Notes on the Introduction of Square Podium to the Taxilan Stupa
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NOTES ON THE INTRODUCTION OF SQUARE PODIUM TO THE TAXILAN STUPA SHOSHIN KUWAYAMA Kyoto University I As the earliest known stupa at Sanchi shows, the stupa first appeared with a hemispherical anda supportedby a low circular plinth. This type was introduced to the Taxila-Gandhararegions like Dharmarajikaand Manikyala. Such stupas are believed to have successively been enlarged by covering the originalcore structure, whichis round in plan, dated back to the Ashokantime. Insofaras the core was made round, the enlargedstupa also had the round plan. But in contrast the square podium, on which a hemispherical body was laid, was adopted in Taxila side by side with the traditionalform of stupas in early 1st century AD and became a fashion of the Buddhist stupas thereafter, or widelyaccepted both in time and space. More exactly speaking,this type of podium was never a simple box-likestructure but architecturallydecorated on four sidesfrom the very beginning,with a certain number of pilastersflanked by the cornice and bracket on the upper margin and by the torus-and-scotia mouldings on the lower. It should be noted that the podiumdecorated in this way seems to have been influencedby the Greco-Romanarchitecture, but against the historicalbackground of Taxila it is supposed by the author to have been adopted without influencefrom the Bactrian Hellenismand, more likely,as a unit of combinationof both square plan and architectural ornament. The firstintroduction of the stupa with a square podiumwas during Period II of Sirkap, or the Second City of Taxila. All of the stupas excavated by Marshall at Sirkap have the square podium except the stupa probably enshrined in the apsidal temple in Block 1D. The stupas excavated by Marshall are in Blocks1A, 3A, 1D, 1F, 1G, 1C', and 1E' as well as in the palace. A large stupa found near the northern city gate is situatedin Block 1A. All that is left of this stupa is the podium measuringabout 10m square at the base, round which runs a torus-and-scotia moulding surmounted by a series of Vol.XIV 1978 23 square pilasters, seven on each side, above which is a frieze-and-dentil cornice. The core of the structure is of rubble and the facing of squared kanjur stone is masoned without joint. Three subsiduary stupas, one on the back side and two smaller on the north-west corner, are built of rubble masonry faced with plaster. The largest stupa on the back side is adorned with the torus-and-scotia mouldings along the foot of the base surmounted by three Corinthian pilasters on each side. In the small stupas, blocks of the kanjur stone are let into the rubble walls for mouldings, pilasters, etc., which are blocked out of the soft stone and finished off with plaster (Taxila I, pp. 142-46). The stupa in Block 3A, about 1.5m square at the foot of the base, is built of limestone rubble without any kanjur blocks and finished off with plaster directly on the face of the rubble masonry (Taxila I, p. 146). The stupa standing in the court of Block 1F, measuring about 6.5m north and south by about 8m east and west, is faced with the squared kanjur stone and its core is made of rubble. Round the base runs a well-cut moulding consisting of a torus and scotia divided by a fillet, above which is a row of pilasters surmounted by brackets with a frieze and dentil cornice at the top. The pilasters on the two and back sides have the square shaft surmounted by flat capital except for the central one on the two sides which has a round shaft with Corinthian capital. On the western or frontal side all the pilasters are Corinthian with square shafts, but two pilasters have round shafts. The interspaces between the pilasters on this face are relieved by niches of three different patterns. The two nearest to the steps resemble the pedimental Greco-Roman buildings; those in the center are surmounted by ogival arches; those at the corners resemble the form of early Indian toranas. Except for the central niches, the tops of the four niches are surmounted by birds. The double-headed eagle on the southern ogival arch makes this stupa so unique (Taxila I, pp. 163-64). The stupa enshrined in the small court of Block 1G and facing west to the main street is rather small in size, measuring about 4m square with a projection of about 2m on the facade. The pilasters, five on three of its sides, are square, with capitals made up of horizontal mouldings. The moulding round the foot of the base is the usual torus and scotia, on which the bases of the pilasters rest directly, without the intervening course which is present in other