Thinkers Beliefs and Buildings

 

4 Thinkers Beliefs and Buildings

The sources to reconstruct Cultural Developments between 600

BCE-600 CE)

1.Buddhist, Jaina and Brahmanical texts written in various languages. 2. Material remains including monuments and inscriptions.

(eg Stupa at Sanchi)

A Glimpse of Sanchi

• ➢  Sanchi stupa situates at Sanchi kanakera village of Bhopal Madhyapradesh

• ➢  Sanchi stupa was constructed by emperor Asoka in BCE 3rd

• ➢  Sanchi stupa was discoverd in 1818

century

• ➢  French sought Shahjehan Begum’s permission to take away the eastern

  gateway, which was the best preserved, to be displayed in a museum in France.

• ➢  Some Englishmen also wanted to do the same

The rulers of Bhopal, Shahjehan Begum and her successor Sultan

➢

provided money for the preservation of the ancient site

• ➢  Sultan Jehan Begum that was built there as well as

  where lived and wrote volumes on

• ➢  She also funded the publication of the volumes.

• ➢  John Marshall dedicated his important volumes on Sanchi to Sultan Jehan

• ➢  Sanchi stupa is now under the protection of Archaeological survey of India

Jehan Begum,

funded the museum

the guest house

John Marshall

Sanchi.

The mid-first millennium BCE(6th century BCE)is often regarded as

a turning point in world history:

✔ This period saw the emergence of thinkers such as in Iran,

in China,
in Greece,

in India.

Zarathustra

Kong Zi(Confucius)

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

Mahavira and Gautama Buddha,

The background of Emergence of New religions

Causes for the rise of new religions(Jainism and Budhism ) in 6th

century BC

1. Sacrificial tradition
➔Rigveda (1500-1000BCE) chanted at the times of sacrifices

➔Earlier sacrifices performed collectively
➔Later performed by the heads of household
➔Sacrifices like Aswamedha and Rajasuya performed by kings or chiefs ➔The rituals and sacrifices lost its simplicity became costly

2. New questions

➔Philosophical questions like meaning of life,life after death rebirth in Upanishads

3. Debates and Discussions

➔64 sects or school of thought existed ➔Debates took place in the kutagarashala

➔Mahavira and Buddha questioned the authority of Vedas

4. The question of caste and language

➔Brahmana domination questioned by Kshatriyas
➔Majority of people did not understand Sanskrit language(language of

Vedas)

5. Rise of new economy

➔Expansion of agriculture by use of iron
➔ Importance of cattle wealth increased
➔ Killing of cattle in the sacrifices opposed ➔ New religions based on Ahimsa welcomed

✔ A hut with pointed roof
✔ The place philosophical debates took place

Kudagarasala

• Fatalists belonged to the Ajvika tradition

• Founded by Makkhali Gosala-

• Principle of Niyati or destiny

Fatalists(Ajvika)

• Materialists belonged to Lokayat tradition

• founded by Charvaka

• Did not believe God paraloka rebirth-

• Teacher says that a human being is made up of the four elements. (earth

Ajita Kesakambalin

water, fire, air)

Materialists(Lokayat)

Jainism and Buddhism

Vardhamana Mahaveera (BCE 540-468)

Spouse Yashoda

Daughter Priyadarshna

Gouthama Buddha (BCE 563-486 )

Founder of

Jainism

Founder of

Buddhism

Born at

Kundagrama Vaishali Bihar

Father- Siddartha

Mother Trishala

India

Born at

Lumbini near Kapilavasthu in Nepal

Father Śuddhodana

Mother Mayadevi

Spouse Yaśodharā

Son Rahula

Accepted

ascetic life at the age 30

Left

home at the age 29

Attained

enlightenment at the age 42

attained

enlightenment at the age 35

Died at

Pavapuri Bihar at the age 72

Died at 80

Kushinagar Uthar Pradesh at the age

Jainism

• AccordingtoJainatradition,Mahavirawasprecededby23otherteachersor tirthankaras – literally, those who guide men and women across the river of existence.

