1864] 



On the Buddhist Bemains of Sultdnganj. 



371 



symbols in these places. It is remarkable at the same time that while 

 the characters remained intact the " creed" failed to withstand the 

 change of climate, and underwent several alterations of reading. 



These structures are models or miniature representations of sepulchral 

 monuments, and they owe their origin to an injunction in the Ehud- 

 dhist scriptures which recommends the dedication of such monuments 

 as an act of great religious merit. Hence they have engaged the 

 earnest attention of the followers of Gautama from an early age, and 

 many are the ruins in India which now attest the lavish expenditure 

 which some of its former kings and princes incurred in raising them 

 in a manner worthy of their ambition. 



They were originally hemispherical in shape and of stupendous size, 

 rising directly from the surface of the earth like a bubble on water, 

 and typical of the evanescent character of all worldly objects.* They 

 are represented by the topes of Sanchi and Satdhara, which, according 

 to G-eneral Cunningham, date as early as the 6th century before 

 Christ, but which certainly must have existed since the fifth. Two 

 hundred years subsequently, about the time of the third synod, 

 the hemispheres were raised on cylindrical plinths of small 

 height as in the chaityas around Bhilsa. Gradually the plinths were 

 raised higher and higher, until, in the beginning of the Christian 

 era, their altitude became equal to the diameter of the hemisphere, 

 as at Sarnath near Benares and in the topes of Affghanistan ; and 

 ultimately they merged into tall round towers surmounted by a dome, 

 or bell-shaped structures with elongated pinnacles, such as the Deh- 

 gopas of Burmah or the bass-reliefs on the clay figure under notice. 

 These were costly edifices and could be constructed only by the wealthy. 

 But as the merit of dedicating them was not dependent upon their 

 size, men of moderate means satisfied their religious craving by the 

 consecration of small stone models which the clergy assured them would 

 secure to them as much merit as the lordly structures would to their 

 princely donors. They added that vows to dedicate such tokens were most 

 effectual in averting an impending evil or securing an. expected good. 

 Thus a great impulse was given to this act of devotion, and the number 

 of offerings was greatly multiplied. The poor supplied the place of 

 stone models by little terra-cotta figures of small value, the offering of 

 which was very much encouraged by the priesthood, as their consecra- 

 # Yide Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes, p. 169. 



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