Guy _Mahabodhi Temple Models_Burlington_1991.pdf

The Mahābodhi Temple: Pilgrim Souvenirs of Buddhist IndiaAuthor(s): John GuySource: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 133, No. 1059 (Jun., 1991), pp. 356-367Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/884751 .Accessed: 08/02/2011 12:05

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JOHN GUY

The Mahdbodhi temple: pilgrim souvenirs of

Buddhist India*

IN INDIA sacred places have long been the focus of pilgrimage, a practice which doubtless extends much further back than the early centuries BC indicated by archaeological evidence. The importance of pilgrimage to the holy places (1trtha-yatra-) is stressed in the earliest Brahmanical literature. A liturgical text attached to the Rg Veda, gener- ally accepted as having been composed before 1000 BC, provides the first known reference:

Flower-like the heels of the wanderer, His body groweth and is fruitful; All his sins disappear, Slain by the toil of his journeying.'

The Tibetan monk Dharmasvimin, who made his pilgrimage to the land of Buddhism in 1234-36 AD, was among the last in a long line of pilgrims to visit the

important site at Bodhgaya while Buddhism was still a

living religion in the land of its birth. His biography makes clear the site's significance:

Across the Ganges lies the country of Magadha. In Tibetan [Magadha] means 'holding that which became the centre' . . . This country stretches from Vajrasana [Bodhgaya temple] towards the four quarters [of the

universe] ... and is the very centre of the World.2

The highlight of his pilgrimage was, as for all Buddhists then and now, to stand beneath the bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, where the historical Buddha had attained enlightenment. This spot is marked by a stone seat, the vajrdsana or 'diamond seat', beneath the tree which represents the very centre of the universe according to Buddhist cosmology. The sacred tree and diamond throne appear always to have been the primary focus of devotion at Bodhgaya. A monumental

temple, the Mahdbodhi temple, rectangular in plan and with a square tapering tower, stands immediately to the east: its antiquity, and the various transformations it has

undergone over the past two thousand years, are the sub-

jects of the first part of this article. The second half will discuss its influence, transmitted in part by the production of stone miniature models which were dispersed throughout the Buddhist world, as well as the r6le these models played in pilgrimage ritual.

The widespread distribution of holy places in India, and the circulation of vast numbers of people, always ensured a remarkable degree of cultural unity within the subcon-

tinent. Shared values were reinforced by the mechanism of pilgrimage, through which India also became a continuous religious space. With the spread of Indian religious practice - particularly Buddhism - beyond the subcontinent, this space was extended even further.

The purpose of pilgrimage was twofold: to allow the devotee to imbibe the 'sacred presence' at a holy site and so be cleansed or healed by this experience and, more im- portantly, to perform a religious observance or meritorious act (karma) in the hope of future spiritual recompense. In the course of a pilgrimage, devotees often took home a memento or holy souvenir through which the benefits of their visit could continue to be enjoyed and could be shared by those unable to make the journey in person. These souvenirs, analogous to the mass-produced lead and tin-lead alloy badges produced for Christian pilgrims in medieval England,3 were also, if we can judge from recent Tibetan Buddhist practice, sometimes carried as talismans.4 Pilgrim souvenirs from Bodhgaya included low-fired and sun-dried clay miniature stipas, and clay impressions of prayer seals. Alexander Cunningham, reporting the British restoration at Bodhgayi in 1892, wrote that 'hundreds of thousands of offerings in the form of... little clay stupas' were found,5 and this suggests that some were intended to be left at the site, possibly as memorials to a deceased relative or simply to acquire merit for the donor. Narrative clay votive plaques were clearly produced as souvenirs, to judge from their wide distribution in the Himalayas and mainland South-East Asia. Small stone steles have also been found in considerable quantities, particularly in Tibet and Burma, the most common type de-

picting the eight great events of the Buddha's life, especially the Victory over Mdra (Maravihaya) at Bodhgay5. Less common are miniature models of the Mah5bodhi temple itself, which served as icons or commemorations of the holy site, and carried in their abbreviated sculptural programme a number of these great events (Fig. 1). However, the most prized souvenir from Bodhgaya, then as now, was also the most common: a leaf from the sacred bodhi tree itself.

All places associated with major events in the life of the Buddha Sakyamuni were venerated (Fig.2). In Buddhism

pilgrimage was recognised early as an important dimension of religious practice. An early text, the Mah/uparinibbd-na suttant cites the appropriate places of devotion: those of

*This article is based on the text of the Arts Club lecture, delivered at the Victoria and Albert Museum on 15th October 1990. I am grateful to Claudine Bautze-Picron, J.P. Losty, Gustav Roth, Don Stadtner and Wladimir Zwalf for their help during the preparation of this article. Pamela Gutman kindly supplied photographs collected by the late G.H. Luce. S.M. BHARDWAJ: Hindu Places of Pilgrimage in India, Berkeley [ 1973], p.3.

2G. ROERICH, trs.: Biography of Dharmasvamin, Patna [1959], p.63.

3See j. ALEXANDER and P. BINSKI, eds.: Age of Chivalry. Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400, exh.cat., Royal Academy of Arts, London [1987], pp.218-24. 4Small terracotta votive plaques (tsha tsha in Tibetan) were frequently carried in amulet boxes (gau); see G. TUCCI: Indo- Tibetica, Vol.I, Rome [1932]. 5A. CUNNINGHAM: Mahabodhi, or the Great Buddhist Temple at Buddha-gaya, London

[1892], p.46.

