THE EARLY BUDDHIST MONUMENTS.
B.C. 289Almost simultaneously with the establishment of the Buddhist religion was commenced the erection of those stupendous ecclesiastical structures, the number and magnitude of whose remains form a remarkable characteristic in the present aspect of the country.
The architectural history of continental India dates from the third century before Christ; not a single building or sculptured stone having as yet been discovered there, of an age anterior to the reign of Asoca[1], who was the first of his dynasty to abandon the religion of Brahma for that of Buddha. In like manner the earliest existing monuments of Ceylon belong to the same period; they owe their construction to Devenipiatissa, and the historical annals of the island record with pious gratitude the series of dagobas, wiharas, and temples erected by him and his successors.
1: FERGUSON, Handbook of Architecture, b. i. c. i. p. 5.
Of these the most remarkable are the Dagobas, piles of brickwork of dimensions so extraordinary that they suggest comparison with the pyramids of Memphis[1], the barrow of Halyattys[2], or the mounds in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates.
1: So vast did the dagobas appear to the Singhalese that the author of the Mahawanso, in describing the construction of that called the Ruanwelle at Anarajapoora, states that each of the lower courses contained ten kotis (a koti being equal to 100 lacs) or 10,000,000 bricks.—Mahawanso, ch. xxx, p. 179.
2: "The ancient edifices of Chi-Chen in Central America bear a striking resemblance to the topes of India. The shape of one of the domes, its apparent size, the small tower on the summit, the trees growing on the sides, the appearance of masonry here and there, the shape of the ornaments, and the small doorway at the base, are so exactly similar to what I had seen at Anarajapoora that when my eyes first fell on the engravings of these remarkable ruins I supposed that they were presented in illustration of the dagobas of Ceylon."—HARDY's Eastern Monachism, c. xix. p. 222.
B.C. 289.A dagoba (from datu, a relic, and gabbhan, a shrine[1]) is a monument raised to preserve one of the relics of Gotama, which were collected after the cremation of his body at Kusinara, and it is candidly admitted in the Mahawanso that the intention in erecting them was to provide "objects to which offerings could be made."[2]
1: Deha, "the body," and gopa, "what preserves;" because they enshrine hair, teeth, nails, &c. of Buddha.—WILSON'S Asiat. Res. vol. xvii. p. 605.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xvii. p. 104.
A SMALL DAGOBA AT KANDY
B.C. 289.Ceylon contains but one class of these structures, and boasts no tall monolithic pillars like the lats of Delhi and Allahabad, and no regularly built columns similar to the minars of Cabul; but the fragments of the bones of Gotama, and locks of his hair, are enclosed in enormous masses of hemispherical masonry, modifications of which may be traced in every Buddhist country of Asia, in the topes of Affghanistan and the Punjaub, in the pagodas of Pegu, and in the Boro-Buddor of Java. Those of Ceylon consist of a bell-shaped dome of brick-work surmounted by a terminal or tee (generally in the form of a cube supporting a pointed spire), and resting on a square platform approached by flights of stone steps. Those, the ruins of which have been explored in modern times, have been found to be almost solid, enclosing a hollow vessel of metal or stone which had once contained the relic, but of which the ornament alone and a few gems or discoloured pearls set in gold, are usually all that is now discoverable.
Their outline exhibits but little of ingenuity or of art, and their construction is only remarkable for the vast amount of labour which must necessarily have been expended upon them. But, independently of this, the first dagoba erected at Anarajapoora, the Thuparamaya, which exists to the present day, "as nearly as may be in the same form in which it was originally designed, is possessed of a peculiar interest from the fact that it is in all probability the oldest architectural monument now extant in India."[1] It was raised by King Tissa, at the close of the third century before Christ, over the collar-bone of Buddha, which Mahindo had procured for the king.[2] In dimensions this monument is inferior to those built at a later period by the successors of Tissa, some of which are scarcely exceeded in diameter and altitude by the dome of St. Peter's[3]; but in elegance of outline it immeasurably surpassed all the other dagobas, and the beauty of its design is still perceptible in its ruins after the lapse of two thousand years.
1: FERGUSON'S Handbook of Architecture, b. i. c. iii. p. 43.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xvii. The Rajavali calls it the jaw-bone, p. 184.
3: The Abhayagiri dagoba at Anarajapoora, built B.C. 89, was originally 180 cubits high, which, taking the Ceylon cubit at 2 feet 3 inches, would be equal to 405 feet. The dome was hemispherical, and described with a radius of 180 feet, giving a circumference of 1130 feet. The summit of this stupendous work was therefore fifty feet higher than St. Paul's, and fifty feet lower than St. Peter's.
The king, in addition to this, built a number of others in various parts of Ceylon[1], and his name has been perpetuated as the founder of temples, for the rites of the new religion, and of Wiharas or monasteries for the residence of its priesthood. The former were of the simplest design, for an atheistical system, which substitutes meditation for worship, dispenses with splendour in its edifices and pomp in its ceremonial.
1: TURNOUR'S Epitome, p. 15.
