evolution of buddhism

7/29/2019 Evolution of Buddhism

1/9

EVOLUTION OF BUDDHISM ANDARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN LUMBINI

TARA NANDA MISHKFORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERADEPT. OFARCHAEOLOGY, HMG, NEI'A

During lllc clld of the Upan ishad period the Uttarapath Jainism followed the extreme rigol-ous path ofaustcrit(northern highway) was made. It linked the fertile lands whereas, Buddhism selected the middle way (Madllyof Yalnuna and the Ganga Va lley, the rich fertile as Margal. Buddhism devoted itself to the service well as the iron and copper-mine regions of north- society, following theUfournob le-truth"(Chalura-Aryeastern areas of Jambudvip with Malwa, Rajasthan, S a t ~ a )nd the "Eight-fold Path" (A stangik a-MarP)I'unjab, Iran and west-Asia. This led to the period of It aimed at supreme Mmation (Nirvana). Tllougsecond in the Indian sub-continent. ~t Buddhism deviated and denied the Vedic religion anmade the region economicallyvery rich and which gave ~ h i l o s o ~ l l ~n the earliest phase, its Ma h a ~ a n a rancbil-tll to several new religious sects and philosophical (the Mahasanghikas a fter the 1st cent A.D.1 brouglltideas, Alnollg them the chief religious sects which closer connection with the Hindism. M ahayan adoptegcrlllillated within the region were Vaishnavism, most of the Hindu and pre-Hindu Gods into its owSaivism, Buddhism and Jainism.' T he earlier two sec ts pantheon. They sk~ rted aking images and ~ e rf o n nwere developed upon the age old Vedic and Vedottara w o r s h i p , Y a g ~ a s fire-offer ings) and rel igiou(I'ost Ved ic) traditions. But Jainism and Buddhism procession (Deva~atras) f their Gods on festivwere fostered by heterodox leaders deliying the occasions (G. Roreich; Biograp11~ f Dha mas walllinsuprem e authority of Vedas and Gods. Though they 19 59 ,54 ,92 ; S. Beal, Siyuki, 198 1, I, 80). Lalter ostill inherited som e of the old traditional metllods of BuddhismwasdivkIed intoeighteell~ects.~T a p , Y o g a , Bh a i k sh a c h a r y a ( b e g g i n g a l m s ) ,c l lara l la t ika (wanderer ) , Ekantvasa ( l iv ing in Prince Siddhartha was born around 563 B.C.4 aseclusion),asnllavasa (staying away from the common Lumbini Vana (Asokan Pillar inscription reads- "Hidniass in the hermitage), and live at a fixed place during Buddhe Jate....... Lummini game"). H ew as m~ rr i e dtllc rainy season ("dl~ruvashiloversasu" as propagated the age o f sixteen. About twelve Years latter he got by Gautam dllarrnasastra ). In this way they were son m m ed lXahul- Only a week after the birth o f hillflueticed by the Rigveda. Mundaka Upanishad, son, at the age of twenty-nine Buddha left his homBr i l ladaranyaka Upan i shad an d Apa s tamba and beca me anascetican da wanderer. He niadeseverDhannasutra,2 The Hindus used to address their saints austerities for six Yearsanda ttllirty-five o r forty Yeaas Muni, Bhikshu and Sramana. These terms were also of his a ge at atlas received bodhi hi at Bodl lagailillerited by the Buddhists. (the Lotus sutra, VI, 1-2, reads 'Praplo si bodllim

10


2/9

,,agare gayahvaye, ....... catvarimsad-varsani'). Atsaranatll (Mrigadavaka) he started preaching Dllalillna( ~ l ~ a m m a c h a k k aravartan) and his Sangha was alsobrtned at the same place. During his lifetime his sonj


