Some remarks on the Great Tope at Sânchi / by S. Beal.

Samuel Beal

Date:: 1870

Credit: Some remarks on the Great Tope at Sânchi / by S. Beal. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$buildings of a walled city \_Jayatura]. Inside are numerous spectators, and some figures apparently doing homage to two sacred elephants or their riders. [The tico elephants differ from the account in the Jataka, where only one is mentioned.] Near the outside of the gate stands a male personage, wearing the Dhoti and large turban [ Vessantara\, attended by respectful figures in various attitudes. The Chaori and Chatta which accompany him mark him either as a king or a saint. There are also a number of women with covered jars or vases. \_Madi’i-devi giving away her trea- sures.'] Next appears a four-horsed chariot of a different shape from those seen elsewhere. It contains a man dressed as above, attended by Chatta and Chaori bearers, and two children with tufts or plumes on their heads. \_Madri-devi and her husband, tcith their tioo children.] On the left, another stage of the ceremony is apparently represented. The same chariot is seen unharnessed, the yoke held up by a woman. The two children still occupy it, but the king, or whoever he may be, is standing near the pole with his arm stretched over the yoke, and is apparently conferring some grant or gift to the priest or ascetic before him, into whose hand he is pour- ing water, an ancient mode of sealing a gift. [ Vessantara giving aivay his horses.] The costume of this last figure is what is usually seen in the only class that can be identified with priests, ascetics, and saints. Above this group, and fac- ing towards the city, is another empty chariot, which a man, dressed as the preceding, is about to harness. [_The four Devas sent by SaJcra in the shape of horses.] ” This portion of the scene is tolerably complete. Colonel Maisey refers the plot to the dedication of the chariot to the Sun. Dr. Fergusson regards it as a meeting between Asoka, or some Hindu prince, with the Dasyu chief of the place. It is tolerably plain, however, that the scene represents the first part of the history of Vessantara. Let us now turn to Plate xxxii. Fig. 2, which is a lithograph representing the rear-view of the same architrave. On the extreme right we observe the two Pansals, built by Visvarkarma. Vessantara and Madri- devi are seen on the left in their social relations, sitting to-$

Some remarks on the Great Tope at Sânchi / by S. Beal.

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