• FirsttirthankaraRishabhadeva

• 23rd tirthankara Parswanath

• 24th tirthankara Vardhamana Mahavira

  Jaina principles

  ➔The entire world is animated: even stones, rocks and water have life. ➔Non-injury to living beings, (especially to humans, animals, plants and

  insects)

  ➔The cycle of birth and rebirth is shaped through karma.

  ➔Triratnas of jainism: 1The right faith, 2 right knowledge and 3 right conduct — constitutes the path to liberation

  ➔Asceticism and penance are required to free oneself from the cycle of karma.

  ➔This can be achieved only by renouncing the world.

  1. To abstain from killing.

  2. To abstain from Stealing

  3. To abstain from Lying

  4. To observe celibacy

  5. To abstain from possessing property.

Rules for Jain Monks and nuns

Jain monks and nuns took five vows such as

Spread of Jainism

✔ Jaina scholars produced a wealth of literature in a variety of languages – Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil.

✔ For centuries, manuscripts of these texts were carefully preserved in libraries attached to temples.

✔ Some of the earliest stone sculptures associated with religious traditions were produced by

Budhism

The Buddha and quest for enlightenment

➔Hagiography is a biography of a saint or religious leader

➔Four great sights of Budha-1an old man,2 a sick man,3 a corpse,and 4 homeless medicant

➔Great renunciation of Buddha -event leaving home in search for truth

➔Enlightment of Buddha -event attaining truth after meditating under pipal tree

➔Dharma chakra pravarthana -First sermon of Buddha-deer park in Saranath near Banaras

devotees of the Jaina tirthankaras.eg:the Gommateshwara Statue

Shravanabelagola

The teachings of Buddha

• ✔  The Buddha’s teachings found mainly in the Sutta Pitaka.

• ✔  The world is transient (anicca) and constantly changing; it is also soulless

  (anatta) as there is nothing permanent

• ✔  Sorrow(dukkha)isintrinsictohumanexistence.

• ✔  By following the path of moderation (middle path) can come out of these worldly troubles.

• ✔  The Buddha regarded world as the creation of humans rather than of divine origin or God.

• ✔  Buddhism accepted theory of Karma and laid great importance on Ahimsa

  Four noble truths in Budhism

1. 1  The world is full of sorrows and sufferings

2. 2  Desire is cause for sorrows and sufferings

3. 3  Sorrows and sufferings can be overcome by removing desires

4. 4  Desires can be removed by following Ashtanga marga(eight fold path)

Eight fold path (Ashtanga marga)

1. right speech
2. right action
3. right livelihood
4. right exercise
5. right memory
6. right observation 7. right determination 8. right meditation

Buddhist texts

✔ Tripitaka -Buddhist text prepared by his followers in council held at Vaishali

✔ language Pali Tripitakas

1. The Vinaya pitaka -rules and regulations for the members of sangha 2. The Sutta pitaka - Buddha's teachings
3. The Abhidhamma pitaka- philosophical matters

Buddhist texts related to Srilanka

• Dipa vamsa (chronicle of island)

• Mahavamsa (the great chronicle)

  Buddhist pilgrims who visited India in search of texts

  • FaXian
  • XuanZang

  How Buddhist texts preserved

  ● Preserved manuscripts in monasteries
  ● Translated to Chinese and preserved
  ● Translated to modern languages and preserved

  Buddhist Sangha

  ➔ Organisation of Buddhist monks-Sangha- founded by Buddha ➔ Monks/nuns lived on alms so they known as bhikkus/bhikkunis

➔ Ananda dearest disciple of Buddha

➔ Mahapajapati Gotami Buddhas foster mother first woman admitted to Sangha as Bhikkhuni