3/9

350-37 0 A.D.. In his Wai-kuo-shill he writes "thelnarvelous tree, which the excellent queen grasped whentlle Buddha c am e to life, is called Asoka. King Asokamade, out-of lapisla zul i, a statue of the queen in the actol'grasping (the tree) and giving birth to the prince. Whentlic old tree had no more offshoots, all the Sramana tooktllc old trunk and planted it, and over and over again itcontinued itself till the present time. Th e branches of thetree are as o f old, and they still shelter the stone statue.Also the outlines of the m arks ofwh ere the prince walkedseven steps,arestill preserved today. King Asoka enclosedthe marks w ith Lapislazuli on both sides, and again hadthem covered over with one long slab of lapislazuli. Thepeople of the country continuously make offerings to themwith sweet smelling-flowers. One still sees clearly theoutlines ofseven footprints., although there is now a slabcovering them, it makes no difference. And again, peoplemay cover them thickly with several layers of heavy cotton(Karpasa) and fasten these on the chiseled stone., and yet(the marks) shine through them and areeven brighter thanbefore" (L . Petech, 1950 ,35-36).Fa-l~sien's isitThe next Chinese pilgrim to visit Lumbini was Fa-hsien,around 604 A.D.. His description about Lumbini isquoted from his own writings- 'Fifty le east from thecity was a garden, named Lum bini, where the queenentered the pond o n the northern bank, after (walking)twenty paces, she lifted up her hand, laid hold of abranch of a tree, and with her face to the east, gavebirth to the heir-apparent. when h e fell to the ground,he (immediately)walked seven paces. Two dragon-kings(appeared) and washed his body. At the place whe rethey did so, there was immediately formed a well andfrom it, as well as fi-om the above pond, where (the queen)bathed, the monks now constantly take the water and drinkit" (James Legge, Delhi, 1971, p. 67).Yuan Chwangs visit and notes about Lumbini"From the arrow-Spring, the pilgrim proceeds, a walkof 8 0 or 90 Li north-east brought one to the La-fa-niGrove. In this grove was the beautiful bathing tank oftlle Sakyas, and about twenty-four paces from it wastlle old Asoka tree at which the Budd ha had been borninlo the world. On the east of this was an Asoka tope,

at the place w here two dragons washed the newly borprince with hot and cold water. To the east of this wertwo clear springs with topes where two dragons emergeon the birth o f the Pusa and produced two springs. Soutof these was a to pe where Indra received the newborinfant Pusa. Next to it were four topes to the fouDevrajas, wh o had taken charge of the baby Buddhafter his birth. Near these topes was a stone pillar seup by Asoka with the figure of a horse on the topAAerwards the pillar had been broken in the middleand laid on the ground, by a thunderbolt from malicious drag on. Near this pillar was a small streamflowing south-east, and called by the people the oil riveIt was origina lly a tank of a p ure oily liquid produceby the de vas for the use of the Buddha's mother icleansing herself from earthly soil after the birth of heson. The tank had become changed into a stream owater which, however, still retained its oily character(watters, 19 73, II, 14-15).The Archaeological Pursuits In LumbiniLumbini w as discovered jointly by Gen. KhadgShamser and Dr. Fuhrer in the year 1896. AAer cleaninthe debries around the Asoka Pillar Fuhrer madavailable the fresh Asoka inscription. He had left noteabout the nativity sculpture and the temple. As reporteby fuhrer the sculpture was discovered and the newtemple was made by a Hindu Sanyasi living at thasite, six years before his arrival, around 1890. Latteon Dr. Hoey also visited Lumbini and has given thdescription ofth e nativity panel. In 1898 P.C. Mukherjehad excavated the brick tem ple and few sm all chaityaaround the temple. According to his description thmoulded brick tem ple was made o f saptarath sikharstyle and attached with a mukha mandap o n the eastThe head of Mayadevi had also been discovered tMukherjee. From 1933- 1939 onwards Gen. Kaishcsham sher started digging at Lumbini. H e had exposemany stupas and monasteries, incased the Sakya porwith brickedging and steps. He had also excav ated tkbasement of Asoka pillar and remade the modern temphousing the nativity image. From the dugout soil of tharchaeological site, he made two artificial stupas in thsouth and on the nor thern boundary l ines . Thantiquities were not recorded and left uncared in tl:hands of the monks. No trained archaeologist wz