B.C. 289.The images of Grotama, which in time became objects of veneration, were but a late innovation[1], and a doubt even been expressed whether the religion of Buddha in its primitive constitution, rejecting as it does the doctrine of a mediatorial priesthood, contemplated the existence of any organised ministry.
1: The precise date of their introduction is unknown, but the first mention of a statue occurs in an inscription on the rock at Mihintala, bearing date A.D. 246, and referring to the house constructed over a figure of Buddha.
Caves, or insulated apartments in imitation of their gloom and retirement, were in all probability the first resort of devotees in Ceylon, and hence amongst the deeds of King Tissa, the most conspicuous and munificent were the construction of rock temples, on Mihintala, and of apartments for the priests in all parts of his dominions.[1]
1: TURNOUR's Epitome, p. 15.
The directions of Gotama as to the residence of his votaries are characterised by the severest simplicity, and the term "pansala," literally "a dwelling of leaves,"[1] by which the house of a priest is described to the present day, serves to illustrate the original intention that persons dedicated to his service should cultivate solitude and meditation by withdrawing into the forest, but within such a convenient distance as would not estrange them from the villagers, on whose bounty and alms they were to be dependent for subsistence.
1: It is questionable whether the Sarmanai, mentioned by Megasthenes, were Buddhists or Brahmans; but the account which he gives of the class of them whom he styles the Hylobii, would seem to identify them with the Sramanas of Buddhism, "passing their lives in the woods, [Greek: zôntes en tais ulais], living on fruits and seeds, and clothed with the bark of trees."—MEGASTHENES' Indica, &c., Fragm. xlii.
B.C. 289.In one of the rock inscriptions deciphered by Prinsep, King Asoca, in addressing himself to his Buddhist subjects, distinguishes them as "ascetics and house-holders." In the sacred books a laic is called a "graha pali," meaning "the ruler of a house;" and in contra-distinction Fa Hian, the Chinese Buddhist, speaks of the priests of Ceylon under the designation of "the house-less," to mark their abandonment of social enjoyments.[1] Anticipating the probable necessity of their eventually resorting to houses for accommodation, Buddha directed that, if built for an individual, the internal measurement of a cell should be twelve spans in length by seven in breadth[2]; and, if restricted to such dimensions, the assertions of the Singhalese chronicles become intelligible as to the prodigious number of such dwellings said to have been raised by the early kings.[3]
1: "Les hommes hors de leur maisons."—FA HIAN, Foĕ Kouĕ Ki, ch. xxxix. This is the equivalent of the Singhalese term for the same class, agariyan-pubbajito, used in the Pittakas.
2: HARDY'S Eastern Monachism, ch. xiii. p. 122.
3: The Rajaratnacari says that Devenipiatissa caused eighty-four thousand temples to be built during his reign, p. 35.
But the multitudes who were thus attracted to a life of indolent devotion became in a short time so excessive that recourse was had to other devices for combining economy with accommodation, and groups of such cells were gradually formed into wiharas and monasteries, the inmates of which have uniformly preserved their organisation and order. Still the edifices thus constructed have never exhibited any tendency to depart from the primitive simplicity so strongly enjoined by their founder; and, down to the present time, the homes of the Buddhist priesthood are modest and humble structures generally reared of mud and thatch, with no pretension to external beauty and no attempt at internal decoration.
B.C. 289.To supply to the ascetics the means of seclusion and exercise, the early kings commenced the erection of ambulance-halls; and gardens were set apart for the use of the great temple communities. The Mahawanso describes, with all the pomp of Oriental diction, the ceremony observed by King Tissa on the occasion of setting apart a portion of ground as a site for the first wihara at his capital; the monarch in person, attended by standard bearers and guards with golden staves, having come to mark out the boundary with a plough drawn by elephants.[1] A second monastery was erected by him on the summit of Mihintala[2]; a third was attached to the dagoba of the Thuparamaya, and others were rapidly founded in every quarter of the island.[3]
1: Mahawanso, ch. xv. p. 99.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xx. p. 123.
3: Five hundred were built by one king alone, the third in succession from Devenipiatissa, B.C. 246 (Mahawanso, ch. xxi, p. 127). About the same period the petty chiefs of Rohuna and Mahagam were equally zealous in their devout labours, the one having erected sixty-four wiharas in the east of the island, and the other sixty-eight in the south.—Mahawanso, ch. xxiv. p. 145, 148.
It was in all probability owing to the growth of these institutions, and the establishment of colleges in connection with them, that halls were eventually appropriated for the reception of statues; and that apartments so consecrated were devoted to the ceremonies and worship of Buddha. Hence, at a very early period, the dwellings of the priests were identified with the chaityas and sacred edifices, and the name of the Wihara came to designate indifferently both the temple and the monastery.
But the hall which contains the figures of Buddha, and which constitutes the "temple" proper, is always detached from the domestic buildings, and is frequently placed on an eminence from which the view is commanding. The interior is painted in the style of Egyptian chambers, and is filled with figures and illustrations of the legends of Gotama, whose statue, with hand uplifted in the attitude of admonition, or reclining in repose emblematic of the blissful state of Nirwana, is placed in the dimmest recess of the edifice. Here lamps cast a feeble light, and the air is heavy with the perfume of flowers, which are daily renewed by fresh offerings from the worshippers at the shrines.
