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

BUDDHIST

SYMBOLISM

51

but

a popular

sentiment like

that of hero-worship

could be

spiritualised and

prevented from

sinking into

gross supersti-

tionand

idolatry. Thatwasthe

motiveoftheritual

represented

by the

hieratic sculptures

of the Asokan

sttipas. Hinayana

Buddhism forbade the

worship of the

great Teacher as a

divinity: it permitted

the veneration of

the symbols which

represented

theevents of His life on

earth and the principles

of His

teaching. It would not tolerate

the superstition of

Brahmanicalsacrificial rites,but it

allowed theVedic altarto

beused as atable for the

symbols ofthe Buddhist

Law, asa

mound upon which to plant

the Bodhi tree (fig.

16),

or as a

casketfor

the relicsofsaints.

That

isexactlywhatisrepresented inthe

sculp-

tures

ofBharhut and Sinchi. As a symbol

of the

Nativity the Buddhist sculptor used the figure

of

Ushas,theVedicDawn-maiden,otherwise

Lakshmi

orSri, the Goddess of Good Fortune,

Abundance,

and

Fertility (PI. XI, fig. a). She rises from the

cosmic ocean standingupon Brahma's lotusflower,

fig.le.-Bodhi

andtwo elephants, symbols of the rain-cloud,pour

TreewJthi

lustrationsoverher. Seven differentkindsoftrees,

withVedicaltarsasthronesofthegodsplaced in frontof

them

(PI. XI, fig. b), symbolised the Second Event inthe Buddhist

sacredcycle,the Illumination undertheBodhiTree,whichwas

saidtohavetakenplaceinsevendifferentlivesoftheTathagata,

andrepresented, as ProfessorRhys Davids hasexplained, the

attainment

of Nirvana,

the zenith of spiritual consciousness.

The Third Event was the

preaching of the first Sermon at

Benares, the turningoftheWheel ofthe Law.

It

is

easyto

understand why the wheel appealed to the

understandingofevery

Indianasan appropriatesymbolofthe

wholeteachingofBuddha,

whichwas notadogmaofreligion

but a

rule oflife. Thewheel was not onlyan ancientVedic