356

THE MAHABODHI TEMPLE

1. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple. Stone, 12 cm. high. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

the birth (Lumbini), the enlightenment (Bodhgaya), the first sermon (Sarnath) and the passing into

nirvinna (maha-- parinirvanza, at Kusinagara).6 By the time of the Mauryan emperor Aloka (c.250 BC), a great patron and propagator of Buddhism, these four sites were well established as

places of pilgrimage, and Asoka marked these and other sites with commemorative stipas and pillars, some of which survive to this day. The depiction of the Bodhgayi tree- shrine (bodhi-ghara) under worship - on a railing relief at Bh-rhut dated to c.80 BC (Fig.4), and at Sanchi (c.25 BC)

3. Relief depicting the Eight Great Miraculous Events. Burma, c.twelfth century. Steatite, 8.5 cm. high. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

LUMBINI O NEPAL KUSINAGARA O

SARNATH O O NALANDA BHARHUT O

BODHGAYA SANCHI O

BURMA

INDIA O PAGAN

0

INDI-

O

J4

2. Map of India and South-East Asia showing Buddhist sites.

- confirms the prime importance of this site from an early date.

Eight sites, associated with the events of the Buddha's life, formed the basis of the pilgrimage route, particularly in the early Pdla period of the tenth and eleventh centuries. It would appear from the Astamahipritiharya (literally: 'the eight great miraculous events'), a Buddhist text known

only through a tenth-century Chinese translation, that the veneration (and endowment) of these sites represented a significant sub-cult in medieval Buddhist practice.7 This is supported by the fashion for depicting some or all of these 'great events' in Pila-Sena art. Indeed they formed a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art of the period. The depiction of the eight great events most frequently occurs on small steles which would have served as portable shrines for veneration and meditation within the house- hold (Fig.3), although large cult images are known, for

example the great stele atJagdihpur, a village near Naland- and the site of one of the greatest monastic universities of Buddhist India.8 The importance of these events, revered through the places where they occurred, was recognised in the

A.stamahipr~tiharya text: 'If there are brdhmanas,

good men and good women, who have a great mind to establish a stipa or offer a temple, these people will gain great merit ... [and] will go to the heavenly realm after their death.'9 The endowment of a Buddhist sacred site was perceived as an assured method of lay devotees acquiring sufficient merit to ascend to one of the Buddhist heavens, or assist a monk on the path to

nirvnzTa. Significantly, it is the Victory over Mara (Mtaravijaya) - which occurred

6See S.L. and J.c. HUNTINGTON: Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pila India

(8th-12th Centuries) and its International Legacy, exh.cat., Art Institute, Dayton [1990], p.533. 7'Life of the Buddha' reliefs become common from the Kushan period (late first to third centuries AD); see J.C. HUNTINGTON: 'Pilgrimage as Image: The Cult of the Astamahapratiharya, Part I', Orientations, XVIII, no.4 [April 1987], p.56. 8The scenes include the four principal events (birth, defeat of Mara and enlightenment, first sermon, and death) together with four others: the descent from

Trdyastrimra heaven, the gift of honey from the monkey at Vais'iT, the taming of the wild elephant at Rijgir, and the great illusion of theJetavana monastery. For a major cult image of this type, see HUNTINGTON, loc.cit. at note 7 above, Part II, Orientations XVIII, no.8 [August 1987], pp.56-68. 9HUNTINGTON, loc.cit. at note 6 above, p.532.

357


4.

5. Vajrisana (Diamond Seat), Mahdbodhi temple, Bodhgayi, in situ, c. 1880s.

4. Relief depicting the Mahdbodhi tree-shrine at Bodhgay.;

from Bhdrhut, second century B.C. Sandstone, dimensions unrecorded. (Indian Museum, Calcutta).

under the bodhi tree at Bodhgayi immediately prior to

Sikyamuni's enlightenment - that is most frequently re-

presented as the central subject of the stele compositions, pointing to the pre-eminent position of Bodhgayi in the Buddhist world by this period.

The history of the Mahibodhi temple is one of fluctuat-

ing fortunes linked to the shifting patronage and political events that surrounded the fate of Buddhism both within India and beyond. The site of Bodhgayi was first marked

by a tree-shrine (bodhi-ghara). By the Sunga period (second to first centuries BC) this consisted of a two-storied structure

enclosing the tree: the relief depiction from BhSrhut stupa of a bhodi-ghara in worship, bears a contemporary inscription identifying the scene as 'The Bodhi Tree of Lord

S5kyamuni', and provides the earliest evidence of the shrine's appearance (Fig.4).10 In addition to the bodhi tree, the vajrdsana or 'diamond seat' is clearly visible and is indeed, the main focus of veneration. This stone platform, decorated with a diamond pattern surface, and a duck- and-palmette frieze on the sides, belongs to the Suniga period (first century BC; Fig.5).

The earliest inscriptional evidence from Bodhgayd itself is on a section of the original sandstone enclosure railing dating to the Sunga period, and provides evidence of noble

patronage. It records the gifts of three female devotees, one identified as the sister-in-law of the donor Indrigni mitra. " As has been observed elsewhere (for example at the great Buddhist site of

NSgarjunakond.a in the Krishna

river region of Andhra Pradesh) the earliest recorded donors at Buddhist sites are often the women of ruling

households. 12 Evidence of royal patronage is particularly noteworthy in this early period because, after the late fourth century, the site appears to have been neglected by the nobility: no local ruler's name appears in Buddhist

inscriptions after the year 64 of the Gupta era, although there is ample evidence of continuing royal patronage of Hindu shrines in the district. 13

It is significant in terms of the fate and influence of the

Mahibodhi temple that Buddhist patronage in subsequent centuries came largely from visiting pilgrims and missions sent by foreign rulers. The link between pilgrimage and

patronage, which is so much a feature of the history of the sacred site at Bodhgayi, is established from the earliest

period in an inscription on a Sufiga railing which records the support of a Sri Lankan pilgrim named

Bodhirak.sita. 14

His endowment probably related to the expense of erecting the original sandstone railing that enclosed the sacred tree.

