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APPENDIX
127
an early one and its range was at one time qaite extensive. One of the four kinds of stapas in Serindia was a remarkable quadrangular building in several tiers dimmishing in size upwards, like a gigantic staircase."1 Dr. Agrawala has already noted the structural resemblance between Ziggurat and jārūkaedūka.
I may add here an important point of resemblance: the platform on which the Stūpa drum is shown represents a fundamental also of the Ziggurat.
The structural resemblance between Coomaraswamy's HIIA, fig. 69A, Agrawala's Ahicchatrā Eļūka and the Jaina Samavasaraṇa is quite obvious to all. And the authors of the Mahabharata and the Malsābhāşya seem to refer to the Jaina and Buddhist Stūpas when they speak of jārūkas (Ziggurats) or edūkas.
A study of the descriptions of the Samavasaraņa noted above will show that the three fortifications are an essential part of the " Assembly-Hall ". Represented in stone or metal, the Samavasaraña, extending horizontally, is expressed vertically (in elevation) as having three tiers or terraces. Even if it were to be expressed horizontally, the central Gandhakuți is to be shown on a platform, on a higher level than the other parts of the Samavasaraña.
Now a glance at the Stūpa in the relief from Mathurā illustrated frere in fig. 6. will show that the Stüpa, with its three railings very closely resembles the Jaina Samavasaraņa. And why is the Stūpa represented in this way, as if it is a two or three-terraced structure ?
The stūpa, or the funeral mound as described by the Satapatha may or may not be an elaborate structure but, from at least the third century B.C., Indian Stūpas seem to have become elaborate in plan and elevation. No such Mauryan stūpa is however known, but the highly ornate stūpas of Sunga Age, from Bhārhut and Sāñchi, suggest that the activity could have started from the Mauryan Age. In the words of Coomaraswamy, a stūpa can be described as follows:
"A stūpa usually rests on a basement of one or more square terraces (medhi) or is at least surrounded by a paved square or circle for circumambulation, the terraces being approached by stairs (sopāna); it consists of a solid dome ( anda or garbha ) with a triple circular base, and above the dome a cubical "mansion " or "gods' house (harmikā, Simh, deva-kotuva) from which rises a metal mast (yasti) the base of which penetrates far into the anda; and this mast bears a range of symbolical parasols (chatra) and at the top a rain-vase
1 Agrawala, Ibid., p. 151. For the stūpa in Serindia, see, Encyclopaedia Britanica, 14th ed., 2.526.
? Also see, Ancient India, No. IV, p. 167.
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