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

360 CEYLON AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
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in enabling us to reconstruct the original
appearance of temples almost totally destroyed
or remodelled; no less important are the
accounts of methods of building and the ceremonies
attending the dedication of the shrines.
In the green darkness of the forest at Anuradhapura
there rise the ruins of nearly a thousand
years of Singhalese history. Palaces, monasteries,
and stupas, once completely engulfed
by the jungle waves, have been reclaimed in half
a century of conservation, so that some idea of
the extent and grandeur of this Buddhist capital
is afforded the visitor. If he finds these ruins
rather austere - in some cases little more than
stone skeletons - he has only to remember that
at one time, like the ancient monuments of
Taxila and Nalanda in India as described by
Hsiian-tsang, they shone with a splendour only
faintly echoed in the tawdry decor of the
modern temples of Colombo and Kandy.
Dominating the landscape at Anuradhapura are
the great stupas or ddgabas, 2 some still so
covered with vegetation that they appear
literally like small mountains rising above the
forest. In Ceylon the dagabas are classified by
the shape of the dome, designated by such
poetic terms as 'bell-shaped', 'bubble-shaped',
'lotus-shaped', etc.
The typical Singhalese dagaba is divided into
the threefold base (trimala), the dome (anda),
and the superstructure comprising the harmika
and yasti or mast. As in Indian religious architecture,
the strictest ritual governed the laying
of the magical foundation stones, and no less
rigid proportions fixed the dimensions of these
monuments. As far as we can rely on a rather
corrupt text dealing with such instructions to
the builders, the height of the cupola, which is
three-fifths of the diameter of the ground plan,
represents one-third of the total height of the
dagaba, and is equal to the height of the spire
(including its base) and to the height of the
threefold base. 3 The essential division into
three parts is probably no accident, but a pur-
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287. Anuradhapura, Thuparama dagaba Sf^
poseful incorporation of the number three, with
its symbolical allusion to the Buddhist Trinity
and concepts such as the three planes of
existence and other similar magical properties
of this number in Buddhist philosophy. 4
According to the Mahdvamsa, some of the
ruined tumuli were founded in the reign of
Devanam-Piyatissa in the third century B.C.,
although probably all were enlarged or remodelled
at later periods. An example is the
Thuparama, said to have been dedicated in
244 B.C. [287]. In its present form it is a
characteristic Singhalese dagaba: the monument
is dominated by a 'bubble' dome of brick,
which rests on three circular bases or 'bracelets'
set upon a round paved foundation [288]; the
cupola is surmounted by a balcony-like member
corresponding to the harmika of the Indian
stupa, and, over all, is the traditional ringed
spire with a series of seven umbrellas telescoped
together, so that in profile this member resembles
an inverted child's top. Leading to the