torans or gateways, and it is said, that Emperor Napoleon III of France, in 1868, requested the Begum Saheb of Bhopal to present her with one of the gates; but, on the representation of the Government of India, the request was refused, and, in its stead, plaster casts were taken and sent to Paris, and, later on, also to London for the South Kensington Museum and to Dublin, Edinburgh and other places.1

As said by General Maisey, the gateway or torans of Sânchi were of the same general style and similarly constructed, that is, like the enclosure, without cement and on the mortise and tenon' principle. Fergusson speaks of this mode as more like carpentering than stone-work" and takes it as a proof of his view, that all the Indian buildings before Asoka's time were mostly made of wood. 3

tr

The time of the Sânchi toranas.

The following brief notes, taken down during my study of Sir John Marshall's book on Sânchi, may be of some use, to give one an idea of the different periods of history, in which the Sânchi monuments were built and completed and its toranas were constructed. The periods were the following:

1. The Early period, when Sânchi, whose early name in inscriptions was Kâkanâda, was the same as the Chetiyagiri of the Mahâvamsha, the Buddhist chronicle of Ceylon. During this period, the great Asoka is reported to have visited this part of India, where Vidisa, the capital of Eastern Malwa, flourished as a centre of trade and of all other kinds of activity, leading to make this part of the country one of the centres of Buddhism.

1 The Bhopal State Gazetteer, pp. 118-19.

2 Tenon (from tenere to hold) is "the end of a piece of wood cut into form, for insertion into a cavity in another place called a mortise, in order to unite the two pieces (Webster). Mortise is " a cavity cut into a piece of timber, or other material, to receive the end of another piece, made to fit it, called a tenon."

3 Sânchi and its remains, p. 11.

2. The period of Asoka, who reigned from 273 to 232 B.C., and who, with all the enthusiasm and energy of a new convert, spread Buddhism, not only in a great part of India, but even in some parts of Afghanistan, Persia, Egypt and Albania. The inscribed lât or pillar at Sânchi, which we see fallen on the ground near the great stupa or tope, and the top of which we see in the adjoining museum, is a work of his time. Sir John Marshall says of it, that this pillar and some other monuments here are Perso-Greek in style, not Indian, and there is every reason to believe that they were the handiwork of foreign, probably Bactrian, artists," the indigenous art being "still in the rudimentary state."1 The great stupa-not as we see it now encased in stone but the inner hemispherial dome (anda)— seems to be Asoka's work.

3. The period of the Sungas, who, on the death of Asoka in 232 B.C., and on the subsequent fall of the Mauryas, came to power and to the throne at Magadha in 185 B.C. The stone casing of the first great stupa and its ground balustrade and the second and third stupas with their balustrades at Sânchi were the works of this period. Though the Hellenistic influence exerted by the Greek colonies at Panjab on the art of India was dying by this time and the indigenous art rising, still some Hellenic influence is said to have been exercised on these monuments of the period.

4. The period of the Andhras, who at the end of the power of the Sungas in about 70 B.C., spread their power from the West and the South northwards and became strong in Eastern Malwa, where the Sânchi monuments are situated. With their advent, the indigenous art of Indian architecture was at its height. The four toranas of the first great stupa and the only torana of the third stupa were the works of this period. Sir John Marshall speaks of these works, as being "manifestly the work of experienced

1 Guide to Sanchi, p. 10.

artists."1 Still, they were not free from the influence of the Hellenistic and Western Asiatic art. This is said to be evident from the many extraneous motifs in these reliefs, e.g., from the familiar bell capital of Persia, from the floral designs of Assyria, or from the winged monsters of Western Asia." But Sir John asks us to be careful in any exaggerated view of the influence of foreign art upon our Indian arts. He says: "The artists of early India were quick with the versatility of all true artists to profit by the lessons which others had to teach them; but there is no more reason in calling their creations Persian or Greek, than there would be in designating the modern fabric of St. Paul's Italian."2.

5. The period of the Western Kshatrapas. The Kshaharâtas interrupted for a few decades the rule of the Andhras, at the end of the first century. But, the Andhras were again re-established in about 125 A. C. to be overthrown again by the great Rudradâman, one of the Western Kshatrapas, in whose hands passed the country round Vidisha (the capital of Eastern Malwa), and in that, Sânchi also. Kshaharâtas, the Western Kshatrapas and the later Satrapas were all of foreign origin.3 They were the subordinates or foudatories, at first, of the Scytho-Parthian Kings on the Indian frontiers, and then, of the Kushan Kings who also had a Parthian connection. Their influence at Sânchi is said not to be very great. It consisted only of "a few sculptures in the Kushan style from Mathura, one of which bears an inscription of the year 28 and of the reign of the King Shâhi Vâsishka." Some of the monuments of the period at Sânchi show that "Buddhism was as flourishing at Sânchi under the Satraps as it was elsewhere under their overlords, the Kushan."4

1 Ibid., p. 13.

3 The Indian word Kshatrapa

2 Ibid., p. 14.

is a form of the Iranian

Khshatbra paiti-i, i.e., the master or ruler of a kingdom.

