THE STUPA OF BHARHUT A BUDDHIST MONUMENT ORNAMENTED WITH NUMEROUS SCULPTURES

PREFACE

THE remains of the Great Stupa of Bharhut were first discovered by me in the end of November 1873; but as the whole of my camp was then on its way to Nagpur, I was not able then to do more than to ascertain the fact that portions of two gateways, with the included quarter of the circular railing, were still in situ, although nearly all thrown down and buried under a mound of rubbish from 5 to 7 feet in height. On my return from the Chanda district in February 1874, I spent 10 days at Bharhut, when I succeeded in uncovering the whole quadrant of the buried railing. The curious sculptures were a source of much wonder to the people who visited the place by hundreds every day. But the inscriptions excited even greater curiosity when it was known that I was able to read them. At every fresh discovery I was importuned to say what was the subject of the writing, and great was the disappointment when I made known the simple records of gifts to the Stupa, or of the names of the guardian Yakshas, Devatas, and Nagan. Few natives of India have any belief in disinterested excavations for the discovery of ancient buildings, or of works of art, or of records of ancient times. Their only idea of such excavations is that they are really intended as a search for hidden treasure, and from the incredulous looks of many of the people, I have no doubt that I was regarded as an arch deceiver who was studiously concealing the revelations made by the inscriptions as to the position of the buried treasures.

In the beginning of March the work of excavation was taken up by my zealous assistant Mr. J. D. Beglar, who continued the excavation round the whole circle of the railing. To him we owe the discovery of the valuable Prasenajit Pillar, of the famous Jetavana scene, and of many of the most interesting coping stones. He made photographs of the sculptures as they were found; but as each day’s discoveries only showed how much was still left to be explored, the work was closed in the beginning of April. In the middle of that month I forwarded to Government a statement of the discoveries that had been made up to that time. This statement was published in the London papers, and I was much gratified to find that my discovery was everywhere received with much interest. To it I owe the beginning of a correspondence with Professor Childers which ended only with his too premature death. The age which I then assigned to the Stupa, between 250 and 200 B.C., has not been shaken by any subsequent discoveries, and I have reason to believe that it is now almost universally admitted.

 In November 1874 I again returned to Bharhut with Mr. Beglar to make a complete exploration of the mound of ruins, and to photograph all the sculptures systematically on the fixed scale of one-sixth of the original size for all basreliefs, and of one-twelfth for all statues and larger objects. It was during these excavations that all the smaller pieces of the East Gateway were found; from which I was able to make the restoration shown in Plate VI. The exploration was carried on until the end of December, by which time the whole extent of ground covered by the railing to a breadth of 10 and 12 feet, both inside and outside, was completely excavated. At the same time all the neighbouring villages within a circuit of 10 miles were carefully explored for portions of the missing sculptures. This search was rewarded with the discovery of two pillars of a second or outer railing of which portions had already been found in situ at Bharhut. The basrelief of the Indra Sála-guha, or ” Indra’s Cave Hall,” was then discovered at Batanmåra, and the missing half of the famous Chhadanta Játaka at Pataora, 7 miles distant, degraded to the ignoble position of a washerman’s plank.

During 1874 I had written an account of the discoveries made during the first season’s excavations, but all these important additions necessitated a re-arrangement of the plates and the re-writing of the whole account of the Stúpa. This was in great part done during 1875, at the same time that I was carrying on the arrangement of Asoka’s inscriptions to form Vol. I. of the projected “Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum.” The discovery of a new inscription of Asoka at Sahasaram, in which I believed that there was a figured date, similar to some unknown symbols in another recently discovered record of Asoka at Rûpnâth, made it necessary that I should visit Sahasarâm myself, which I did during November 1875.

During all this time I was in frequent correspondence with Professor Childers in London, and with the learned Buddhist priest Subhûti of Ceylon, regarding the subjects of the Bharhut sculptures, and more especially of the Jútakas, or previous Births of Buddha. In the summer of 1876 I completed the present account of Bharhut, but as I had reason to believe that some further discoveries might still be made, Mr. Beglar and myself visited the place a third time, and once more thoroughly explored the whole neighbourhood. The remains of the corner pillar of one of the missing gateways were then discovered together with several fragments. These are not included in the plates; but I may mention that the story represented on the pillar was almost certainly the celebrated Wessantara Játaka. About two thirds of each face have been cut away, but in the remaining portion of one of the scenes there is a four-horse chariot with a boy and girl being led by the hand, which leave no doubt in my mind that these are intended for the two children of Prince Wessantara.

This last visit proved of value in another way, which, though not quite unexpected, serves to show how judicious was the course which I took for the acquisition and despatch of these valuable sculptures to Calcutta. When Professor Childers heard of the intention to get these sculptures removed to a place of safety, he wrote, “It is impossible to read General Cunningham’s most interesting account of these sculptures ” without a sigh of regret that they should be so far beyond the reach of our inspection. “I hear of a proposal to remove them from Bharhut. The scheme carries with it a certain “aroma of Vandalism (fancy carting away Stonehenge!).” I am willing to accept the aroma since I have saved all the more important sculptures. Of those that were left behind every stone that was removable has since been “carted away” by the people for building purposes. So inveterate is this practice in India that Babu Rajendra Lal, when he first heard of the Bharhut discoveries, boldly addressed the Government of India, suggesting that the sculptures should be removed to a place of safety to prevent the people from carrying them off. At my request the whole of the sculptures were liberally presented to Government by the Raja of Någod, in whose territory Bharhut stands, and I am happy to say that they have arrived safely in Calcutta, where the fine large view of the famous Jetavana monastery, given in Plate LVII., was kindly taken for me by Captain Water- house. This view will show that the sculptures have not suffered in their long travels of 600 miles. In his letter already quoted Professor Childers expressed a “hope that the sculptures may find their way to the India Office [in London] instead of being consigned to the peaceful oblivion of an Indian Museum.” In this hope I should most cordially agree were I not afraid that they might be consigned to the still more oblivious vaults of the British Museum, where some 10 years ago I discovered no less than seven Indian inscriptions in the full enjoyment of undisturbed repose, unseen, uncared for, and unknown. At present there is no Indian Museum in London, while there is one in Calcutta where the sculptures are now deposited. And there I may hope that they will fare better than did my Srâvasti statue of Buddha in the Museum of the Bengal Asiatic Society. This ancient statue of Buddha, which certainly dates as early as the beginning of the Christian era, was placed in the midst of a herd of stuffed deer The result was and antelopes, which completely hid its inscribed pedestal from view. unfortunate, as the chief value of the statue was its ancient inscription. But perhaps the Naturalists, who then monopolised the direction of the Museum, may have considered this arrangement a highly appropriate compliment to Buddha, who in several previous births had been a “King of the Deer.”

November 1874.