4/9

illvolved in his excavations and therefore, the s itc hadto suSScr more damages.\l'tcr a l ong gap i n 1962 Februa ry , a t ra inedIrcl~acologistMrs. Devala Mitra of Archaeologicalof India had explored Lumbini. S he had also

the Asoka pillar and excavated its hamm er-c o rd ~ d he an t i qu it i e s l ef t f rom the Ka i sher -xcavations (D. Mitra, 1972, 196205 ,

1 , Dr. N.R. Banerjee (thcnvisor in Doa) w ith Babu Krishna Rijal had excavatedlc old village area (site No-2) of Lum bini. Th e NBP,an and Gupta period po ttery and antiquities were

overed from this site. According to the excavatorsn successive stratums were discovered from this site.finds were, mud-w alls, Kushan t.c. figures,

ck wells. In 1983 a Kushan period well madef concave bricks and engraved with various mark like-

'Frisula, bow and arrow, cross within circle, wavyls, triangle and squa re was found within the newrea indicating about the ancient highway w hich

t.c. plaque mouldLord Buddha in earth-touching pose (Bhumi sparseelonging to the Gupta art school was found .rom he antiquities the village site can be dated fromC. to the Gupta period, 8th Cent A.D. Th e village

as been found within an area of GOO m (East-and 300m (N orth-South).

. K. Ri ja l had a l so conducted archaeolog ica lrom 1974 till 1983 in and around Lumbinity site. Within this period m any small and a big

were dug-up to the bottom and than conserved.11he east of Mayadevi tem ple over a high plinth of a

like Bodhagaya) was built in Tribhuvan-Mandalanch-Ratna concept which wa s also conserved."Rijal calls it a stupa (A rcheological Activities. In

LDC, P L - 12). The m ost importantade in 1975, on the north o fburnt brick sllrine measuring 15' 4" o r

7.0111 (north-south) and 12' 5" or 3.8 m (east-~vctliscovered at the cleptl~ f 2 feet below the prcsclground level. It had two layers of burnt bricks o17"*8"*5" size. Over this structure a square chaity(5.9"*5') of Maurya p eriod was also found. Mosprobably this was the earl iest and pre-Mauryastructure on the site.I2The important an tiquities founwere- the Horse capital, t.c. Boddhisattava, few Kushatc. heads, a plaque of Dharmachakra in terracotta, relic casket along with a S ung copper coin , from Ihsurface of a Mauryan square Stupa base and a t.cladder.From 1984-1986 Tara Nanda Mishra from the Depof Archaeology, IIMG, had excavated at the Nativitmound. The excavations exposed six successive layein the site, begining with NBP (400B.C.)I3, Asokperiod (267-240B.C., Eggerrnont, 1991 ,24 6-2 5 I)'>Sunga-Panchal period (200-1 00B.C.), Kushan pcrio(100-200 A.D.), Gupta period (360-8th cent. A.D.) anearly medieval period (9th-13 the cent A.D.).During the period three monasteries were excavatethirteen big and sm all stupas were partly excavated anall these structures were repaired and preserved. Tllsaptarath maulded brick temp le was also exposed. Tlseriously damaged Nativity sculptural panel in relic(Patta pratima, ardha-ch itra) l 4 was repaired as wcll aconserved. Among the missing two pieces of thisculptural panel. One piece was found from the bacof the sculpture. Th e other piece was also located fromthe accumulated stone pieces. A ll the four pieces wcrfixed.Is The Asoka-pillar was excavated to its flabasement stone which was supporting the 30ft. 1inches stone monolithic chunar sandstone shaft. Therwas also a brick rail (vedica) in square shape arounthe pillar made originally during the Ashoka periodTh e crowning features of the shaft including the horsfigure was broken before the visit of Yuan-Chwangwhich has been recorded by him (w atters 1973, pp. 4050). Th e bell capital of the pillar was broken into twhalves, which had been placed over a new bricplatform, within the iron ralling of the pillar. l'hc fissurin the middle o f the pillar and the crakes wcrc fillcwith a paste made o f chunar sandstone power nlixcd iaraldite.


5/9

ofMayadevi Temple complex.llase I (around 249 B.C.)