4 Sânchi, by Sir John Marshal, p. 16.

6. The period of the Guptas under Chandragupta which followed that of the Western Kshatrapas, when Eastern and Western Malwa was annexed by the Gupta King. An inscription on the balustrade of the great stupa, dated 93 of the Gupta era (A.D. 412-13), is said to point to a gift by an officer of Chandragupta. The period of the Guptas was a period of Indian Renaissance, due to various causes: (1) The first was its contact with various civilizations, e.g., with those of the Sassanians of Persia, of the Roman Empire, and of China. (2) The invasions of India by the foreigners in the North, viz., the Kushans, the Parthians, and the Scythians, which brought in "new intellectual vitality."

7. The period of the Huns, who overthrew the Guptas of the 6th century, spoken of as the earlier medieval period, and the period known as the late medieval period, had not much influence on the sculptures of Sânchi except that on some "detached images."1

The toran in the Uparkot of Junaghadh.

During my visit of Kathiawar in 1909 to attend the second Guzarati Parishad at Rajkote, I had visited several interesting cities of Kathiawar, and among them, Palitana and Junaghadh, which have the beautiful hills of Shetrunja and Girnar in their neighbourhood, bearing on their top beautiful Jain temples or rather cities of temples. During my visit of Junaghadh, I had the pleasure of visiting Uparkot which is a citadel or ancient fortress, of the town and which has a number of interesting caves of the Buddhists. At the entrance of the Uparkot fortress, we see a large toran, of which the Kathiawar

1 Ibid., p. 22. I have spoken of these Huns, the Hunas of the Avesta, at some length, in my paper, entitled "The Hûnas in the Avesta and Pahlavi in the Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume (pp. 65-80) and in my paper, entitled, "The Early History of the Huns and their Inroads in India and Persia" before the B. B. R. A. S. (Jour. B. B. R. A. S. Vol. XXIV, pp. 539-595. Vide my Asiatic Papers, Part II, pp. 293-349).

Gazetteer1 speaks as "a fine specimen of the old Hindu toran or compromise for an arch."

Mr. John W. Watson, the compiler of the Kathiawar Gazetteer, while speaking of the ancient archway at

The Hindu torana, the compromise of an arch.

66

the entrance of the Uparkot at Junagadh, speaks of "the old Hindu toran " as a compromise for an arch." This view strikes me as very correct. It suggests, that as traced by me above, the arch was, as it were, the predecessor of the Indian torana or gateway.3

General Maisey thought, that the great stupa at Sânchi was pre-Buddhist, and belonged to the old Sun, Fire and Element worship. He says: "It seems probable that the Buddhists who brought their relics to Sânchi, appropriated, as their relic shrines, buildings already ancient and sacred in connection.

1 Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency, Vol. VIII, Kathiawar (1884), p. 487.

2 There are many things at Junaghadh, which direct the mind of a pilgrim student towards ancient Persia. For example, (a) the wellknown stone inscription of Asoka on a large block of stone, spoken of by Tod in his travels in India (p. 369) as "the noblest monument of Saurashtra." The inscription covers a space of about 100 square feet and reminds us of the great inscription of Darius on the mountain of Behistun. (b) The rule of the Kshatrapa or Satrap Kings who were connected as feudatory vassals with their Parthian or Scytho-Parthian feudal lords on the frontiers of India. The name of the Kshatrapa Rudra dâmana, one of the Satraps, is well-known. (c) The reparation of its ancient lake of Sudarshana is associated with the name of a Persian architect. (d) Of the several, about 14, old names of Junaghadh, one, viz., Yavanghadh, is supposed to connect it with the ancient Persians. Lassen is said to have taken the name Junaghadh as a corruption of Yavan Gadh, i.e., the Fortress of the Yavans.

say, that the word Yavan here is the Avesta

This word Yavan has latterly become Javan it may be Javângadh or Junagadh.

I would rather like to

yavan, i.e., young.

. in Persian. Hence,

3 Gazetteer of Bombay Presidency, Vol. VIII, Kathiawar (1884),

p. 487.