The critical questions concerning the structure on the

Bodhgayd site are: when was the shrine enclosing the bodhi tree replaced by a structural temple and when did the

temple assume the form that was replicated throughout the Buddhist world in both miniature models and full-scale

replicas? The earliest first-hand description of the site is that of

the Chinese pilgrim Faxian, who visited Bodhgayi around 400 AD. He recorded the presence of the sacred tree and stone (presumably the diamond seat) reporting that, 'at the spot [where the Buddha attained enlightenment] they have raised a tower'.15 This is the first reference to a

'oAn alternative reading, 'The building round the Bodhi tree of the holy Sakamuni (9Skyamuni)' is provided in H. LUBERS, ed.: Corpus Inscriptionum Indi- carum, II, part II, Bharhut Inscriptions, Ootacamund [1963], p.95.

CUNNINGHAM, op.cit. at note 5 above, p. 15. 12T.N. RAMCHANDRAM: Nagarjunakonda 1938. Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of

India, no.71, Delhi [1953]. 13F.M. ASHER: The Art of Eastern India, 300-800, Delhi [1980], p.29. 14CUNNINGHAM, op.cit. at note 5 above, p.16. '5s. BEAL, trans.: Si- Tu-Ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World, translatedfrom the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D.629), London [ 1884; reprinted Delhi 1981], p.lxiii.

358


6.

6. Shrine depicted on the base of a Buddha image. Kushan period, c. second century A.D. Sandstone.

(University Museum, Aligarh).

7. Plaque depicting a temple in

compound. From Kumrahar.

Terracotta, 10.6 cm. high. (Patna Museum, Patna).

7.

structural temple on the site. Depictions of tower-shrines occur from the Kushan period (late first to third centuries

AD), one of the clearest being that on the pedestal of a Buddha image from Mathura (Fig.6), which shows a

square, tapering structure with a railing motif on each floor and a rudimentary dmalaka (myrobolan fruit-shaped finial).16 A terracotta relief bearing a Kharo.s.ti inscription of the second or third century AD, excavated at Kumrahar, Pataliputra (the modern Patna) provides one of the most

complete representations of what these early temples may have looked like (Fig.7).17 It shows a square tapering tower with alternating registers of railings and windows, enclosed by a square railing, beyond which are pillared structures, presumably monasteries. The central tower houses an image of a seated Buddha, his hand raised in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra-), flanked by two

standing haloed figures, presumably bodhisattvas. Although it is by no means certain that this relief represents the

Bodhgayi temple, it does bear several striking parallels with Faxian's description: he recorded that at each of the sacred spots, 'towers' and 'figures' (ie, sculptures) were still to be seen and that at Bodhgaya three large monasteries

(saizgharamas) were maintained by the local population. 18

Inscriptions at the site again provide important if limited evidence on this question. One of 588-89 records a donation made by the Sri Lankan monk Mahanaman towards the establishment of a beautiful dwelling for the Teacher (i.e. Buddha). Read in conjunction with another source which refers to the provision of new plaster and paint for the

temple,19 this establishes that the structure at Bodhgaya was no longer simply a tree-shrine but housed the Buddha, that is, it was now an image-house, as is indicated by the Kumrahar terracotta relief.

The most detailed description of the temple is provided

by a second Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, who resided in eastern India for several years studying the Buddhist law

(dharma) and who visited Bodhgayd around 637.20 He described a large rectangular site surrounded by a brick wall in the middle of which was the enclosure (i.e., by this

period, probably the granite railing renewed in the post- Gupta period) around the bodhi tree and diamond throne. He describes the Mahdbodhi temple as follows:

To the east of the Bodhi tree there is a vihara about 160 or 170 feet high. ... The building is of... [bricks] covered with chunam [lime]; all the niches in the different stories hold golden figures. The sides of the building are covered with wonderful ornamental work, in one place figures of stringed pearls, in another figures of heavenly Rishis. ... The whole is surmounted by a gilded copper dmalaka fruit. . . . To the right and left of the outside gate are niche-like chambers; in the left is a figure of Avalokites- vara Bodhisattva, and in the right a figure of Maitreya Bodhisattva. They are made of white silver, and are about ten feet high.21

It is fascinating to compare this description with the miniature stone models of the temple which survive both from India and the Buddhist lands beyond. Although necessarily summary in much of their detailing, these are remarkably consistent in displaying the essential elements of the temple as described by Xuanzang: the rectangular form, the tower with -malaka finial, the registers of ornamentation and the dramatic bodhisattva figures which flank the entrance pav- ilion (Figs.8 and 10).

'6See u.P. SHAH: 'Beginnings of the Superstructure of Indian Temples' in P.

CHANDRA, ed.: Studies in Indian Temple Architecture, New Delhi [ 1975], pp.80-89. 7For a discussion of this controversial plaque, and a revised reading of the

inscription, see B.N. MUKHERJEE: 'Inscribed "Mahabodhi Temple" Plaque from

Kumrahar', Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, N.S, XIV [1984-85], pp.43-46.

