The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

48

THE

STUPA

indicates better the austerity of early Buddhist ritual, and,

making allowance forthefactthattherailsareonlycarved in

reliefonthe face ofthe

sttlpainstead ofenclosingit,onecan

realisefrom ittheexactappearanceofoneofthe84,000sttipas

whichAsoka issaid tohavebuilt.

Fergussonand otherarchaeologists havefailedtoremark

thatthe sttlpawasnotaspecial productof Buddhistand

Jain

religious ritual and dogma; as it existed in Asoka's time it

embodiedthesymbolismandritualofallAryanreligiondirectly

derivedfromtheVedas.

s

.

'^^^^^^^^^^^^^555^?^?5:^^;?;^^^^^^^^^^^^W'

Fig.14—SectionoftheGreatStflpa

atSincht,showingRailandGateways

(fromFei^usson's

"

History

").

Thefour gateways marking the cardinal

pointswerere-

productionsof the gateways of the Indo-Aryan

village. The

railwasthe

sameas thatwhichenclosed

thesacrificial area

in

theVedic sacrifices.

The Buddha,as an

inspired Kshatriya

teacher,

disputedthe Brahman interpretation

oftheVedas

and

theefficacyof

Brahmanicalsacrifices;but

hisfollowers,

whatever

theirvarhaorcolour

might be, worshipped

himwith the

im-

memorial riteswhich

belongedto allwho

camewithinthepale

ofthe Indo-Aryan village

community.

Thethreebarsof

therail meant thethree

positions

ofthe

sunat itsrising, atits zenith,

andatits

setting—and

hence a

spiritualdefence,forthese
werethethree
timesofdaily
prayer

—