The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

ART UNDER THE KLSHANS: GANDHARA 141
bers served as assembly halls or refectories.
Some of the outdoor enclosures are crowded
with stupas of varying sizes, the gifts of individual
donors, clustered around a larger stupa that
contained the principal relic of the establishment.
The buildings at Takht-i-Bahi, like their
counterparts at Taxila and elsewhere in Gandhara,
are constructed of stones of varying sizes
arranged in diaper fashion. Certain elements,
like the heavy, overhanging cornices of the
niches, are obviously imitations of prototypes in
thatch. We must imagine that originally the entire
surface of this stone fabric, together with
the statuary it housed, was covered with a heavy
layer of lime plaster, richly polychromed and
gilded [84].
The stupa in Gandhara marks the gradual
elaboration of the primitive types known at Sanchi
and Bharhut. Tins elaboration takes the
form of the all-over sculptural ornamentation
of base, drum, and hemispherical dome. Especially
notable is the greater emphasis on the
superstructure. Not infrequently the Gandhara
stupas have an attenuated, tower-like appearance,
whereby the height of the finial dwarfs the
size of the base and dome ;
and it is highly likely
that from such models the earliest pagodas of
China were developed. As an example of this
architectural type in Gandhara, the Ali Masjid
stupa in the Khyber Pass may be taken [81]. The
illustration shows the monument immediately
after excavation and before its figural decoration
was demolished by iconoclastic Pathan
tribesmen. This monument, orginally more than
fort} - feet high, is characteristic of even larger
Gandhara stupas in its elevation, consisting of
two square bases, a drum, probably originally
in two storeys, and surmounted at one time by
the usual superstructure of harmika and finial of
tiered umbrellas. The ornamentation of the
facade is the combination of Indian and Classical
elements so universal in every aspect of
Gandhara art. Supporting the second storey
of the basement are caryatids in the shape of
crouching yakshas and lions. The principal
scheme of decoration consists of a stucco revetment
of arcades attached to the facade. These
arcades on bases and drums alike consist of
chaitya arches supported on stubby balusters
framed in debased Corinthian pilasters. The
effect recalls the ornamentation of the Bimaran
reliquary, and is ultimately derived from the
engaged orders of Roman architecture. This
architectural ornament is carried out entirely in
lime plaster attached to the core of the stupa,
which was constructed of the usual mixture of
boulders and small stones. The sculpture installed
in the niches of the Ali .Masjid stupa comprised
a heterogeneous assortment of Buddha
and Bodhisattva images - not arranged, apparently,
according to any unified iconographic
scheme, but representing only different aspects
of the deified Buddha of the Mahayana faith.
This relic mound is characteristic of Gandhara
in the elaborateness of its decoration, applied
now to the stupa, and not to its surrounding
railing. The architect's interest in greater height
is
suggested by the repetition of the storeys of
the base and drum.
The most famous stupa in Gandhara, a veritable
Buddhist wonder of the world, was the
great tower raised by King Kanishka in Peshawar.
Excavations at the site of Shah-ji-ki-Dheri
have revealed a massive square platform richly
decorated with stucco images of the Buddha,
and with staircases leading to an upper level.
According to the description of the Chinese
pilgrim. Sung Yiin, who visited the site in the
sixth century a.d., the superstructure was built
of 'every kind of wood' and the monument in
thirteen storeys rose to a height of seven hundred
feet; it was dominated by an iron mast
supporting thirteen gilded copper umbrellas, an
element which, through its attraction of lightning,
led to the destruction of the tower.- 6 One
may gain some idea of its original appearance