18BEAL, op.cit. at note 15 above, p.lxiii.

'9It is referred to as the vajrisana-vrhad-gandhakufti (the perfumed hall [abode of

the Buddha] which houses the diamond throne); see ASHER, op.cit. at note 13

above, p.28. 20Xuanzang's journey began in 629, and he finally returned to China sixteen

years later, in 645; see BEAL, op.cit. at note 15 above, p.xix. 21Ibid., p.119.

359


8. Model of the Mahibodhi temple. Stone, 9.1 cm. high. (A. Biancardi collection, London).

10. Model of the Mahibodhi temple. Stone, 13.5 cm. high. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

11. Model of the Mahbbodhi temple, east elevation. Stone, 12 cm. high. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

MAHAA - BODH 1. P AIATE X

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10

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9. Plan of the Mahdbodhi temple.

The models are small, averaging about twenty centi- metres in height, rectangular in layout, and conform broadly to the plan prepared during the 1881 restoration

(Fig.9). The Victoria & Albert Museum's model is rep- resentative of the type (Figs. 1, and 11-14). It has a pillared entrance porch which leads into a deep sanctuary on the east face (Fig. 11). This entrance is flanked by two attend- ants, presumably the bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Maitreya referred to by Xuanzang, though, because of the massive reduction in scale, their identifying attributes are unclear. On the lower basement frieze appear a variety of animals - elephants, lions, geese - kneeling in adoration. A pair of feet representing the sacred foot-prints of the Buddha (Buddhapida) appear at the entrance of the model, and again on the west porch. The Buddhapdda exists now- adays as an independent object of veneration, immediately to the east of the temple, and was described by the thirteenth-century Tibetan pilgrim Dharmasvdmin as ap- pearing on a square stone 'situated in front of the inner [East] gate'. A circular stone of indeterminate age can be seen in worship today, similarly located on the pavement approach to the east elevation of the temple.22

All temples and objects of veneration in India are to be

approached in a clock-wise movement, keeping the object to the right during the ritual circumambulation (pradaksina). Proceeding around the Victoria & Albert's model to the south elevation (Fig. 12), the first major scene is of a stand-

ing figure of the Buddha which may represent the Descent

22See ROERICH, op.cit. at note 2 above, pp.71-72.

360


12. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple, south elevation. Stone, 12 cm. high. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

13. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple, north elevation. Stone, 12 cm. high. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

14. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple, west elevation. Stone, 12 cm. high. (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

from TrSyastrim'a (Heaven), although on other examples this scene is devoted to the Buddha taming the enraged elephant NilTgiri. The corresponding position on the north face has the Birth of the Buddha scene (Fig. 13). The south and north faces have three distinct registers, beginning with a row of seated Buddhas in various attitudes (mudras), each set in an architectural frame; above is a decorative frieze of lions' faces (kFrttimukha) with pearled or jewelled garlands, and on the third register is a series of arched windows each of which contains a seated Buddha image. A shallow projecting section appears on the west face, in some models housing an image of the buddha in bhumispars'a mudrd (Figs. 14 and 15). In the early medieval structure that the restorations of 1881 exposed, this image was one of thirteen found in architectural niches flanked by pilasters (Fig. 16). As the central image of Bodhgayi, it was the obvious one to choose for representation on the model.

The upper section is dominated by the large &ikhara-type tower, with four smaller replica towers, plus two stupas above the east porch. The addition of these four subsidiary towers most probably reflects memory of independent structures once surrounding the site, marking the four directions tested before the Sdkyamuni chose the correct

place to sit, '[where] all was quiet and peaceful' and enter the meditation by which he achieved his enlightenment:

Xuanzang wrote of the site in 637 that 'within the walls of the Bodhi tree at each of the four angles there is a great stiua'.23 Together, the five towers create a mandala. The

symbolic rOle of the two stupas over the porch is unclear, beyond being emblematic of Buddhahood. The east face of the central tower has a recessed chamber framed by a

porch (Fig. 11), directly above which appears the reclining figure of the Buddha passing into nirvnia (the mahaparinir-

vdn.a). The capping stone of the central tower may be

assumed to have been a fruit-shaped dmalaka surmounted

by a stupa, as seen on the subsidiary towers as well as on other models (Figs.10 and 17). Xuanzang recorded ob-

serving a 'gilded copper amalaka', by which he presumably meant one sheathed in copper; the amalaka itself must, for structural reasons, have been of stone. At some later date the tower appears to have had a ritual umbrella added: the remains of a large gilt-copper umbrella (with a dedicatory inscription in Burmese dated 1293-94) were excavated

immediately to the west of the temple in 1881.24 A final feature of these riodels (broken on the Victoria

and Albert Museum's example), is a representation of the bodhi tree positioned on the west terrace (Fig. 17). This curious feature was first described by Francis Buchanan, who visited BodhgayS in 1811 and 1812. He observed that '... The terrace enlarges behind the temple towards

23BEAL, op.cit. at note 15 above, p.127. 24It bore a dedicatory inscription in Burmese which, according to a revised reading by G.H. LUCE ('Sources of Early Burma History', in c.D. COWEN and

O.W. WOLTERs, eds.: Southeast Asian History and Historiography. Essays presented to D.G.E. Hall, Ithaca N.Y. [1976], p.39), is dated 1293-94.