stupas. The cornice is relieved by a bead-and-reel moulding, but is devoid of dentils. The core of this stupa podium is of limestone rubble, faced 24 ORIENT NOTES ON THE INTRODUCTION OF SQUARE PODIUM TO THE TAXILAN STUPA with squared kanjur stone (Taxila I, p. 167.) At the south-east corner of Block 1C' is a small stupa surrounded by walls and facing east or to the main street. Of this stupa the high podium only remains. It is constructed of diaper masonry with corners of dressed kanjur. The presence of the fragments of kanjur pilasters duly makes us suppose that the four sides were protected by them (Taxila I, pp. 191-92). At the south-east corner of Block 1E' remains a stupa podium constructed partly by rubble and partly of diaper masonry, protected on the outside by a thick coating of lime stucco, and the core of which is strengthened internally by thickf oundation walls arranged both crosswise and diagonally, interspaces between them being filled with stone debris. Marshall asserted without hesitation that this somewhat unusual plan for the foundation walls was designed to have provided for the weight of a circular stupa drum, the outer edge of which would be supported by the four diagonal walls (Taxila I, pp. 173-74). On the main street there is another Buddhist chapel of rectangular plan, measuring 68m east and west by 40m north and south, in the center of which is the apsidal temple called by Marshall consisting of a round apse and a square nave. On both sides of the facade of the apsidal temple were two small stupas of square plan at that time, but the southern counterpart remains. All that is left of this stupa is a lowest course of podium faced with squared limestone which is jointed by small pebbles (Taxila I, p. 154). In the palace there was a small stupa-shrine erected for the purpose of a private use, but nothing is left except for its square podium (Taxila I, p. 173). As observed above, the stupas in Sirkap city, or actually the stupa podium, are divided into two types from the architectural points of view. One is built of rubble and faced with squared kanjur stone. The other is constructed either by diaper maonry or by both diaper and rubble masonries. Especially the former can be seen at other Buddhist chapels in Taxila, among which Dhar- marajika is a subject of discussion. The main stupa of Dharmarajika consists of hemispherical anda and round medhi which is supported by the round podium. The core of anda is streng- thened internally by thick walls, sixteen in number, radiating irregularly from the central circular core. The central core and the interspaces between the radiating walls are built and filled with rough rubble of limestone. Important is the fact that the radiating walls stop short above the berm of stupa instead of being taken down to its foundation (Taxila I, p. 236f). This implies that these walls Vol. XIV 1978 25 were erected after the original anda had been reduced to ruin. Moreover the rebuilt anda was faced with diaper masonry, a small patch of which is seen on the west side of the drum immediately above the berm. From these facts it is natural to presume that the diaper masonry and the principle of radiating walls are parallel to the foundation walls of the small stupa in Block 1E', how- ever the latter may be arranged crosswise and diagonally. Around the main stupa remain a lot of constructions which were assigned by Marshall to stupas and shrines, some of which are built of rough rubble limestone faced with squared kanjur stone. The technique of such architec- ture is anterior to that of diaper, because the diaper-masoned wall partly covers the construction of kanjur stone, as seen between stupa D1 and Chapel D6. Though the original substance of the Dharmarajika main stupa cannot be sought, the diaper-masoned structure superimposing the kanjur-faced con- structions are rightly assigned to the same horizon with a small patch of remains on the west side of the stupa drum above the berm. The kanjur construction is admitted to be the earliest among the buildings at Dharmarajika and Sirkap, so far as the stupa and its connected architectures are conserned. At Dhar- marajika we can thus reconstruct an earlier plan of the stupa court; the main stupa was surrounded by nine stambhas, arranged at almost equal intervals, such as D1, D3, S8, S9, B20, D10, and three stambhas between S9 and B20, two of which being lost and one of which being not designated by Marshall. As for the stupas built in the same technique with the stambhas, it is inferred that they were built after the stambhas, because they are observed to disturb the regularity which the arrangement of stambhas shows (Taxila III, P1.