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CHRONOLOGY OF GUJARAT
cuts to take the top of the Buddha image. From the four sides of the stūpa, fragments of about 17 images have been found, out of which nearly 13 could be reconstructed fully. -(Plate LXXXVII). Three loose heads were also found.-(Plate LXXXVIII). Besides in the central bay, the lower fragments of a true arch with beautiful decorations were found. The arch from the east face has a diameter of 3'-6". There were in all four arches in the four directions. Two of them show the pūrņa-kumbha motiff. One of them has two sitting lions on either side.
The pattern of the image niche is also to be conjectured on this basis.-- (Plate LXXIX). In the centre of the larger pilasters were two smaller pilasters with plain bases and Indo-Corinthian caps, 16 inches long and located 2'-10" apart. The arch, made in two pieces, rested on these capitals. As there are roughly equal number of empty and full arches, it is possible to conjecture that there were in all about 16 figures on the four sides. These details are being worked out carefully. The exact decoration above these niches is purely conjectural, but a large number of decorative patterns of the type found on the lower platform were also found, suggesting the possiblity of repetition of the same pattern.
Phases: As the stūpa is very much damaged, there is no convincing evidence about the exact phases. But the round moulding on pradaksiņā-patha is considerably damaged, and at places we see a restoration. In the course of this restoration, they indiscriminately used decorated and plain bricks. Similarly, in one of the sections where a part of the lower platform is damaged we see a similar mixture. Finally, during the last phases of the stūpa, they re-erected the images of Buddha by increasing the number of courses of bricks above the off-set bricks, containing the bases of the pilasters. Looking at the range of evidence from the vihāra as well as the stūpa, it is possible to postulate at least two phases of the stūpa for the present. Buddha Figures : (13" x 24" ):
From the plan of the stūpa, as well as the evidence of drapery etc., it is possible to derive the stūpa and the art it represents from the Gāndhāra region. In his latest study of the Gāndhāran art in Pakistān, Ingholt divides it into four phases represented by four groups of decorative features. Itlay Lyons and Harold Ingholt, Gāndhāran Art in Pākistān, New York, 1957). The latest group dated by him between 400-460 A.D. is characterised by drapery indicated by paired parallel lines. Of the 17 images in Dhyāna mudrā recovered so far, 14 of them belong to this group. But the most interesting image is one with very prominent ribbed drapery and a platform with double lotus-pedestal. We have another image with slightly raised folds of the drapery. But the most noteworthy feature is the absence of the folds of the sanghati covering the foot. In all the images both the legs are bare. Even in the drapery, both the styles are represented. Some of them have both the shoulders covered, while the right shoulder is left bare in some of the images.
In the matter of hair-styles also, there are two distinct traditions. Majority of them have the usual hair-style in spirals turning right and ușniśa. But one, the most
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