➔ Theris were respected Bhikkhunis who attained liberation ➔ Rules for bhikkhus and bhikhunis found in vinaya pitaka ➔ Sangha organised on democratic lines

The spread of Buddhism

• India ,China, Japan, Burma, Ceylon ,Mongolia and Tibet Causes for spread of Buddhism

1. Budhism gave importance to conduct and values

2. Ignored caste system

3. Emphasis on Metta (fellow feeling) and Karuna (compassion)

4. Simple teachings

5. Used language of common people(Pali)

6. Recieved royal patronage from Asoka Kanishka and Harsha

7. Activities of Sangha helped

Stupas/chaitya/Vihara

 AchaityaisaBuddhistshrineorprayerhallwithastupaatoneend.
 Siteswithspecialtreesoruniquerocks,orsitesofawe-inspiringnaturalbeauty
 Chaityameanschitaafuneralpyre.
 Chaitya is a rectangular hall of worship with many columns and semi circular roof  Stupasituatesattheendofthehall
 Theviharaswererockcutcavesusedastheresidenceofmonks

Where were stupas built?

Stupas were built in the places associated with Buddha’s life –

1. Lumbini- Where he was born

2. Bodh Gaya -Where he attained enlightenment

3. Sarnath - Where he gave his first sermon( public speech) and

4. Kusinagara -Where he attained Nibbana (Death)

5. By the second century BCE a number of stupas, including those at Bharhut, Sanchi and Sarnath had been built.

Why were stupas built?

✔ Relics of the Buddha such as his bodily remains or objects used by him were buried there.

✔ According to a Buddhist text known as the distributed portions of the Buddha’s relics to every important town and ordered the construction of stupas over them.

Ashokavadana,

Asoka

How were Stupas built?

➔ Inscriptions found on the railings and pillars of Stupas record donations made for building and decorating them.

➔ Donations were made by kings such as the Satavahanas; by Guilds,Common men ,Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis

The structure of the stupa

 Thestupaoriginatedasasimplesemi-circularmoundofearthcalledanda.
 Abovetheandawastheharmika,abalconylikestructurethatrepresentedtheabodeofthegods.  Arisingfromtheharmikawasamastcalledtheyashti,oftensurmountedbyachhatriorumbrella.  Aroundthemoundwasarailing,separatingthesacredspacefromthesecularworld.
 TheearlystupasatSanchiandBharhutwereplainexceptforthestonerailings.

The Fate of Amaravati Stupa

• ✔  The Amarāvatī Stupa, is a ruined Buddhist monument, (built between the third century BCE and about 250 CE), at Amaravathi village, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India.

• ✔  In 1796, a local raja used stone of Amaravati stupa to build a temple and thought there might be some treasure buried in stupa

✔ A British official Colin Mackenzie made detailed drawings of sculpture in Amaravati ,but these reports were never published to protect the Stupa.

✔ In 1854, Walter Elliot, the commissioner Andhra Pradesh visited Amaravati and collected several sculpture panels and took them away to Madras.(These came to be called the Elliot marbles after him.)

✔ By the 1850s, some of the slabs from Amaravati had begun to be taken to different places:

✔ H.H. Cole, views about preservation of ancient monuments:
“It seems to me a suicidal and indefensible policy to allow the country to be looted

a) To the Asiatic Society of Bengal at Calcutta

b) To the India Office in Madras

c) to London. (adorn the gardens of British administrators)

of .” Unfortunately,

facsimiles of sculpture, whereas the originals the authorities about Amaravati

original works of ancient art

museums should have plaster-cast

should remain where they had been found.

Cole did not succeed in convincing

Why did Sanchi survive while Amaravati did not?

1. Amaravati was discovered before scholars understood the value of the finds

2. When Sanchi was “discovered” in 1818, three of its four gateways were still standing,and the mound was in good condition.

3. Nineteenth-century Europeans like the French and English sought Shahjehan Begum’s permission to take away the eastern gateway, which was the best preserved, to be displayed in museums in France and England. But she refused.

