Early Buddhist Art
Artist: unknown
Title: Great Stupa at Sanchi (Stupa I), first circumambulatory passage
Material: Stone, brick, plaster, etc.
Site: Sanchi, India
Current Location: Sanchi, India
Period/Date: Mauryan (ca. 323-185 B.C.E.), Sunga (ca. 2nd c.-1st c.
B.C.E.), and later periods
Iconography/Iconology: The act of circumambulation as a means of offering
puja is described in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, one of the
earliest Buddhist texts, as appropriate for lay persons to perform. Ambulatories
became an extremely important part of Buddhist monuments. There are inscriptions
on both the railing and on the flooring stones recording the gifts of a
wide variety of people from the greater central Indian area, demonstrating
that the construction of the monument was both an imperial and a public
project.
Stylistic Comments: The type of fence (vedika) is believed
to reflect, in stone, a wooden style that was widely used during the Mauryan
and Sunga periods. The vedika sets-off the sacred space of the stupa
from the surrounding area, focusing the devotees' attention on the religious
environment that they have entered.