361


15. 1

16. The west elevation of the basement, Mahdbodhi temple, Bodhgayd, during restoration, c. 1881.

15. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple, west elevation. Stone, 13.5 cm. high. (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

the west, and forms an area, on which is growing the

Pipal tree ...'.25 Charles D'Oyly's view of 1824 supports this description (Fig.18),26 and Buchanan's comment that 'the tree is in full vigour'. It is evident that the west terrace was extended, including the addition of twin buttresses in a renovation of the Pila-Sena period, presumably to accommodate the growing tree. These buttresses, clearly indicated on Cunningham's plan of the temple (Fig.9), were removed during the restorations of the 1880s. The tree had by this time collapsed and was replanted from

seedlings in the position it is to be seen in today, immedi-

ately west of the 'diamond seat', independent of the temple itself.

To date I have traced twenty stone models of the Mahd- bodhi temple, dispersed from eastern India to Nepal, Tibet, Arakan and Burma (see Appendix), together with two towers and gate from a larger complex. They form a

remarkably coherent group, with little internal variation, except in one significant respect which will be relevant to the discussion of dating.

Where were these models produced and for whom? All those I have been able to examine are carved in the dark

grey schist or graphitic phyllite characteristic of sculpture

from Bihar, and were most probably made at a workshop within easy reach of Bodhgaya. Medieval sculpture quarries were active in the nearby Ch5tanagpur plateau, south of BodhgayS, and to the east in the Monghyr district south of the Ganges.27 One model, of a gateway, was found in the Pattharkatti hills, north of Tetua, Gayi district, a site known for stone quarries in the Pila-Sena period (Fig.22). 28

It seems quite clear, from the models' distribution, that

they were produced expressly for selling to pilgrims, and that they served not only as souvenirs but as proof of the

journey successfully completed. They also had a metaphys- ical function as three-dimensional mandalas (or sacred dia-

grams) of the holiest of Buddhist sites. The fact that they were regarded as much more than architectural models is

suggested by the addition of such power-markings as the

double-vajra and Buddhapfda, sometimes engraved on the base (for example, Fig.1), of examples found in Tibet. Also in Tibet, two remarkable models were discovered in 1936 by the Indian scholar Sankrityayana at the Narthang monastery.29 One is in stone and appears, from surviving photographs to be contemporary with other known models (Fig. 19); The second is in wood, bears a Chinese inscription dated to the Yongle period (1403-24) and is most probably a local replica made at the monastery after the imported stone model (Figs.21-22). What is so startling about these models is that they represent not just the Mahdbodhi temple but the entire complex, complete with its rectangular outer wall. In a Tibetan Buddhist context such models could have been the focus of meditational practices, the

complex as a whole forming an elaborate manzdala. These two models provide the most complete visual

account of the appearance of the Bodhgayd site in the medieval period, rich with subsidiary shrines and stfpas. They also suggest that the site had not radically altered since 637 AD when Xuanzang recorded that 'the principal gate opens to the east, opposite the Nairanjana river. The southern gate adjoins a great flowery bank. The western

gate is blocked up ... [and] the northern gate opens into

25J.P. LOSTY: 'The Mahdbodhi Temple before its Restoration', in G. BHATTACHARYA, ed.: Dr Debala Mitra Felicitation Volume, Delhi [forthcoming, 1991], quoting India Office Library & Records MSS. Eur. D.85, pp.268ff. 26Published in Sketches of the New Road on a Journey from Calcutta to Gyah, Calcutta [1830]. 27See R. NEWMAN: The Stone Sculpture of India. A Study of the Materials Used by Indian Sculptorsfrom ca.2nd century B.C. to the 16th century, Cambridge Mass [ 1984], pp.33-40.

28C.E. OLDHAM: 'Some remarks on the Models of Bodh Gaya at Narthang', Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society, XXIII, no.4 [1937], p.419. 29First published in R. SANKRITYAYANA: 'Second Search of Sanskrit Palm-Leaf MSS in Tibet', ibid., no.1 [1937], pp.l-57, and are discussed in detail in OLDHAM, loc.cit. above. See also H. KARMAY: Early Sino-Tibetan Art, Warminster [1975], pp.92-93, and s.K. PATHAK, ed.: The Album of the Tibetan Art Collections (Collected by Pt. Rahula Sankrityayana from the Nor, Zhalu and other monasteries in 1928-29 and 1934, Patna [1986], p.42.

362


17.

20. View of the great Temple at Bodh Gyah and adjoining terrace round the sacred Pepul tree, 27 December, 1824, by Charles D'Oyly. Pen and ink on paper (India Office Library and Records, London).

17. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple, south elevation showing bodhi tree on west basement. From Nepal. Stone. (Present location unknown).

18. Two views of a gateway to the Mahlbodhi temple complex. Stone. Discovered in the Pattharkatti hills, north of Tetua, Gayd district.

21. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple complex. Chinese inscription dated to the Yongle period (1403-24). Wood. Discovered at the Narthang monastery, Tibet, 1936.

19. Model of the Mahibodhi temple complex. Stone. Discovered at the Narthang monastery, Tibet, 1936.

22. Another view of Fig.21.

363


23.

23. Buddhist temple model. From Nalanda, Gayd district.

(Archaeological Museum, Ndl~nda).

24. Model of the Mahdbodhi

temple. Stone. From Nepal. (Present location unknown).