B.C. 289.In no other system of idolatry, ancient or modern, have the rites been administered by such a multitude of priests as assist in the passionless ceremonial of Buddhism. Fa Hian, in the fourth century, was assured by the people of Ceylon that at that period the priests numbered between fifty and sixty thousand, of whom two thousand were attached to one wihara at Anarajapoora, and three thousand to another.[1]
1: FA HIAN, Foĕ Kouĕ Ki, ch. xxxviii. p. 336, 350. At the present day the number in the whole island does not probably exceed 2500 (HARDY'S Eastern Monachism, p. 57, 309). But this is far below the proportion of the Buddhist priesthood in other countries; in Siam nearly every adult male becomes a priest for a certain portion of his life; a similar practice prevails in Ava; and in Burmah so common is it to assume the yellow robe, that the popular expedient for effecting divorce is for the parties to make a profession of the priesthood, the ceremonial of which is sufficient to dissolve the marriage vow, and after an interval of a few months, they can throw off the yellow robe and are then at liberty to marry again.
As the vow which devotes the priests of Buddha to religion binds them at the same time to a life of poverty and mendicancy, the extension of the faith entailed in great part on the crown the duty of supporting the vast crowds who withdrew themselves from industry to embrace devotion and indigence. They were provided with food by the royal bounty, and hence the historical books make perpetual reference to the priests "going to the king's house to eat,"[1] when the monarch himself set the example to his subjects of "serving them with rice broth, cakes, and dressed rice."[2] Rice in all its varieties is the diet described in the Mahawanso as being provided for the priesthood by the munificence of the kings; "rice prepared with sugar and honey, rice with clarified butter, and rice in its ordinary form."[3] In addition to the enjoyment of a life of idleness, another powerful incentive conspired to swell the numbers of these devotees. The followers and successors of Wijayo preserved intact the institution of caste, which they had brought with them from the valley of the Ganges; and, although caste was not abolished by the teachers of Buddhism, who retained and respected it as a social institution, it was practically annulled and absorbed in the religious character;—all who embraced the ascetic life being simultaneously absolved from all conventional disabilities, and received as members of the sacred community with all its exalted prerogatives.[4]
1: Rajavali, p. 198. Hiouen Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim, describing Anarajapoora in the seventh century, says: "A côté du palais du roi; on a construit une vaste cuisine où l'on prépare chaque jour des aliments pour dix-huit mille religieux. A l'heure de repas, les religieux viennent, un pot à la main, pour recevoir leur nourriture. Après l'avoir obtenue ils s'en retournent chacun dans leur chambre."—HIOUEN THSANG, Transl. M. JULIEN, lib. xi. tom. ii. p. 143.
2: Mahawanso, ch. xiv. p. 82.
3: Mahawanso, ch. xxxii.; Rajaratnacari, ch. i. p. 37, ch. ii. p. 56, 60, 62.
4: Professor Wilson, Journ. Roy. Asiat. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 249.
Along with food, clothing consisting of three garments to complete the sacerdotal robes, as enjoined by the Buddhist ritual[1], was distributed at certain seasons; and in later times a practice obtained of providing robes for the priests by "causing the cotton to be picked from the tree at sunrise, cleaned, spun, woven, dyed yellow, and made into garments and presented before sunset."[2] The condition of the priesthood was thus reduced to a state of absolute dependency on alms, and at the earliest period of their history the vow of poverty, by which their order is bound, would seem to have been righteously observed.
1: To avoid the vanity of dress or the temptation to acquire property, no Buddhist priest is allowed to have more than one set of robes, consisting of three pieces, and if an extra one be bestowed on him it must be surrendered to the chapter of his wihara within ten days. The dimensions must not exceed a specified length, and when obtained new the cloth must be disfigured with mud or otherwise before he puts it on. A magnificent robe having been given to Gotama, his attendant Ananda, in order to destroy its intrinsic value, cut it into thirty pieces and sewed them together in four divisions, so that the robe resembled the patches of a rice-field divided by embankments. And in conformity with this precedent the robes of every priest are similarly dissected and reunited.—Hardy's Eastern Monachism, c. xii. p. 117; Rajaratnacari, ch. ii. pp. 60, 66.
2: Rajaratnacari, pp. 104, 109, 112. The custom which is still observed in Ceylon, of weaving robes between sunrise and sunset is called Catina dhwana (Rajavali, p. 261). The work is performed chiefly by women, and the practice is identical with that mentioned by Herodotus, as observed by the priests of Egypt, who celebrated a festival in honour of the return of Rhampsinitus, after playing at dice with Ceres in Ilades, by investing one of their body with a cloak made in a single day, [Greek: pharos autêmeron exyphênantes], Euterpe, cxxii. Gray, in his ode of The Fatal Sisters, has embodied the Scandinavian myth in which the twelve weird sisters, the Valkiriur, weave "the crimson web of war" between the rising and setting of the sun.