THE TEMPLES OF INDIA 



935 



3. When the Jagannath festival is con- 

 cluded all the pilgrims repair to the sea- 

 shore, and the surf effectually washes 

 away all sins. 



4. Sarnath, once a great religious sub- 

 urb of Benares, is now but a flat plain 

 whose fields are mantled with ruins. It 

 was the site of the Deer Park, where 

 Gautama Buddha established himself and 

 preached for forty rainy seasons, event- 

 ually overthrowing Brahmanism on its 

 r-most sacred spot. The great tope, or 

 memorial mound, covered with carvings 

 and statues, was described by Fa Hian, 

 ■the Chinese pilgrim, in 209 A. D., and by 

 Hionen Thsang in 629 A D., and from 

 their minute description the Anglo-In- 

 dian archeologists have been able to trace 

 all those splendid edifices that filled the 

 great walled enclosures of this famous 

 Buddhist monastery. 



5. The Nakar Khana, or Music Hall, 

 in the fort at Delhi, stands opposite the 

 magnificent red sandstone Lahore gate, 

 admitting one to the great enclosure of 

 -the Mogul Emperor. One passes through 

 the Nakar Khana to a second court to the 

 great hall of public audience, with its 

 jeweled inlaid throne. The music hall of 

 red sandstone, inlaid with white marble 

 and finished with rows of bell cupolas, 

 held the trumpeters and musicians who 

 welcomed and announced arrivals for 

 great ceremonies. 



6 The Great Temple of Maha Bodhi 

 at Buddha Gaya, within one hundred 

 miles of Benares, is the most sacred 

 shrine of the Buddhist faith. This pres- 

 ent temple succeeds earlier buildings, and 

 is itself a seventh century construction. 

 The tree at the right foreground is the 

 Sacred Bo Tree, lineal descendant of the 

 very same Bo Tree and occupying the 

 same spot as the tree under which Gan- 

 tama Buddha sat while he attained en- 

 lightenment. Archeology has brought to 

 light and rescued a whole treasure-house 

 of sculptured relics, some of which are 

 cared for in a building beside the temple 

 court. The original stone railing erected 

 by Emperor Asoka around the early 

 temple has been uncovered, and this 

 "earliest sculptured monument in India" 



was precursor of the sculptured rails at 

 other Buddhist shrines. 



7. The sculptured railing from Bhara- 

 hut, near Bhilsa, is now reerected in the 

 Calcutta Museum, and all have oppor- 

 tunity to study there this wonderfully 

 elaborate carving dating from the second 

 century B. C. The figures illustrate 

 scenes from the Jataka Stories. 



8. Ujjain was the capital where 

 Asoka ruled during his father's life- 

 time, and where later Vikramaditya ruled 

 after he had driven the Scythians out of 

 all northern India. He made it a center 

 of Hindu learning and literature. The 

 remains of the temples, after suffering at 

 the hands of Mohammedan conquerors, 

 show how splendid those structures were 

 in Ujjain's prime. Number 8 shows the 

 columns of light for festival times, when 

 the pillars blaze from top to bottom with 

 tiny flames. 



9. Fragments of sculptured columns 

 and figures in the rock-cut temples at 

 Ujjain, dating from Buddhist times. 



10. Exterior of Toran, or gateway in 

 the stone rail surrounding the tope at 

 Sanchi. The great Buddhist tope or 

 stupa at Sanchi, or memorial mound 

 covering relics of the Buddha, is one of 

 the most striking relics of the great 

 religion now remaining. The mound, 

 106 feet in diameter and 46 feet in 

 height, was once entirely faced with 

 sculptured stones. The rail was pierced 

 by four gateways, the monumental torans 

 a mass of wonderful carving, unequaled 

 by anything of later date in India. 

 This tope is believed to have been 

 erected two centuries before Christ, its 

 carved rail and Torans probably later. 

 Three of the gateways remain in place, 

 and the great stupa has been given 

 every care by Indian archeologists. The 

 Torans which had fallen have been set 

 up and carefully pieced together, and 

 one has been reerected in Calcutta, casts 

 of which are now to be seen at the 

 British Museum, London, and at the 

 Musee Guimet in Paris. 



11. Inner side of the west gateway of 

 the great Buddhist tope at Sanchi. The 

 carving is in white sandstone, and prob- 



