Buddhist Missing Link?

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Does Newly Excavated Buddhist Temple Provide A Missing Link?

 

http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/deorkothar/index.html

ONLINE NEWS April 4, 2001

DOES NEWLY EXCAVATED BUDDHIST TEMPLE PROVIDE A MISSING LINK?

 

Major Stupa under excavation (Courtesy P.K. Mishra)

 

 

he Buddhist firmament is abuzz with word of amazing discoveries at the newly

excavated site of Deorkothar in Madhya Pradesh, India. Situated on the

ancient Dakshinapath (southern trade route), Deorkothar lies between Bharhut

and Sanchi, two major Buddhist centers established in the third century B.C.

It is surprising that Alexander Cunningham, the nineteenth-century doyen of

Indian archaeology who did extensive work in the area, missed the site.

Excavations at Deorkothar--which seems to predate the late Mauryan-Sunga

period (fourth through first centuries B.C.), when most early stupa (temple)

complexes were built--promise to throw light on the genesis and spread of

Buddhism in Central India, providing missing links in the history of

Buddhist

art and architecture.

 

The Deorkothar complex, nearly two miles in extent, boasts four brick

stupas, the most ever found at a site of this period. The varying sizes of

bricks used in construction point to an early date. Such motifs as twirling

lotus, conical lotus bud, and a simple flower pot on a three-tiered

pedestal--the carving of which foreshadows early Buddhist art--can be seen

on

the railing posts of the largest brick stupa, which rises to a height of

nearly 30 feet. The stencil-cut effect of the friezes, along with their

simple ornamentation and the paucity of human and animal figures, suggests

these are early attempts at stone railing art. It would therefore seem that

the stupa at Deorkothar was built before the famous early free-standing

stupa

at Sanchi.

 

Deorkothar's Minor stupas (Courtesy P.K. Mishra)

 

The site of Deorkothar also comprises monasteries, a water channel

system,

an ancient pathway, and 30 stone stupas, many of which contained sherds of

high quality northern black polished ware, the pottery of everyday use

between 700 and 300 B.C. Such sherds are absent from Sanchi, further

indicating that Deorkothar predates that site.

 

Dotting the site of Deorkothar are 63 rock-shelters, many with art dating

to the first century B.C., that were likely used by monks for meditation.

One

painting depicts a stupa and a tree surrounded by a railing. Others show

social or hunting scenes; men, women, and animals; weapons; and designs.

 

Left, railing pillars[LARGER IMAGE] Right, twisting lotus carved on railing

pillar[LARGER IMAGE] (Courtesy P.K. Mishra)

 

Excavation also recovered pieces of a pillar with a six-line inscription

in Brahmi, the precursor to modern Indian alphabets, the earliest examples

of

which date to the rule of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka (273-232 B.C.).

Although

the pillar bears the trademark Mauryan polish, it is made not of the Chunar

sandstone characteristic of Ashokan sculpture, but of local sandstone. Also

found at the site were pottery, pieces of stone caskets and bangles with

exquisite polish, some copper fragments, a lead strip coiled ear stud, iron

nails and clamps, few coins (one punch-marked), pieces of terra-cotta toys,

and beads. Worthy of particular mention are several pieces of Mauryan

polished chattra (the multi-tiered "umbrella" at the top of a stupa) with

evidence of radial ribs. To the west of the main stupa, iron slag, a lump of

iron ore, and white nodules of lime indicate the presence of an

iron-smelting

furnace nearby.

 

The ancient Buddhist text Divy Adanam speaks of the death and destruction

brought about by Pushyamitra Sunga, who ruled in the first quarter of the

second century B.C., in a bid to glorify Hinduism. During his reign,

Buddhist

monuments were wantonly destroyed. Although archaeological evidence is

meager

in this regard, it seems likely that the Deorkothar stupa was destroyed as a

result of Pushyamitra Sunga's fanaticism. The exposed remains at Deorkothar

bear evidence of deliberate destruction datable to his reign. The

three-tiered railing is damaged; railing pillars lie, broken to smithereens,

on stone flooring. Twenty pieces of pillar have been recovered, each

fragment

itself fractured. The site offers no indication of natural

destruction.--P.K.

MISHRA, Archaeological Survey of India

 

Mishra discovered Deorkothar in 1982 with Ajit Singh and returned to

excavate

the site in 1999.

 

 

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© 2001 by the Archaeological Institute of America

http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/deorkothar/index.html