Rear view of eastern gate of Sanchi Tope
0000; Gale Group; Linguagem: English
Resumo
Photograph of the eastern gateway of Sanchi stupa in Madhya Pradesh, taken by Deen Dayal in 1882, from the Lee-Warner Collection: 'Scenes and Sculptures of Central India, Photographed by Lala Deen Diyal, Indore.' The great stupa of Sanchi is the finest example of monumental architecture of the Shunga era (c. 185-75 B.C.). It consists of a large hemispherical dome which was built over an already existing stupa ascribed to the 3rd century B.C. from the time of the Buddhist emperor Ashoka Maurya (reigned c. 269-232 B.C.). The stupa was later enlarged around the 1st century B.C. under the Shungas and four elaborately carved gateways of toranas were added at the cardinal points. The eastern gateway consists of two square posts crowned with a group of four elephants and two shalabhanjika, females figures grasping the branch of a tree. These support a triple architrave with scrolled ends. The gateway is completely covered with sculptures depicting various episodes of the life of Buddha Shakyamuni represented aniconically. The sculptures on the top architrave depict trees and thrones of the Manushi Buddhas, the previous Buddhas; the middle architrave shows the throne and tree being venerated and the lower architrave depicts the worship of the stupa. 19.4 x 25.55 Centimetres. Photographer: Dayal, Deen.
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