178 
THE ARCHITECTURE OF INDIA. 
[Nature and Art, June 1, 1867. 
between the canopies in the Ajunta one, small 
angels are carved supporting them. There is a 
difference between these two Topes in the xvay the 
umbrellas are arranged. The dotted lines over the 
section of the Bilsah Tope (fig. 2) will show how 
they may have been arranged over it. The 
meaning of these umbrellas will be best understood 
from the following quotation from the Maliawanso, 
on the dedication by the Raj ah Dutthagamini of 
the Maha-Thupo in Ceylon. He said, “ thrice over 
do I dedicate my kingdom to the redeemer of the 
world, the divine teacher, the bearer of the triple 
canopy; the canopy of the heavenly host, the 
canopy of mortals, and the canopy of eternal 
emancipation.” These words manifest the deep 
signification of the umbrella as a symbol of 
Buddha. This importance is also indicated by its 
universality as an emblem. It was used in 
Thesmophorian and Eleusinian mysteries, and in 
the rites of Bacchus ; Hesychius says under the 
woi’d oxide, “a vine, a convex tent, a pointed 
umbrella under which Bacchus sits.” As the 
dome of St. Peter’s may be allied with the Tope, so 
the baldaquin may be possibly connected with the 
“ chattar ” (umbrella), which is still one of the 
insignia of royalty in the East. 
In the ground plan of the Bilsah Tope (fig. 1 ) it 
will be seen that there is a passage all round it, 
with a gateway at each of the cardinal points. 
The passage is formed by a very peculiar structure, 
which is now known as the “ Buddhist Railing ; ” it : 
is evidently founded upon a previous wooden con- 
struction, and its peculiar form is used as an 
ornamental feature, not only on the sculptures of 
the Bilsah Tope itself, but it is to be found in all 
the most ancient of the Buddhist rock-cut temples ; 
in fact, the use of this “ rail ” as an ornament is in 
itself a proof of a certain antiquity wherever it is 
found. In the present case it stands as a piece of 
architectural construction, and it is the only 
example of it known in India : in every other 
place it is found merely as a sculptural ornament. 
It is formed of upright stone posts eight feet eight 
inches high, over which there are laid long stones, 
about two feet four inches in depth ; between 
each of the upright posts there are inserted three 
horizontal stones, or slabs, convex in section ; these 
have sockets cut for them in the posts, exactly as if 
they were pieces of wood (see drawing, fig. 8). 
This mode of mortising could never have been 
adopted by people with stone as their building 
material ; while it is exactly the way in which such 
a wooden structure would be formed. 
The gateways are also expected after a wooden 
style of constrixction ; tlxey ax’e formed of square 
pillars about eighteen feet high ; this supports thx’ee 
lixxtels which extend beyond the pillars, axxd 
betweexx these lintels are a series of small pillars 
which act as supports ; the lixxtels are cxxriously 
cxxxwed upwards ixx the middle (see drawing 
fig. 4), axxd although they rest xxpoxx the sxxppox’ting 
pillax’s they are mox’tised into each other as if they 
were blocks of wood. The whole of these foxxr 
gates are carved all over ; there are symbols of 
Bxxddha, such as the wheel, and the sacred trees ; 
Topes are also to be foxxnd with people worshipping. 
Some of the ordinary avocations of ancient life are 
represented, and these are unchanged as to xxtexxsils 
ox' mode of performance evexx ixx the present day, 
showixxg how permanent ax'e the maxxxxei’S and 
cxxstoms of the East. 
The purpose of these gateways and the passage is 
axx important point ixx Buddhism. It was a 
ceremonial part of their worship to circumambulate 
one of these buildings, and they did so mxxttering 
prayers and holy iixvocatioxxs ; this was done in 
lxonoxxr of Buddha, because he is a “ Clxakx-avarta- 
Rajah,” or King of the Wheel; this is also the 
explanation of the “ Px-ayixxg Cylinder,” which the 
Bxxddhists of Thibet whirl as a xxxode of prayer. 
The wheel was also called the Wheel of the Law , 
because it evolved, or revolved, the faith (dharma) 
of Bxxddha, and it was symbolical of the movements 
of the heavexxly bodies. This circumambulation is 
also performed by the Malxonxedans rouixd the 
Caaba at Mecca. As the followex-s of the prophet 
have xxo explanatioxx of this ceremony, it may 
perhaps be a remnant of the old Buddhist ideas, 
axxd this is confirmed from the fact that there was a 
systenx of pilgrimage from Ixxdia to Mecca, long 
before the tixxxe of Mahomet. 
Fi’oixx the lxoix-discovexy of relics ixx the Bilsah 
Tope, Cunningham arx-ived at the coixclusioix that 
it was dedicated to the supreme Bxxddha. He says, 
“A Tope is propexly a religious edifice, dedicated 
emphatically to Buddha — either to the celestial 
Adi Bxxddha, the gx’eat Fix-st Cause of all things, or 
to one of his emanations, the Manushi, or mortal 
Buddhas, of whom the most celebrated, and the only 
historical oxxe, is Sakya Mxxxxi, who died b.c. 543. 
In the Topes dedicated to the celestial Bxxddha — 
the ixxvisible Being who pervaded all space — no 
deposit was xxxade ; but the Divine Spirit, who is 
‘ Light,’ was sxxpposed to occupy the interior, axxd 
was typified on the oxxtside by a pair of eyes, placed 
oxx each of the foxxr sides either of the base or of 
the crowix of the edifice. Sxxch is the great Chaitya 
or Tope near Kathmandu, in Nepal, dedicated to 
Swayambhxxnath (the Self Existexxt), ixx which the 
eyes are placed on the xxpper part of the bxxilding.” 
(“Bilsah Tope,” p. 7.) It was oxxly the great Tope 
at this place which was dedicated to the “ Divixxe 
Spirit;” the other’s, of which there are many, con- 
tained vases which, from their ixxscx-iptions, preserved 
the ashes of holy mexx. One of these had an inscrip- 
tioxx stating that it was the “ (Relics) of the eman- 
cipated Kasyapa Gotra, the missioxxary to the whole 
Hemawanta (Himalays).” The Buddhists wex-e 
great propagandists, and there are other Topes at 
Bilsah which preserved the remains of xxxen who 
had earned a holy repxxtation as missionaries to the 
Himalays. In sending xxxissioxxs they took effective 
xxxeans to accoxxxplish their pui’pose : they did xxot 
send a single pex’son, bxxt sent a sort of colony — a 
whole body of nxoixks. It was thus that they con- 
vei'ted Cashmere, and wheix they had attained their 
pxxx-pose there, a similar regiment of propaganda 
were pushed oxx to Thibet, axxd converted that 
