________________
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
163
early nineties of the 19th century, was regarded by archaeologists like V.A. Smith as not only the oldest known structure of that type but also as, perhaps, the earliest extant building in India, apart, of course, from the pre-historic Indus Valley relics which came to light later. Smith though that "600 B.C. is not too early a date for its erection". Dr. Fuhrer, who superintended the excavation of the stūpa, said, on the basis of inscription bearing words to mean., Deva-stūpa, built by the gods, discovered at the site, "The stūpa was so ancient at the time when the inscription was incised that its origin had been forgotten. On the evidence of the characters the date of the inscription may be referred with certainty to the Indo Scythian era and is equivalent to A.D. 156. The stūpa must, therefore, have been built several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era, for the name of its builders would assuredly have been known if it had been erected during the period when the Jainas of Mathurā carefully kept record of their donations." Since Mauryan art was known as the Yakşa art and the preMauryan as the Deva art, Dr. V.S. Agrawala surmised that this stūpa must have belonged to times prior to those of the Buddha and Mahävīra. The stupa is said to have been golden originally, but was, perhaps, made of mud. At some time during the interval between Pārsva's nirvāṇa (777B.C.) and the birth of Mahāvīra(599 B.C), it was encased in brick, and in the times of the Mauryas, in the 4th or 3rd century B.C., it was repaired and renovated when stone was used freely in it for the first time. Unfortunately, the excavation of the site was handled so carelessly as to obliterate all traces of the original structure. However, a beautifully sculptured piece, described by Smith as the central portion of the lowest beam of a toraņa archway belonging to the railing which ran round the stūpa, gives an idea of what the general appearance of the stūpa might have been. One side of this relic bears in the middle the likeness of the stūpa which is being worshipped by kinnaras and Suparnas (half-men and half-birds), and on its reverse is the represen
