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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BER-BLA |
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BHARAHAT, or BARHUT , a village
Allahabad
inscriptions found upon it. The ancient name of the place has not been yet traced, but it must have been a considerable city and its site lay on the high road between the ancient capitals of Ujjeni and Kosambi. The stupa was circular, 70 ft. in diameter and 42 ft. high. It was surrounded by a stone railing Too ft. in diameter , so that between railing and stupa there was an open circle round which visitors could walk; and the whole stood towards the east
wall
letter T, and as the base of the sdfipa was above the quadrangle, the total height of the monument was between 5o and 6o ft. But its main interest
cross
cross
inscriptions giving either the name of the donor, or the subject of the bas-relief, or both. There were four entrances through the railing, facing the cardinal points, and each one protected by the railing coming out at right angles, and then turning back across it in the shape of the letter L. This gave the whole ground plan of the monument, and no doubt designedly so, the shape of a gigantic swastika(i.e. a symbol of good fortune). By the forms of the letters of the inscriptions, and by the architectural details, the age of the monument has been approximately fixed in the 3rd century B.C. The bas-reliefs give us invaluable evidence of the literature, and also of the clothing, buildings and other details of the social conditions of the peoples of Buddhist India at that period. The subjects are taken from the Buddhist sacred books, more especially from the accounts given in them of the life of the Buddha in his last or in his previous births. Unfortunately, only about half the pillars, and about one-third of the cross-bars have been recovered. When the stupa was discovered the villagers had already carried off the greater part of the monument to build their cottages with the stones and bricks of it. The process has gone on till now nothing is left except what General Cunningham found and rescued and carried off to Calcutta. Even the mere money value of the lost pieces must be immense, and among them is the central relic box, which would have told us in whose honour the monument was put up.See A. Cunningham, The Stiipa of Bharhut (London, 1879) ; T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India (London, 1903). (T. W. R. D.) End of Article: BHARAHAT, or BARHUT If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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