M~lhagandl iakut i ) '~as donc within Feb. 1993-1995arch. Tlie excavations were carried out by Satoruesaka o f Japan Buddhist federation, Babu Krislianaijal from Lumbini Development project, Kosh Prasadacharya from Dept. of Archeology , H.M.G., Nepal.During these excava tion several periods and phases of

onstructions in the Mayadevi temp le had been found.pillar inscription o fA sok a m entions about a term

Vikata) stone (Sila) Bhittika (wall),indicating aboutlie temple erected by Asoka, which has also beenentioned by D ivyavadana. D.C. sircar interprets it a s"Prastar f i a c h it a istika Prakar" (the temple made of

tone and bricks). But P.L. Gupta means it as, "a highty spot". The Dhammapadaakatha and Malvikagnimitra (V,I) refers about thehrines enclosed with walls o r railings (Prakara, Vedikaittikabandha', Coomarasw amy, Y akasas, Delhi,197 1, I, pp. 22-23). Th e Asokan shrine discovered at

bini has also encircling thick walls in two phases.e clue about a temple and a Nativity panel

ade by king Asoka (L.Petecli , Roma,1950, 35-arks with Lapislazuli on bothsides.").

uter walls built around the temple, measuringm (north-south). Th e second phased0 to 20 cm s. shorter than-the first phasedrteen square platforms within the

-bricks, which w ere robbed to beith rammed clay were meant to support theams (of sala wood?) to produce higher plinth

in his notes about the temple. The size of theer (garbhagriha) was 2.70x2.20m. It is

l apsidal temples were built at S arnath, Sanchile No. 40) and a rubble built, Chaitya-Griha at

Rajgir. At Sirkap an apsidal temple stands on a raiseplatl 'ortn in t l ie middle of a spacious, elevaterectangular courtyard (The Archaeology,vol- l ,No. 1988, Karachi, p.57). Th e apsidal temple at Sanclii wabuilt on high rectangular platfornl of stone measurin87ft x 46ft x l lft . and w as provided with steppeapproaches on the east-and western sides. The originstructure was probably of timber (D. Mitra, Sancl1957,46). It has also a rectangular compound wall (I-Sarkar, Early Buddhist Architecture, Delhi 1967, p38). Similarly, at Lumbini the brick prakara of thtemple was 78ftx62ft and if we leave a gap of 41t on athe sides, the temple would have been probably o70Ax54ft. Th e face was naturally on the east, whicwas the feature of the last phase o f Gupta temple. Wcan expect a similar apsidal temple whose uppestructure was built of Sala wood at Lumbini.A naturconglomerated stone boulder ( 70x40x10cms) wafound encased with a course of bricks on all sides, ithe nativity place.Temple phase I1 (200-100 B.C.)Tlie plinth of the Nativity temple w as again raised berecting similar brick-chambers over tlie Mauryabesement (adhis thana) . Five such chambers irectangular sizes were made of bricks measuring 1inches x 9.5 inches x 2.5 inches. In the central chambeof this phase a beautiful corobelled nitch had beell madon the eastern face of the brick sanctuln .This nilc1contained som e pieces of chunar sandstone slabs. Thdiscovery also con form s the statem ents of tlie Yuchchih monk Seng-tsai (circa 350 A.D.) that king Asokhad covered the seven foot-steps of Lord Buddha wit1long stone slab. As the Sung-Panchal period of templconstruction also confirm s about the similar techniqubeing followed by the Mauryan builders, they mighhave followed the sa me apsidal style.Phase 111Early Gupta period 350 A.D.The present nativity sculpturalfigure,which is a producof Early Gupta art of Mathura, on the mottled resands tone , I7 can b e da t ed t o abo ut 35 0 A.DKrishnadcva lias also dated this panel as belonging tthe 4th cent. A.D.I8 where as, D. Mitra (ExcavationInN epa lese Tarai, 1972. 198) simply ascribes i t to tl


