Indian Antiquary Vol 61

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 215

OCTOBER, 1932) THE GREAT STOPA AT NAGARJUNAKONDA IN SOUTHERN INDIA
191
In the inscriptions belonging to the Great Stupa, the monument is called the “Mahachetiya of the Lord, the Supreme Buddha," clearly showing that the tomb was consecrated to the Great Teacher and to nobody else. The discovery of the dhátu, or bone relic, proves that the monument was a dhátugarbha, or 'tomb containing a relic, and that it was not a mere dedicatory ' stúpa. The latter were memorial stūpas, which contained no relics, and, like Asoka's pillars, were erected on celebrated sites sacred to the Buddha, such as his birthplace, and so on. It is, therefore, obvious that the Great Stúpa did not belong to this class of memorial monument. The inscriptions do not definitely state why the stúpa was built ; they merely state that the ayaka-pillars were dedicated to the Buddha, and that they were set up by the princess Ch&mtisiri and other royal ladies of the same house. Supposing the stúpa to have been already in existence prior to the erection of the pillars, it would have been necessary first to enlarge the drum and build the ayaka-platforms to accommodate the pillars, and then replaster and decorate the stúpa from top to bottom to complete the work. In fact, it would have meant rebuilding the whole of the exterior of the monument. Dr. Vogel is of opinion that the inscriptions show that the Maháchetiya was "founded” by Châmtisiri, but it is by no means clear whether she built, rebuilt, or merely contributed to the structure. If she did build the stúpa, then it was she who enshrined the relic found in the chamber; but it is impossible to believe that so great an event as this could have occurred without the fact being recorded in at least one of the many inscriptions referring to the stúpa. We know that the monument was consecrated to the Buddha, as the inscriptions are quite clear on this point. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the relic recovered from the tomb represents a dhatri, or corporeal relic of the Great Teacher, otherwise there could be no possible reason for calling the tomb the "Maháchetiya of the Lord, the Supreme Buddha." That the Mahachetiya was regarded as a particularly holy shrine is obvious from the tone and wording of the inscriptions found at the site. Again, the size of the tomb, the number of pious donations made by ladies of royal blood, and the fact that pilgrims came from all over India and Ceylon to reverence it, afford testimony of this.
Unfortunately, the meaning of some of the words and phrases met with in the inscriptions is very obscure. Commenting upon this, Dr. Vogel says—“A considerable difficulty in the way of interpreting the Nagarjunikonda inscriptions is the want of precision of which they show ample evidence. Considering that these inscriptions were meant to be perpetual records of pious donations made by ladies of royal blood, the careless manner in which they have been recorded is astonishing. Not only single syllables but whole words have been omitted." Dr. Hirananda Sastri, Epigraphist to the Government of India, who has also made a study of those inscriptions, found the same difficulty, and, as might be expected in the circumstances, his interpretation of the precise meaning of certain words differs from Dr. Vogel's. The records belonging to the Mahachetiya open with an invocation to the Buddha, who is 'extollod in a long string of laudatory epithets. Dr. Hirananda Sastri is of opinion that the style and wording of the invocation shows that the Mahâchetiya has been specified in these inscriptions as "protected by the corporeal remains of the Buddha" and that the genitive case is used here to discriminate this atapos from others not similarly consecrated. Nine ruined stupas were discovered at Nagarjunakonda, four of them highly decorated with stone bas-reliefs similar to those recovered from Amaravati, but the Maháchetiya is the only one bearing inscriptions indicating that it was consecrated to the Buddha.
The discovery of the relic and the fact that inscription B. 2 of Dr. Vogel's List, definitely gives the name of the monument as the Mahachetiya of the Buddha, seem conclusive evidence that the monument was originally built to enshrine some corporeal remains of the Buddha, as Dr. Hirananda Sastri maintains. The stúpa was probably built long before Châmtisiri set up the pillars and rebuilt the structure in the second century A.D., or thereabouts, which