25. Model of the Mahdbodhi

temple. Stone, 10.8 cm. high. (British Museum, London).

r24. 25.

the great sahgharama [monastery]', which he tells us elsewhere was built by a king of Sri Lanka.30 In both models the east (Xuanzang's 'principal') gate is the most elaborate; on the stone model the west (disused) gate is not shown in

position, and in the wooden copy it is not represented at all. The twelfth-century model is compatible with the seventh-

century description. Xuanzang tells us that within the walled area 'the kings, princes and great personages throughout Jambudvipa [India] . . . have erected these monuments as memorials' and that they are so densely built that they 'touch one another in all directions'.31 These models certainly appear to confirm this congestion, showing numerous subsidiary shrines (compare also Fig.23). Over-enthusiastic restorations by several Burmese missions to Bodhgayd during the nineteenth century have resulted in the disappearance of the remains of many of these memorial shrines, although the site is still congested.

All the surviving models appear to have been produced in the Gayi region of Bihar for sale at Bodhgayd, and all

appear to belong to the late Pila-Sena period (tenth- twelfth century). Their popularity at this time may be linked to the intense interest in Buddhist sacred places, as reflected in the tenth-century Astamah/pritih/rya. Although Buddhism in India was then in retreat, there was a growing demand from Buddhist rulers and devotees abroad to establish contact with the pure source of the faith, the essence of which was considered to reside at Bodhgayai. The demand for such models was probably external, arising

from the need to service this pilgrimage economy and their

widespread distribution in the Buddhist lands beyond India tends to confirm this.

For the purposes of dating, the models may be grouped in two categories according to the treatment of the porch on the east face of the likhara above the basement platform. The first, and I would suggest, earlier group, show the

porch treated in the same style as the basement entrance, with a simply decorated lintel supported on projecting walls sometimes detailed as pilasters (Fig.24). In the members of the second group the porch has been given a

tripartite cusped arch with a flame-like treatment to the

surrounding moulding (Fig.25). This distinctive feature was recognised early in the study of the temple as having its prototype in the temple architecture of Pagan-period Burma, especially of the late eleventh and twelfth century. The Nagayon temple at Pagan, built by King Kyanzitta around 1090, is one of the earliest Burmese temples to show it,32 the Shwegugyi temple (Fig.26) being one of the best preserved examples. Evidence of major restorations undertaken at the Mahibodhi temple by a mission sent from Burma by Kyanzitta shortly before 1093 provides the clue to its appearance at Bodhgayd.33 The feature is

distinctly Burmese - as are some structural elements of the renovation of the tower34 - and it distinguishes those models produced before the restoration at the end of the eleventh century from those of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Two further Burmese inscriptions found on the

30BEAL, op.cit. at note 15 above, pp. 115 and 133.

31Ibid., p. 115. 32G.H. LUCE: Old Burma, Early Pagan, New York [ 1969-70], Vol.III, pls. 184-90. 33This is the date of a Mon inscription found at the Shwehsandaw sti7pa, Prome, lower Burma, praising King Kyanzitta for sending the mission; see ibid.,

Vol.I, p.62. 34A.B. GRISWOLD: 'The Holy Land Transported: Replicas of the Mahabodhi

Shrine in Siam and Elsewhere'. Paranavitana Felicitation Volume, Colombo [ 1965],

pp.195-200.

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26. West view of Shwegugyi temple, Pagan, Burma. 1131.

site (one on the excavated copper umbrella referred to earlier), provide evidence of Burmese-sponsored renovations at Bodhgayi in the late thirteenth century.35

These latter renovations took place during the disrup- tions of the Muslim invasion, which had been underway in Bihar since the late twelfth century. Even during this period of persecution, from which Indian Buddhism was never to recover, pilgrims and lay devotees continued to honour the sacred tree. The Tibetan pilgrim Dharmasvdmin observed in 1234 that 'they bring the offerings [of curds, milk and aromatics] from afar in vessels. ... Thus they wor-

ship the Bodhi-tree and keep it constantly moist'. The monks, who once occupied the nearby monasteries, had fled.36 Of the great mahaviharas, the monastic universities, Dharmasvimin tells us that Nilandi was already in ruins, and that he found Uddandapura (where Atila, the great propagator of Buddhism in Tibet, once studied) being used as a Muslim military headquarters. The sun had set on Buddhism in India.

The power of the Mahibodhi temple in the Buddhist world nevertheless remained such that it not only stimu- lated the making of models which could be readily transported great distances by pilgrims, but also inspired at least seven full-scale replicas: two in Burma, two in Thailand, one in Nepal and two in China. It is difficult to evaluate the extent to which the models served as direct prototypes for these, or the extent to which those responsible for designing them relied on first-hand information gathered by missions sent to Bodhgayi itself. A major reason for their construction, which spans the early thirteenth to the late fifteenth century, must have been the desire to create

surrogate temples to allow veneration to continue after access to Bodhgaya itself had been so severely curtailed by Muslim control of eastern India.

