THE STUPA
49
onlythe
Buddhists calledthem
Buddha,Sangha,andDharma,
instead
ofBrahm^,
Vishnu,andSiva,accordingtotheorthodox
Brahmanformula.
Fourbars tothe Brahman
meant thefour
Vedas,the
depositoryofthesacredtraditions
oftheAryanrace;
the
Buddhists explained themas
the foureventsin the life of
the
Blessed One—the Nativity,
the Enlightenment, the First
Sermon at Benares, and His
Death, or Pari-Nirvana. The
splendid open lotus flowers
carved upon therail (PI. XIII, a)
weresymbolsandvotive
offeringswhichhadthesamemeaning
forall schools of Aryan
philosophyand religion. Theriteof
pradakshina,
the circumambulation of the
sttlpa,
which
the
pilgrims
performed, was the ancient
Aryan rite which was
repeatedeverydayroundtheenclosure
ofeveryIndian village.
AndinAsoka'stime allthe beautiful
imageryofAryan poetry
which first found expression in
theVedic hymns waswoven
intothefabricofthestdpa. It
wasnolongerafunerealmound,
butplanned likethe Indian
villageon the lines of the cosmic
order which the Divine
Artificer Himself had drawn. The
dome
was the
symbol of the sky, the blue lotus flower en-
velopingtheearthwith its invertedpetals. Thegroupoffive
columns
which
rose from the base of the dome atthe point
oppositethefourgatewaysmarkedthearmsofthecosmiccross,
likethemain streets ofan Aryanvillage, and representedthe
five cosmic jewels, earth, air, fire, water, and ether. The
reliquary,at
the
crownofthedome,wastheVedicaltarofburnt
sacrifice;therailpatternuponitreproducinginadecorativeform
theactualrail whichenclosed thesacrificialarea, and also the
village shrine. The
umbrella over the
reliquary, originally
part
ofthe royal insignia
of the Kshatriya
PrinceSiddhartha,
^
TheVedicconnotationofthis
symbolismistpbefoundinthefivepostsofsacrifice,
i.e.thefourmarkingoutthesacrificialareaandthe
centralstakeoraltar,orthefourcorner
pillarswhichupheldtheuniversewithVishnu'spillarortreeinthecentre. Oragain,the
fourcornerpostsofthevillage
enclosurewiththecounciltreeinthecentre.
4