddhist works of Nepal, quoted by

Hodgson, p. 105.

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