BHARHUT STUPA

Submitted by :RACHITA NOVALRUBY JAIN

•The Stupa of Bharhut was a Buddhist monument built around 150 BC during the reign of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. •It was erected at Bharhut a place at Mahiyar valley in central India, between Allahabad andJabalpur , 200 miles northwest of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh. •Excavated by the famous archeologist Alexander Cunningham in 1873, this plaster-covered, brick-made stupa is believed to have been about 68 feet in diameter. •A richly carved stone railing, 88 feet in diameter, was added to the stupa during the period of the Sunga kings.•The Barhut stupa is an example of people's contribution in building the stupa. The construction of this stupa was a slow process. It took decades to come to the final shape. It was started by the Mauryan ruler Ashoka, later it was completed by the contributions from the followers of Buddhism,.• There are hardly any remains at the site now. Some of the remains of this stupa are kept in the Indian Museum in Calcutta. 

Location of Bharhut

Railing of the Bharhut StupaThe posts, railings, capping stones and gateways that surrounded the stupa were made of red stone. The railings were carved with a variety of lotus designs, sometimes incorporating vaksha busts, images of Lakshmi, scenes of everyday village life, and pictures of deer, elephants and peacocks. The scenes related to the Budha, including his dream of Maya, celestials celebrating Buddha's enlightenment, the worship of Buddha's throne and the Bodhi tree, elephants paying homage to the Buddha throne, Naga king worshipping the throne were also among the sculptures.

Bharhut Stupa Railing

Chandra Yakshi Unidentified Foreign

Male Figure

Kubera Yaksha

The Jataka stories were also illustrated. Mahakapi Jataka, Railing of the Bharhut "stupa" . The railings of Bharhut have the earliest known representations of the "Jataka", stories of the Buddha in his previous lives, in the form of different men and as animals. One of most marvellous aspects of early Buddhist art is the portrayal of fine ethical qualities in the world of animals, often missing even in men. This roundel depicts the story of the Buddha when he was born as a virtuous monkey, the "Mahakapi Jataka". Many incidents of the story are shown very skilfully in a small space.

Conception of the Buddha

Gift of theJetavana Garden

Details

Details

Golden Deer(Ruru) Jataka

Great Monkey(Mahakapi)

Jataka

MEDALLIONS : The decorative oval or circular paintings ; panels or designs.

These are some of the Medallions from the Shipa :

•The Buddha is only represented through symbols, such as the Dharma wheel the bodhi tree, an empty seat, footprints, or the triratana symbol.

•The style is generally flat (no sculptures in the round), and all characters are depicted wearing the Indian dhoti, except for one foreigner, thought to be an indo greek soldier, with Buddhist symbolism.

•An unusual feature of Bharhut panels is inclusion of text in the narrative panels, often identifying the individuals.

•There are hundreds of inscriptions found at Bharhut. The Buddhist stupa site of bharhut has yielded some 225 inscriptions, of which 141 are donative in nature while the remaining 84 are labels describing the accompanying sculptural representations of jatakas, avadanas etc.

•Bharhut pillar inscription (C I I:2.2,11-12) recording the donation of gateway (torana) provides the only epigraphic attestation of dynastic name Sunga

Present remains of bharhut stupa

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