The most faithful copy, both in scale and form, is the Mahdbodhi temple at Pagan in central Burma (Fig.27), built during the reign of King Natonmya (1210-34).37 It is perhaps significant that it was constructed early in the thirteenth century when Burma, along with other lands along the frontier of northern India, harboured an influx of refugee Indian Buddhists. It was also built within twenty years of the despatch of two Burmese missions to Bodhgayd to undertake repairs, an indirect consequence of which could have been fresh Pala-Sena influence at Pagan. A number of stone Mahibodhi temple models have been found in Burma, particularly in Pagan and Arakan

(Figs.28, 29 and 30), but so little Pala architecture survives in India that it is difficult to establish firmly what is in fact truly 'Pala'. Manuscript painting and sculpture provide the most detailed visual information and suggest, as far as can be judged from such secondary sources, that there was a sustained Pala influence at Pagan, particularly in architecture and mural painting.38

After the disintegration of the Pagan kingdom in the thirteenth century, Burma fragmented into a number of rival states. The Mon King Dhammaceti (1462-92), ruler of Pegu in lower Burma, initiated a process of purifying Buddhism there through the re-ordination of monks ac-

cording to Sri Lankan Buddhist rites. He endowed a large monastery and built a number of shrines, including a

copy of the Mahibodhi temple, the Shwegugyi pagoda. The complex of which it formed part was dedicated in

35In 1293-94, as recorded on the copper umbrella inscription (see note 24 above), and in 1295-98. It is not clear that the latter renovation, carried out 'at the site of the giving of alms of Milk Rice' was as LUCE (loc.cit. at note 24 above, p.39) and others have assumed, at the Mahibodhi temple. D. Stadtner has recently suggested to me that this name probably refers to another shrine in the vicinity as there are no grounds for connecting it with the Mahdbodhi temple itself. Conversely, it seems less probable that Burmese donors would have gone to the trouble of investing in any shrine other than the Mahdbodhi, the most venerated of all Buddhist structures at Bodhgayd.

36ROERICH, op.cit. at note 2 above, p.67. 37P. STRACHAN: Pagan Art and Architecture of Old Burma, Arran [ 1989], pp.99- 100. 38For painting, see H.W. WOODWARD: 'Burmese sculpture and Indian Painting, in Chhavi 2, Benares [1981], pp.21-24, and J. LOSTY: 'Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th-century Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts', Oriental Art, XXXV, nos.2 and 3 [1989], pp.86-96 and 140-49; for sculpture, see S.L. HUNTINGTON: The 'PTla-Sena' Schools of Sculpture. Studies in South Asian Culture, Vol.10, Leiden [1984], and J.A. CASEY: Medieval Sculpture from Eastern India.

Selectionsfrom the Nalin Collection, Livingston, NJ [1985].

365


27. I

27. Mahibodhi temple, Pagan, Burma. Built after 1211. Photograph c. 1870.

31. Wat Chet Yot, Chiangrai, Thailand, built during the reign of King Tiloka (1441-87). 31.

28.

28. Model of the Mahibodhi temple. Stone. Found at Mrohaung, Arakan, Burma. (Present location unknown).

29. Model of the Mahibodhi temple. Stone. Found at Mrohaung, Arakan, Burma. (Archaeology Department, Mrohaung).

30. Fragment of a model of the Mahdbodhi temple. Stone. Found at Mrohaung, Arakan, Burma. (Archaeology Department, Mrohaung).

29. 30.

1479. It is not now possible to judge in any detail the extent to which it followed either the original Mah5bodhi temple or the Pagan version, but the summit of the surviving building reveals a central tower on a flat platform with the ruinous remains of a structure at each corner, broadly following the plan of the Mah5bodhi temple.39

The kingdom of Lan Na, centred on Chiangmai in northern Thailand, also experienced a Buddhist renaissance during the fifteenth century.40 King Tiloka (1441-87), inspired by Thai monks returning from Sri Lanka with a cutting of the bodhi tree at Anur5dhapura (a direct de- scendant of the original bodhi tree), had a copy of the Mahibodhi temple built to accompany the sacred cutting (Fig.31). Popularly known as Wat Chet Yot (Monastery of Seven Spires) this temple, together with another built shortly after at nearby Chiangrai and known by the same name, demonstates the ongoing potency of the Mahibodhi temple in the Buddhist mind.

A replica temple at Patan, in the Kathmandu valley of Nepal, is associated with a sixteenth-century Buddhist priest (vajracarya) Abhayar5j, who spent several years at Bodhgayd before returning to Nepal to build it.4' A Nepalese chronicle states that he brought back '. .. a model Buddha image . . ., and built a three-storied Buddhist temple [to house it] . . . '. The Mah5buddha temple in Patan has the essential elements of the original although the tower has assumed the swelling form of a Hindu Sikhara and its embellishment has been rendered in a purely Newari style. A number of models are known from Nepal (for example Fig. 17).

The two replica temples in Peking were consecrated in 1473 and 1748 respectively. Both are associated with legends regarding the transmission of models from India or Tibet.42 Portable shrines and models had been reaching China throughout the first millennium, as witnessed by a number of Chinese pilgrims' accounts and a remarkable seventh-

39I am grateful to D. Stadtner for pointing this out to me; see also D. STADTNER:

'King Dhammaceti's Pegu', Orientations, XXI, no.2 [February 1990], pp.53-60. 40GRISWOLD, loc.cit. at note 34 above, pp.203-08. 41M.S. SLUSSER: 'Bodhgaya and Nepal' in J. LEOSHKO, ed.: Bodhgaya, The site of enlightenment, Bombay [1988], pp. 126. 42GRISWOLD, loc.cit at note 34 above, pp.209-1 1.

366


32.

32. Model of the Mahdbodhi temple, east elevation. Stone, 5.5 cm. high. Discovered at the Mahdbodhi site at Bodhgayi during excavation, 1881. (British Museum, London).