6/9


7/9

15. T.N. Mishra- The Origin and Development ofBuddhism, In Buddhist collection of National Museumof Nepal, 1998, pp. 9-32; Tara Nanda Mishra, The~scliaeo logica l ctivities at Lumbini During 1984-85,paper presented in the first SAARC Archeologicalcongress held in 1986, New Delhi; Samrat Asoka R aNcpal sanga unko sambandha, I'ragya 82 kha, 4-72;Buddha Janmasthala Ra Lumbini ka Utkhanit MandirI-Iaru, Pragnya, 84, pp.7-12; Th e Archaeo logicalActivities in Lumbini, Ancient Nepal, DO A No. 139,PP. 36-48; Tlie Nativity Sculpture of Lumbini and itsconservation, Rolamba vol- 10, No. 4 1990; Unesco,'Tlie Silk Roads, Buddhist route Expedition, Sept. 1995,74-98;16. Buddhist temples have been addressed asGandhakuti; the Vinayapitaka refers about fourMahasthanas (Sakyamunis residences) at the JetavanaMonastery in Sravasti. They are named as Karerikuti,Kosambakutim, Gandhakuti and Salala-ghara. FromBharahut and Bodhagaya, gandhakutis are mentionedin the 2nd century B.C. The Saranath inscription ofMhipa la ment ions about - 'As ta -Mahas thanaGandhakutim' (P.K. Acharya, Dict. of Hindu Archit,1995,161-162). In Patan, Chapatol, a Buddha imagehas an inscription mentioning Gandhakuti (Dhanavajra,1973, 382).17 . Mathura School of Bodhisattva-Buddha andother images during the Kushan period (1st-2nd centA.D.) have been found from Sravasti, Saranath('Bodhisatvo chhatrayasti pratisthapito VaranasiyeBl~agavatoChankame' and 'Bodhisatvo Chhatradandascha Savastiye Bhagavato chankame kosambaKutiye'- B. Upadhyaya, Ancient Indian inscriptions,1961, vol-II,38-39), Kausambi (S.K. Sarasvati, IndianSculptures, 195 7,64), central Asia, Taxila (Sarasvati,1957,fig. 88) and Kathmandu H andigaon (G . Verardi,Excavations In Handigaon, 1992,114, fig 85) and fromMathura (N.R. Ray, Age of Imp. unity, 1968, 522).Matliura had also supplied two Buddha images toI3odliagaya (Twon Planning Authority, Bodhagaya,1966,G) and Sanchi (dated images of Bodhisattvas madein l l~ eule of Kushan king Vasislika Vasakusliana and

Gupta periods before A.D. 450-45 1 D. Mitra, Sanch1257, p.6). At Kushinagara a Buddha image (of circ5 th A .D. and a chuna r sands tone Buddha iMahaparinirvana pose (A.D. 4 13-455) have been founSimilarly at Lumbini a Kushan period Buddha head ired mottled Sandstone was found. Apart from this Vajrapani and a Devotee in bronze as well as a t.figure depicting Siddhartha and his wife Yasodhara their bed have been excavated (D. Mitra, Exploratioin the Tarai, 1972, figs. CXIXA and CXX, VIII, p199 and p. 203); T.N. Mishra, Buddhist collection othe National Museum of Nepal, 1998, 18).18. Krishna Devas 'Repor t on Late sArchaeological excavations at Lumbini, submitted the LDT, 1995, two pages; K. Deva writes "The Guptemple tha t enshr ined the image of Mayadevstylistically datable to circa A.D. 400, which is expectebelow the existing 8 th cent. Saptarath temple of carvebricks, should be located"19. Mahaparinirvana Sutta Rhys Davids, SBEVol-11, Pp. 95-96; "Chatta ri Samvejaniyani Thanani"and they are Lumbini, Bodhagaya, Saranath anKushinagar. The eight holy places have beenmentioneby Itsing; in the inspt. Of Mahipala, dated 1026 A.Dfrom Saranath, (Acharya, Dict. of Iiindu Archi1995,p . 162) ; Lama Tarana th , 1990 , p . 62Astamahasthana Chaitya Bandana Stava, written bHarshadeva of Kaslm ir; and another book by Nagarju(Lama Taranath, 1990, Delhi, 62).20. Chankraman Salas have been found at K ar ~Suvarna (watters, On Yuan Chwang, 1973,II, 191Sravasti, Sankasia (watters, 1973, I 369). At Sanchsouth gate, on the east pillar, promenade (chamkainahas been carved (D.Mitra, Sanchi, 1978, 34). ABodhgaya it was ten paces long and three feet hig(watters, 1973, 11, 120-121). At the same placCunnigham discovered a brick-wall 53 feet-long 3f6ft broader and a little more than 3 feet in height. ASarnath it was 50 paces (100ft) long and 7ft high rnadof stone w all, 52-53).


