North Indian Inscriptions

INTRODUCTION

single Kharoshṭhī letters─ called ‘Arian letters’ by him─ engraved on their bases or capitals as marks of the sculptors. “The letters found”, he says, “are p, s, a and b, of which the first three occur twice. I think it probable that these letters may be numerals, the initials of the words pānch =5, sāt = 7, āth = 8, and ba = 2”.^[1]

On the other hand not less than 27 marks, discovered on any portions of the railing, were all in Brāhmī letters. Cunningham came to the conclusion that Western artists were employed by king Dhanabhūti at the gateways, “while the smaller gifts of pillars and rails were executed by the local artists”.^[2]

It is now generally believed that the Bhārhut stūpa with its railing and gateways was built in successive stages, and that its history extends over more than a century. The mound will have existed in the third century B.C., as it was built of large size bricks (12 X 12 X 3,5 inches) which are typical for the Maurya age. For some time it may have been surrounded by a wooden fence and decorated with wooden gateways. The old wooden models of the railing and gateways, however, became later on, towards the end of the second century B.C., replaced by stone work^[3]. Barua imagines three stages in the execution of the stone work :^[4] 1. In the first stage “the mound was enclosed by a railing of rough-hewn stone, with four quadrants, four entrances, a square copied with certain ornamentation on its outer face. and some statues of demigods and demigoddesses on terminus pillars”. 2. “In the second stage, when the eastern terminus pillar of S. E. Quadrant was recorded to be the Barhut first

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pillar^[3] ,…… some alterations were made…… resulting in the replacement of the right terminus pillar in each quadrant by one connected with a return, added at the time, and bearing a lion-statue guarding the approach …… In this stage a few other statues of demigods and demigoddesses were carved on three out of four right terminus pillars in the quadrants ….. The artists employed hailed all from localities where Brāhmī was the current script”. 3. “The third stage was reached……. when king Dhanabhūti erected the gateways. He employed some artists, who hailed from a north-western region where Kharoshṭhī was the current script, to do the work ……. These artists must have also worked on the great railing, either fashioning some of the pillars and rail-bars, or carving new sculptures, or inserting new pillars and rails, in short, giving a finishing touch to the work of repair or decoration”. Barua dates the three stages as follows^[6] : “The first stage is Mauryan but not necessarily Aśokan; it is probably post-Aśokan. The second or middle stage must be dated as early as 150 B.C. and the third or final as late as 100 B.C., half a century being sufficient, upon the whole, for the development of the Barhut plastic art from the first ^[5] to the Prasenajit pillar”^[7]. Giving these dates, Barua keeps in line with Foucher who wrote:^[8] “we feel certain that towards the end of the second century the final touch must have been given to the decoration of the stūpa, commenced, no doubt, during the third”.
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^[1] L.c., p. 8, and note 2.
^[2] It may be recalled that, as stated above p. XI (§ 12, c.), the cerebral nasal (ṇ) appears only in the gateway inscriptions A 1 and A 2.
^[3] Foucher, The Beginnings of Buddhist Art, London, 1917, p. 34.
^[4] Barh., I, pp. 32 ff.
^[5] Cf. No. A 34.
^[6] Barh., I, p. 36.
^[7] Cf. No. B 26-31, B 36-39, B 60-61, B 70-72, A 62.
^[8] L.c., p. 34.