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ARCHITECTURE and SCULPTURE from PHASE I 2.1 the Mauryan Period in Gandhara

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ARCHITECTURE and SCULPTURE from PHASE I 2.1 the Mauryan Period in Gandhara CHAPTER TWO ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE FROM PHASE I 2.1 The Mauryan Period in Gandhara The edicts carved on boulders and pillars at the behest of the north Indian Mauryan emperor Asoka perhaps helped to consolidate his empire and to stress some Buddhist values such as dhanna or ahimsa. More than half a dozen of these rock-cut edicts survive in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, but the most famous and pertinent to the Peshawar basin tradition is the one at Shabazgarhi. 1 Although the edicts do not directly address the introduction of Buddhism into northwest India, most scholars consider them to be evidence of the beginning of Buddhism in this region. In the legends of Asoka (recorded in the later Asokavadana), this emperor is credited with the extraordinary act of constructing 84,000 stupas containing true relics of the Buddha. 2 It is by means of this mythic act that relics were "credibly" established throughout the Indian subcontinent; however, such stupas are very difficult to iden­ tify in the archaeological record. It has been suggested that Buddhist 1 For a discussion of the Kharo~!hf Asokan inscription from Shabazgarhi in terms of its social and political significance, See R. Thapar, Asoka and the Decline ef the Mauryas: With a New Aflerword, Bibliograplfy, and Index, rev. ed. (Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 123-8. Several Mauryan inscriptions from Afghanistan have come to light: (I) an Aramaic inscription from Laghman (fifth or seventh pil­ lar edict of Asoka); (2) a second Aramaic inscription from Laghman (dated to tenth year of Asoka; discusses his conversion to Buddhism, expulsion of vanity, and pro­ hibition against fishing); (3) a bilingual rock inscription (Greek and Aramaic) found at Kandahar; (4) a Greek building inscription from Kandahar (end of Asoka edict XII and beginning of edict XIII); (5) an lndo-Aramaic inscription from Kandahar (part of Asoka pillar edict VII). See MacDowall and Taddei, "The Early Historic Period: Achaemenids and Greeks," 192-8). For a description of a fragment that may record an Asokan Brahmf inscription from the Buner area of Pakistan, see B. N. Mukherjee, "A Note on a Brahmf Inscription of Asoka from Pakistan," in Ak,rqyanivi, ed. G. Bhattacharya (Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1991), 51-4. 2 Versions of this text date to the 5th to 16th centuries C.E., the 5th century Sri Lankan Mahavaqisa providing crucial evidence. See John Strong, The Legend ef King Asoka: A Study and Translation ef the Afokavadana (Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 1983), I 8--21, 109. 40 CHAPTER TWO centers like Sa.fief or Sarna.th have Mauryan ongms, because of the presence of inscribed columns and polished Chur:iar sandstone sculp­ ture, but such early attributions cannot be made in Gandhara.3 The name Dharmarajika was hypothesized to mean a stupa erected by Asoka and thus a stupa containing the actual relics of Salryamuni. 1 Two early inscriptions associated with the main stupa of Butkara I in Swat (GSt 1) indicate that at some time this stupa had the name Dharmarajika, suggesting that it was believed to contain relics of the Buddha or that this title had other meanings.5 The most important stupa in Taxila is also given the name Dharmarajika in a 1st cen­ tury C.E. inscription, which led Marshall to suggest an Asokan foun­ dation for this stupa, which he believed contained relics that were established by Asoka. 6 He attempted to strengthen this dating by noting the recovery of two small grain-grinding stones made of Chur:iar sandstone, which he believed were made from the debris of an Asokan Chur:iar sandstone pillar. 7 This hypothesis seems unlikely, however, because the extant Asokan edicts from the northwest and Afghanistan were inscribed on rocks, and there is no evidence to suggest that the monolithic Chur:iar sandstone columns, typical of the Ganges basin, were transported this far into the provinces of the Asokan empire. Although it is difficult to date the origins of this or other Buddhist complexes, there is no reason to think that these foundations date back to the Mauryan period (see below and Appen­ dix A). While the significance of the name Dharmarajika from this site in Taxila or from Butkara I should not be underestimated, it cannot be used as a chronological indicator. 3 An inscribed Asokan pillar stands true south of Safier stupa I; see J. '.\Iarshall, A Foucher, and N. '.\[ajumdar, 1he .\lonuments ef Sanchi, 3 vols. (London: Probsthain, 1940), 25-9. In 1998, at Satdhara, one of the Bhilsa topes, I was shown a polished Chu9ar sandstone fragment of a bull that was found within the stone encasing the main stupa (circa 1st-2nd century B.C.E.) adjacent to the brick core. For a discus­ sion of Satdhara, See R. Agrawal, "Stupas and Monasteries: A Recent Discovery from Satdhara, India," in South Asian Archaeology, ed. R. Allchin and B. Allchin (1995); D. Sahni, Guide to the Buddhist Ruins ef Samath (Delhi: Antiquarian Book House, 1982), 4. 4 Marshall (Taxi/a, 235) madr this assertion with respect to the Dharmarajika stupa in Taxila. 5 The name Dhannarajika was found at Butkara I painted on a vase associated with GSt 1 and also on a schist slab used in the construction of the base of the stupa (Faccenna, Butkara I, vol. 3, no. I, 16 7). 6 Marshall, Taxi/a, 235, 56. 7 Ibid., 235. .
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