8/9

I, 1991 p. 285; Samaye Bhedoparacana-cakra ofSarvastivada,Dating of Hist. Buddha, I 1991, pp. 277-278.4. The dating of the Historical Buddha, Ed. H.Bcchert, Part I, p. 20 G ottingen; The age of Imp. unity,Ed. By R.C. Majumdar, 196 8,365 .5. According to A.K. Coomarswamy (Yaksas,part I, 1971, p. 35) the Acchariyabbhuta Sutta (No.123) in the Majjhim Nikaya is the earliest Accoun t ofthe birth of Buddha. Th is follows Nidanakatha(chalmers, JRAS, 1894), Buddha charita of Asvaghosa(E.1-I. Johnston, Delhi , 1972, I1 pp. 2 -3; part I cant i. v.8-9); Jatakakatha, Lalitvistara, Sinhalese Pujavali;Tibetan Life of Ratnadharniraja; Rockhills-Life ofBuddha and tlie Bhadrakalpavadana; D.C. Sircar inhis book (Indian Epigraphy, Delhi 1965, pp. 436-437)writes about the Kapilesvara inscriptional slab (l9 inchx 12 inch x 7 inch) discovered in 1928. He says that it

gave to Nabhi the country called Hima, south oHimavat By his queen Meru (King Nabhi) had thmagnanimous Rishabha; Rishabha resigned tlisovereignty of earth to the heroic Bharat, and adoptethe life of an anachoret, practising religious penancand became famous as a great Jain saint.' Eggermonalso thinks that- 'there is a link betweenNabhi-and thnext Asokan inscription' (P. 141). N.P. C hakravarl(Ancient lndia No. 4, ASI, 1947-48, p. 19) have alssimilar views; Dr. Upendra Thakur, History of MithilaDarbhanga, 1956, p. 115.10 . Taranatha's History ofBuddhism In India, Edby Dev iprasad Chattopadhyaya , Delhi, 1999 p. 5 1 anp. 365. Tarananada Mishra, Samrat Asoka ra NepaSanga Unko Sambandha, Pragnya, 82 kha, pp. 6 1-6611. Satish Grover, The Architecture of India, NewDelhi, 1980,p. 96, pl. 87-88; Percy Brown, IndianArchitecture, Bombay 1969, pl-xxxviii, p. 43.

will be seen that such a record had no place outside 12. B.K. Rijal., Archaeological Activities iLumbin ig rama. We have l i t t l e doub t tha t t he Lumbini in 1976-78,pp. 24-27 Archeological ActivitieKapileshvara copy of the Rummindei inscription is a in 1978, p. 3 1; Mrs. D . Mitra had also noticed abourecent forgery.' Furthermore, the people of Orissa have this oblong structure in 1962, Excavations anclaimed the s ite also, apart from, Kapileshvara (which Explorations, 1972, 197.is near Bhuvaneshwar), at a site called Baudapur inthe Cuttack district of 0riss a. All th ise places have noarchaeological evidences to be proved as the birth placeof Sakyarnuni, far apart and away from the Shakyacountry.6. Luciano Petech,Northern India According toThe Shui-Ching-Chu, ISMEO, Roma, 1950.7. James L egge, The Travels of Fa-hien, Delhi,1971,64,- 'Going on South-east from the city of Sravastifor twelve Yojanas cam e to a town named N a-peikea,the birth place of krakuchanda Buddha'.8. J.W. Mccrindle, Ancient India as described byMegasthanes and Arrian, London, 1877, p. 137.9: H. H. Wilson, The Vishnu Purana, Calcutta,1961 PP. 131-133, (Book 11, cl iapt-I) ; P.H.L.Eggermont, The year of Mahaviras Decease, in Th eDating of the Historical Buddha, Ed, H. Bechert, Part1, Gottingen, 1991, 139-140, 'He (King Agnidhara)

