Week V: Part 1
Week V: Part 1

ASIAN RELIGIONS AND ART--EARLY INDIAN BUDDHISM

Key Work:

  • The Great Stupa at Sanchi (La Plante, Figures 3.2, 3.3, 3.4)

    READING: La Plante, Asian Art, pp.10-20.

    HISTORY:

    SITES:

    TERMS:

    TIME LINE: (3rd century B.C.-1st century A.D.)

    FURTHER READING:

    NOTES: What monuments and symbols are adopted by early Buddhists? What function did Buddhism play for the Emperor Ashoka?

    THE GREAT STUPA AT SANCHI (3rd century B.C.-1st century A.D.)

    The Great Stupa was begun in the 3rd century B.C. and had later additions. It is constructed of brick and rubble and faced with gilded stucco with rails of white stone. We may assume that stupas were the first sacred Buddhist buildings and that The Great Stupa at Sanchi is its earliest surviving example. The core of The Great Stupa probably originates from the 3rd. century B.C. Here, as in many Indian stupas, the original building was encased in a mass of earth and stone for when it was enlarged it was the custom not to commit the sacrilege of destroying the original monument.

    The Great Stupa at Sanchi stands on a hill rising out of the plain not far from Bhopal in Central India. The stupa is a burial mound; its form dates back to prehistoric times. This monumental form, as used for the burial of princes, had the shape of a large hemisphere. At an early date, this kind of tomb developed into a commemorative monument, and was adopted by Buddhists as one of their main symbols and as the center of their religious compounds. The stupa was an actual tomb, placed over the remains of the historical Buddha or other holy persons. A stupa also acts as a symbol to commemorate a sacred place such as sites where important events took place in Buddha's mortal life. The stupa played a crucial role in Buddhist beliefs for it is the very symbol of nirvana, or final redemption, the goal of every Buddhist.

    All such monuments follow a similar plan. They are mounds of rubble and brick faced with stone, covered with white stucco partly gilded and surmounted by a three (or more) part umbrella symbolizing the three most basic aspects of Buddhism -- the Bud dha himself, Buddha's Law and the Monastic Order. The rail around the umbrella shaft is thought to reflect the ancient concept of marking off a precinct around a sacred tree, symbolic of vitality and fertility. On the base around the hemispherical dome is a narrow path along which processions moved. A second path is at ground level where pilgrims could circumambulate clockwise symbolic of walking the Path of Life around the World Mountain, following an ancient Indian rite of following the path of sun w hile making offerings and ritual performances. The path is enclosed within a tall stone railing which isolates this sanctuary from the outside world. Access to it is gained through four monumental gateways, toranas, some ten meters in height and set at the cardinal directions. The uprights and crossbars are lavishly carved with stories from the life of Buddha; with jataka tales, edifying legends in which Buddha is shown as pious and wise; and with large guardian figures called yakshas and yakshis, anc ient gods and goddess of fertility. These lively sculpted panels contrast dramatically with the massive character of the stupa and railing, emphasizing their narrative content.

    It is significant that Buddha himself is not represented in figural form -- a kind of symbolism called aniconic, or without image. His presence is suggested by symbols such as a wheel, footprints, a throne, or the Boh tree, all important emblems of his life. It was thought to be impossible to represent Buddha in human form since he had already passed into nirvana, an otherworldly state of being.

    A richly decorated structure such as the Great Stupa took decades to complete. We can no longer see these monuments in their former splendor, with smooth white or gaily-colored plaster exteriors and sculpted decoration with polychrome painting. The sculpture depicted stories quite like folk tales and brought the life of Buddha to its visitors in familiar terms. The massive domes frequently contain a system of concentric or radial supporting walls arranged by symbolic considerations rather than technical considerations. They face the points of the compass and represent rays leading out from the center, a plan in the form of a mandala, or diagram of the cosmos. This was not visible from the exterior, but was of crucial importance for the sacred su bstance of the monument. Its profound importance in Buddhist belief and practice is attested by its long use and survival into the present day.

    These early constructions celebrate the life of the historic Buddha, a man called Siddhartha Gautama. He was born about 560 B.C. of a noble family living in the foothills of the Himalayas. He gave up his princely life of fine robes and jewels in or der to seek out the cause of suffering, disease and misery which he saw all around him. India of the sixth century B.C. was undergoing rapid and violent political and social change. As had many of his contemporaries, Prince Gautama renounced his former life and, as an ascetic, contemplated and discussed the sorrows of the world with other learned recluses on the outskirts of villages. At age thirty-five he sat under a large pipal tree in the town of Gaya and resolved not to leave his seat until the rid dle of suffering was solved.

    After hosts of temptations, he sank deeper and deeper into meditation and at dawn on the forty-ninth day he knew the truth, the secret of sorrow, and knew what to do to overcome it - release the mortal soul from the cycle of rebirth. He had reached nirvana. He remained seated under this Tree of Wisdom (the boh tree) meditating on the truths he had found. He then journeyed to Deer Park (modern Sarnath) and preached his first sermon -- in Buddhist phraseology, he "set the Wheel of the Law in motion ." Soon he had a band of sixty ascetics who became his followers as he went on preaching the Buddhist dharma (doctrine). For eight months of the year they wandered from place to place, but in the rainy season they stopped at one of the parks given by we althy lay followers to live there in huts. These were the first of the great Buddhist monasteries of later times.

    Buddha's quest was a personal one. He sought nirvana, a refined stage of enlightenment accepted by adherents of various religions of the time. Nirvana marked an end to the cycle of rebirth and was thought of as a state of enduring, permanent bliss -- called the Supreme Truth or Reality. Buddhist dharma claims that there is no existence without suffering, that the cause of suffering is egocentric desire and that the elimination of desire will end suffering.

    After Buddha's death at age eighty in about 480 B.C., the religion grew and changed along with the political institutions of India. The third leader of the first great Indian Empire called the Mauryan Dynasty (322-183 B.C.) was named Ashoka (269-232 B.C.). He expanded Mauryan political influence over much of the subcontinent. According to tradition, Ashoka was moved to remorse and pity by the horrors of war and came to the conclusion that true power was realized through religion, not force. Thus he became an active patron of Buddhism and supported the communities of monks. The political might of the Mauryans, as well as their patronage, brought the full institutionalization of Buddhism. A set of Buddhist offices was created; numbers of monks oc cupied monasteries which acquired property; the canon was expanded, diversified and refined. Ashoka himself is said to have erected 84,000 stupas over the relics of Buddha throughout the Empire. Thus the search for personal salvation by one man, Buddha , became an apparatus involving millions of people supported by one of the world's greatest ancient empires.

    The stupas became the center of life in the monasteries including buildings used as lecture halls, kitchens and hostels. Their locations and the lifeways of the monks were guided by recollections of Buddha's life. These chaityas (sacred locations) were to a remarkable degree coincident with trade routes of the day as the initial spread of religion under the state patronage of Ashoka was linked to commerce. Since Buddhists enjoyed the protection of the state, traders associating with them came und er the same protective umbrella. Monasteries were safe havens which received the financial support of their visitors. The symbiosis between monks and traders was ultimately the agency that took this religion out of India and into China, Japan and Southe ast Asia.

    FROM: Linduff, K.M., "The Great Stupa at Sanchi," in Art Past/Art Present, by D. Wilkins and B. Schultz, New York, 2000, 4th ed.