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Mahâbodhi, Or the Great Buddhist Temple Under the Bodhi Tree at Buddha-Gaya

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Mahâbodhi, Or the Great Buddhist Temple Under the Bodhi Tree at Buddha-Gaya ^m^^sf'Si^0^&&^^M mm mm : *^':'5*iW*rtj BTOTOg MV — MAHABODHI OR THE GREAT BUDDHIST TEMPLE UNDER THE BODHI TREE AT BUDDHA-GAYA BY Major-General Sir A. CUNNINGHAM, K.E., K.C.I.E., C.S.L The Buddhists look upon the Bo Tree as most Christians look upon the Cross. Rhys Davids.—Life of Gautama. The Bodhi Tree, thenceforward in all years Never to fade, and ever to he kept In homage of the world, beneath whose leaves It was ordained that truth should come to Buddh. Edwin Abnold.—Light of Asia. Slowly the Prince advanced,—beneath his tread, At every step th' expectant world shook, Until he rested 'neath the Bodhi Tree At once the trembling universe was still Acknowledging the thronement of its lord. A. C. LONDON: W. H. ALLEN & Co., Limited, 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. $ttWfe|m to t|e ittMa (Bice. 1892. ——— —— CONTENTS. Page. PEEFACE. I. Historical Notices II. Temple of Asoka III. —Buddha's Walk IV. Railing of Asoka's Temple V. Inscriptions of Asoka's Railing VI, Great Temple of Mahabodhi VII.—Additions and Restorations VIII. Bodhi Tree, or Bodhi-drtjma IX. Toran Gateway X. Monuments in Court-yard XI. Monuments Outside the Walls XII. Monastery of Mahabodhi Sangharama XIII. —Votive Stupas XIV. Seals with Figures and Inscriptions XV. Sculptures - XVI.—Inscriptions, General Review of XVII.— Indo-Scythian and Gupta XVIII.— Medieval XIX.— Chinese XX.— Burmese XXI.— of Asoka-balla XXII.— Pavement Slabs Appendix A. Arches and Vaults B. Ground Plan of Temple —— —— PLATES. I. Map of Country around Mahabodhi. XVII. View of Toran Entrance. II. Remains of. Asoka's Temple. XVIII. Plan of Monuments in Courtyard. III. Bhabhut Basbeliep of Asoka's Temple. XIX. View of Monuments in Court-yard. IV. Pillae of Asoka's Canopied Walk. XX. Plan of Great Monastery. V. Photogbaphs of Buddha's Walks. XXI. Outer Wall and Staircase of Great Monastery. VI.—Inner Vajrasan Throne. XXII. Small Relics from the Vajrasan VII. — Views of Stone Railing Inside and Thrones. Outside. XXIII. Votive Stupas, Monolith, Basrelief, VIII. Medallions of Railing Pillars—Scenes. and Medieval. IX. Do. Ornaments. XXIV.—Seals of Terracotta, with Figures X. Inscriptions on Railing and Vajrasan and Inscriptions. Thbone. XXV. Statue dedicated by Raja Tukamala, XI. Plan of Gbeat Temple with successive in S. 64=A.D. 142. Additions. XXVI. Sculptures — Buddha, Dharma, and XII. View of Backwall of Temple with its Sangha. Additions. XXVII. Inscription — Indo Scythian — on XIII —End View of Outer Vajbasan Thbone. Coping of Railing. XIV. First Addition—New Statue on Vaj- XXVIII. Inscription—Medieval of Pala Rajas rasan Thbone. AND ASOKA-BALLA. XV. North Side of Central Addition, de- XXIX. Inscription—On Burmese Umbrella. bt Roots of Tree. tached XXX. Inscription—Chinese. of Re- XVI.- -Model of Temple, and View XXXI. Indian Arches—Front View. stored Temple. PREFACE. In 1878, when Dr. Bajendra Lala Mitra published his -work on the Temple of Buddha Gaya, the only excavations which had then been made were the trenches dug by Major Meade in 1863 at my suggestion, and the subsequent surface clearances by the Burmese. The former had exposed the foundation lines of the original Buddhist Bailing, which once surrounded the Temple, while the latter had brought to light several small Temples, besides many votive Stupas and Buddhist Statues. I visited Buddha Gaya in 1879 for the express purpose of seeing what had been done by the Burmese. Their clearances had not been carried deep enough to expose the more ancient monuments which still existed on or near the original level of the ground on which the Temple was built. The clearances also had not been made with any discrimination. Everything was removed as it became exposed ; and thus many of the hemispherical domes of the rows of early votive Stupas were thrown down. Fortunately they were not carried away, and when the great clearance of the ruins was subsequently made by Mr. Beglar, many of these stone hemispheres were restored to their original Stupas, the remains of which had not been disturbed. The ruinous state of the Temple at this time was thus described by a correspondent of the "Calcutta Englishman" newspaper:—"I found the Temple in the following " condition : The whole of the plinth and lower mouldings buried under accumulations " of rubbish; the floor of the sanctum, and of the great hall in front 4 feet lower " than the level of a rough stone floor laid by the Burmese, who had partially cleared " away the heaps of rubbish in front, the great hall