13. Herbert Hartle (Archaeological Research oAncient Buddhist sites, in Th e dating of the I-IistoricaBuddha, Ed. by H. Bechert, Gottingen,1991,part 1,p. 70writes-'It is more than probable that the first settlementin Lumbini do not reach even the 5th cent, B.c.'.13A. P.H.L. Eggermont, The year of BuddhaMahaparinirvana, In Dating of the Hist Buddha, par1, 1991, Gottingen, PP. 246-25 1; R.K. Mukhe rjee(Asoka, The Great), gives the date of Asoka ranginfrom 273-236 B.C.; I-I.C. Ray Chaudhary, The DatofAsoka pp. 92-94, in The age of Imperial Unity, 1968Bombay. Raychaudhary places Asoka between 277253 B.C.14. Manasarasilpsastra (E.D. by P.K. Acliarya1927, Allahabad, p. 70) calls it "Ardlia-chitra" (onlyhalf transparent); D.R. Regmi, (M. Nepal-IV, 196641) in an inscription of NS. 713 (A.D. 1591) the steleof Manjusri and Lokesvara are called Patta- pratima(Steles) "Mityesam patta pratirnarn K ritva."


9/9

AnnexReport on Latest Archaeological Excavation at Lumbini

At tlie outset I must express my gratitude to theautllorities of the Lurnbini Developmen t Trust for thekind illvitation they have extended to me to visit thereccnt archeological operations at Lumbini and expressIny opinion.1 visited tlie archeological works in progress at L umbinion 15th- 1Gth March ' 95 together with my old friendand colleague Prof. A.H. Dani and felt extremely happyat tlic momentous discoveries the joint archeologicaltcam of Nepal and Japan have made. They have clearlyand convincingly exposed the earlier stages of theMayadevi Tem ple, built successively on the sa me spotand collfirming to the almost identical sha pe and sizeand going down to the Mauryan age.Tlie lowest stage ofth e temple has yielded m ultiple bricklined pits, tentatively called by the excavato rs kundas,wllicll are in fact box cham bers. Packed with ramm edmud, meant to economies bricks and produce high plinthto car ry the main s t ructure . Some more carefu lexcavations are needed to explore the nature of thelowest central structure which could eithe r be a shrine,a stupa or a chaitya to be finally determined afterclcarance.

The central mass of the toughed brick structureshould be carefully cleared from the top downw ard todetermine th e charcter and structural feature of eachslage of the temple from the latest to the earliest, notingthe respective antiquities including pottery ofe ac h stageant1 plotting them both on the plan (s) and se ction (s).The Gupta temple that enshr ined the image ofMayadevi, stylistically da table to c.A.D. 400, which iscxpected to lie below the existing 8th century saptarathatcmple o f carved bricks, should be located.Grea ter empllasis is needed to draw, besides plans alsostratified sections showing meticulously the nature o f

the soil , s trata and their relat ion with importstructures, plotting and projecting them on significfinds which would help dating .To explore the s t ra t igraphical & chi pirelationship o f the A sokan Pillar to the CGl~~~,l~ltemple asalso to the tank, long trenches should be drivand the results documented in longitudinal sectioll !nalso be carried out together with video-reco--"--umg.

~ l deq i-urther works, as recommended above w o ~another season to be successfully completed. lemporaconservation measures shouldbeundertaken at the clof the present season and final preservation m easushould be carefully devised and conducted after the nyears concluding operations, keeping exposed viewion ly s ign i f i can t monumenta l r emains o f eachronological stage of the temple of Na tivThemembe rs o f Archaeological team and tlie autnoriof LDT. are to be as much congratulated on tliemomentous discoveries as the Japanese BuddhFederation for their pious dedication and generosityprovid ing funds and facilities to conduct a1 operations at the great site of Lumb ini.

rcheologi

It would be in the fitness of things if the JBF.provided a suitable site in close proximity to the Asokpillar and the visitors are able to w orship at the ntemple and also pay homag e to the ancient MayadTem ple and the Asokan pillar without travelling lodistance, as at the equally sacred Buddhist sileSarnath.

LunzlSd. Krislzrru u c J17.3.95

evolution of buddhism

Documents