Stories in stone (sanchi stupa)

see text for pictures

1. The sculpture (4.13)in Sanchi stupa is a scene from the Vessantara Jataka. (This is a story about a generous prince who gave away everything to a Brahmana, and went to live in the forest with his wife and children.)

2 The empty seat (4.14)was a symbol meant to indicate the meditation of the Buddha.

3. The Stupa (4.15) was a symbol meant to represent the mahaparinibbana (death)

4. The wheel (4.16) was a symbol meant for the first sermon of the Buddha,at Sarnath.

Popular tradition in sculpture in sanchi(not related to Buddhism)

see text for pictures

1 A beautiful woman swinging from the edge of the gateway, holding onto a tree (4.17)could be a representation of a Shalabhanjika. (this was a woman whose touch caused trees to flower and bear fruit

2 Depiction of animals -elephants, horses, monkeys and cattle.(Jatakas contain several animal stories)

3. Elephants (4.18) were depicted to signify strength and wisdom.

4.

.(4.19) (Maya, the mother of the Buddha,or popular goddess, i – literally, the goddess of good

fortune .

Motif a woman surrounded by lotuses and elephants

Gajalakshm

5 The serpent motif,(4.21) derived from popular traditions, which were not always recorded in texts.

one of the earliest modern , considered Sanchi to

art historians, James Fergusson

be a centre of serpent worship.

Ajanta paintings

•

(courtly life,men and women at

The paintings of Ajanta cave wall maharashtra

work,festivals)

depicts stories of Jatakas

Hinayana Buddism

and

Mahayana Buddhism

• in first century CE after 4th Buddhist council at Kashmir under

Split in Buddism

Kanishka

Hinayana		Mahayana
Lesser vehicle		Greater vehicle
Followed original doctrines of Buddhism		Adopted new doctrines and ethics
Believed older tradition		Worship of image of Buddha
Used pali		Used sanskrit
Bodhiattas not important		Believed ideal of Bodhisatta
No importance to God		Worshipped Buddha as God
No importance to Bhakthi		Doctrine of Bhakthi

Puranic Hinduism

• Puranas was compiled by Brahmanas about the middle of first millennium CE

• Traditionally there were 18 puranas

• Most of Puranas are stories of gods and goddesses

• Puranas written in Sanskrit and meant to be read aloud to everybody including women and shudras

• Puranic hinduism included two traditions Vaishnavism and Shaivism

• The concept of avatar or incarnation gained popularity in vaishnavism

• Avatars were represented in sculptures

• Siva was symbolised by the linga

• Vasudeva krishna was important deity in Madhura region

Temples

• Templeswerebuilttohousetheimagesofgodesandgodesses

• Earlytemplewasasmallsquareroom(garbhagriha)

• Latertallstructurebuiltovercentralshrine(shikhara)

• Laterasseblyhall,hugewalls,gatewaysadded

• Someearlytempleswerecarvedoutofhugerocks

• Kailasanatha temple at Ellora(8th century)made out single piece of rock

can we see everything?

(can we understand sculpture?)

• EaryEuropeanscouldnotunderstandwhatindiansculpturewereabout

• EaryEuropeanscholarsfoundthatIndiansculpturewasinferiortotheworksof

  Greek artists

• TheydiscoveredimagesofBuddhaonGreekmodelsinNWIndia(byIndoGrrek rulers)

• Theyadoptedstrategytounderstandunfamiliarthingsonthebasisoffamiliar things

  If text and Image do not match

  • Thescholarsfacedaproblemoftextnotmatchingimage e.g.: sculpture along a huge rock surface in Mahabalipuram

  (see image in the text book)

  • AccordingtosomehistoriansthisdepictsthedescentoftheriverGangafrom heaven(story in Purana)

• AccordingtootherscholarsitrepresentsstoryfromMahabharatha-Arjunadoing penance on the river bank in order to aquire arms