________________
MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE 300 B.C. TO A.D. 300
[PART 11
METRES 2 B
.
.
..
FAX
NU:
FRG. II. Kankal-tilă: plan of a brick stupa. (After Smith) For the elevation and outer form of the stūpa we have to refer to the representation of the reliefs on architraves of gateways, āyāga-patas, tympana and others. From the reliefs and also from the dismembered stones of gateways and railings it appears that either there were more than one important stūpa at this site or a sole stūpa underwent restorations and embellishments at frequent intervals.
Chronologically, the earliest representation of a stūpa occurs on the obverse of the bottom architrave in the State Museum, Lucknow (SML, J. 535) of the gateway of a stūpa (plate 2A). On stylistic consideration of the figures represented on the architrave, the latter cannot be regarded later than the first century B.c. The stūpa with its receding terraced drum is somewhat bell-shaped. The two terraces of the circular drum have around them three-barrod railings. The hemispherical dome is crowned by a square three-barred railing, from the
The Brhat-katha-kota of Harisena (A D. 932), ed. A.N. Upadhye, Bombay, 1943, p. 26, gives an account of the foundation of five ancient sripas of Mathura.