33. The Mahabodhi

temple, after the 1881 restoration. 33.

century Buddhist ivory diptych, probably from north-west India, found in Gansu, north-west China.43 It is therefore highly probable that the legends of Mahibodhi temple models reaching China are rooted in some historical fact. It is also evident from the temples themselves, however, that any plans or models available were freely interpreted in a distinctly Chinese manner. It appears to have been sufficient for the idea of the MahSbodhi temple to be given form; fidelity to the original was not a prime concern.

Despite the widespread distribution of both models and full-scale replicas, the Mahibodhi temple appears to have had surprisingly little other architectural influence in the countries in which it was known and revered. It appears to have served rather as an icon to evoke associations of the sacred power-centre of the Buddhist world. However, the influence of BodhgayS also manifested itself in another form, evident in sculptures from around the eighth century. This was the representation of the Buddha in bhumisparsa- mudra, the gesture of calling the earth to witness, in the presence of Mira (the evil templer), SSkyamuni's

fitness to attain enlightenment (Fig.3). The miraculous creation of a sculpture of this subject is described by Xuanzang (629).44 Because this event took place under the bodhi tree at Bodhgayd, representations of the subject became emblematic of the site itself. The popularity of this image was widespread both in India and particularly in South- East Asia, where it became the standard Buddha-type throughout the region.

BodhgayS was, and remained, the pre-eminent Buddhist pilgrimage site and versions of the Mahibodhi temple flourished throughout the Buddhist world. Paradoxically, the last temple to be built on the basis of the pilgrim models was in fact the Mahdbodhi temple at Bodhgaya itself. The British engineerJ.D. Beglar, who began an extensive restoration programme there in 1881, used two stone models as reference, together with what could be learnt from existing

remains and earlier records provided by European ob- servers.45 One model, recovered during the British ex- cavations of the temple grounds at Bodhgayd (Fig.32), is

crudely executed and was found in a fragmentary condition, although the Burmese-style porch can be clearly seen. The British restoration, based in part on this twelfth-

century model, gave the temple the appearance it has

today (Fig.33). Victoria and Albert Museum

43D.P. ROWAN: 'Reconsideration of an unusual ivory diptych', Artibus Asiae, XLVI, no.4 [1985], pp.251-82. 44BEAL, Op.cit., at note 15 above, pp. 120-21. 45For an interesting survey of late-eighteenth- and nineteenth-century illustrations of the Mahabodhi temple before restoration, see J.P. LOSTY: 'The Mahabodhi Temple before its Restoration', in G. BHATTACHARYA, ed.: Dr. Debala Mitra Felicitation Volume, Delhi, forthcoming [1991].

Appendix. List of stone Mahdbodhi temple models.

1. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, IS21-1286. 12 cm. high. Reportedly from Tibet (Fig. 1).

2. London, British Museum, OA 1922-12-15. 10.8 cm. high. From Tibet (Fig.25).

3. London, British Museum, OA 1892-11-3.1. 5.5 cm. high. Acquired by Cun-

ningham at Bodhgaya during excavation (Fig.32). 4. Nalanda, Nalanda Museum, Bihar, Acc. no.33, size unknown. (Fig.23). 5. Nalanda, Nalanda Museum, Bihar, size unknown. Unpublished. 6. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 47.1343. Gift of Benjamin Rowland, Jr.

13.5 cm. high. (Fig.9). 7. Lalitpur, Patan, Nepal, Private collection, size unknown. (Fig. 17). 8. London, A. Biancardi Collection. 9.1 cm. high. (Fig.8). 9. London, A. Gardner Collection. From Nepal, where it was converted into a

jeweller's mould. Unpublished. 10. Pasadena, Ca., Pacific-Asia Museum. See J. LEOSKHO, ed.: Bodhgaya. The

Site ofEnlightenment, Bombay [1988], p. 129. 11. Los Angeles, County Museum of Art [Loan]. Unpublished. 12. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Shrine with tower only. (See GRISWOLD, loc.Cit.

at note 34 above, fig. 19a). 13. London, Private collection. 3.5 cm. high. (Sikhara missing). Unpublished. 14. Pagan, Private collection. (Fragment of Sikhara only). Found near

Shwegyaung monastery, Pagan. (See LUCE, loc.cit. at note 32 above, pl.406c). 15. Calcutta, Indian Museum. Found at Mrohaung, Arakan, Burma.

Unpublished. 16. Mrohaung, Arakan, Burma, Archaeological Department. Photo U Tin

Oo/G.H. Luce (Fig.28). 17. Mrohaung, Arakan, Burma. Photo U Bo Kay/G.H. Luce (Fig.29). 18. Mrohaung, Arakan, Burma, Archaeological Department. Photo U Tin

Oo/G.H. Luce (Fig.30). 19. Pagan, Private collection. Fragment of a Mahdbodhi temple model (Sikhara

only), obtained from a monk at Shwegyaung monastery, Pagan. (See LUCE, op.cit. at note 32 above, pl.406b, c).

20. Germany, Dr Gustav Roth Collection. Stone model of gateway. From the Pattharkatti hill, north of Tetua, Gayd district, Bihar. 6 by 4 by 4.5 cm. (Fig.22).

21. Narthang monastery, Tibet, in situ 1936. Stone model of Bodhgayi compound. Photographed by R. Sankrityayana, 1936 (Fig.19).

22. Narthang monastery, Tibet, in situ 1936. Wooden model of Bodhgayd com-

pound. Inscribed to the Yongle period (1403-24). Photographed by R. Sankrityayana, 1936 (Fig.20).

23. Cleveland Museum of Art. Shrine with tower only; 29 cm. high. (See HUNTINGTON, op.cit. at note 6 above, no.41).

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