roofless ; the half-hall, or porch of " the second storey, roofless ; the whole of the front of the Temple above the level of " the third chamber fallen, disclosing a great triangular gap, about 20 feet high and. vi PREFACE. " 12 feet wide at base ; the stairs leading up from lowest floor, or ground floor or " terrace, from which the tower springs, roofless ; the whole of the facade of the " ruinous, platform to the East a mound of ruins ; the whole south facade of platform " but retaining here and there portions of original work ; the entire West face of the " platform of the Temple buried under rubbish, which itself was held up by a " revetment wall 32 feet high of plain brick and mortar, unplastered, and looking for " all the world like a dilapidated jail wall. The holy tree at the apex of a series of " a circle of steps, which stood on the rubbish so held up by the revetment aforesaid, " and the entire north wall above the then ground level a plain blank wall of mud and " and brickbats, which was even then leaning outwards. A massive new well-plastered " staircase [is] stuck on the Bast front or main facade at its north-east angle to " give access to the terrace of the upper chamber, and to the holy tree " The entire West face of main tower peeled off, including the half of the upper " pinnacle, the rest of pinnacle overhanging. The entire North face of tower, except " the upper portion, peeled off; the Bast face in fair order above the great triangular " gap already noticed ; the South face in fairish order, the terrace or platform " extensively cracked in all directions, the corbelled work in the third chamber, " interior, overhanging in a most dangerous condition, the chamber at the same time '• being inaccessible." Such was the state of the Great Buddhist Temple in 1880, when Sir Ashley Bden, the Lieut. -Governor of Bengal, appointed Mr. J. D. Beglar to make a thorough repair of the whole building. The work was begun during the course of the year -with a further clearance of the accumulated rubbish, which had become absolutely necessary, as every year the interior of the Temple was turned into a small tank by the catchment of rain water from the outside. During this clearance the different additions made to the outside were revealed. At the same time the interior pavement, which had become very uneven, was taken up to be relaid ; and this work brought to light the numerous alterations which had been made at different times to the inside of the Temple. In February 1881 I paid another visit to the Temple, and I was present when the discovery of Relics was made under the front of the Yajrasan Throne. As the discoveries that were made during these excavations are described in detail in the following pages, I will here only state the principal conclusions which I was constrained to adopt on their evidence. B.C. 250.—The first, and perhaps the most interesting, discovery was the remains of the original Temple of Asoka, with the polished Vajrasan Throne, exactly as portrayed in the Bharhut Basrelief with the view of the Bodhi Tree of Sakya-muni. PREFACE. VU Close by, on the north side of the Temple, was found the remains of the cloistered walk, with its 22 pillared bases still in situ, each marked with a letter of the Indian alphabet of Asoka from a to the cerebral t. One shaft was also found marked with the Asoka letter a. But the most important discovery was the fact that the present Temple is built exactly over the remains of Asoka's Temple, so that the original Vajrasan Throne still retains its old position of Buddha's seat, and the reputed centre of the Universe. A.D. 140.—-The age of the present Great Temple is shown by the presence of a gold coin of the Indo-Scythian King Huvishka, amongst the EelicS deposited in front of the Throne, along with some silver punch-marked coins. The date of Huvishka is how known as covering a large portion of the first half of the 2nd century A.D. The same age is declared by the presence of an Indo-Scythian inscription on the outer Vajrasan Throne, and also by the discovery of a colossal statue, just outside the Temple, with an Indo-Scythian inscription dated in the year 64, which if referred to ,the Saka, Samvat gives A.D. 78+64=142. I formerly thought that there was no Mahabodhi Temple standing at-the time of Fa-Hian's visit, A.D. 399 to 409 ; but I now see that his actual words distinctly imply that Temples were then standing at all the four famous sites connected with Buddha's history. These were—1. Birthplace at Kapila. 2. The Bodhi Tree at Uruvilwa. 3. The Deer-park at Benares. 4. Place of Death at Kusinagara. Fa Hian must therefore have seen the present Temple about one century and a half after its erection.
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