From the Publisher One of the major centers of Buddhist art in ancient times, Kausambi provides evidence of an uninterrupted art tradition spanning centuries. Pointing to the scant attention Kausambi has received from scholars in the past, this work attempts to highlight its art treasures through a highlight its art treasures through a study of its stone sculptures. Based on scrutiny of stone sculptures found at various sites in Kausambi and its vicinity and housed in different museums, it presents perhaps the first extensive documentation of the Buddhist art of the region from the Mauryan to post Gupta period. It examines in details over 300 stone sculptures, paying special attention to their iconographic features, types of stone, techniques of carving, grinding and polishing and their aesthetic appeal. All this comes with a background throwing light on the history of Kausambi and its association with Buddhism, the early archaeological explorations in the region, and the individuality and uniqueness of Kausambi art as compared to Mathura and Sarnath schools. The book presents over 225 black and white and over 50 coloured photos of Buddhist sculptures, which are neatly classified and systematically analysed. It would prove invaluable to scholars and students of Buddhist art. Author Description Aruna Tripathi (nee Bhatt), belonging to a family of scholars and litterateurs of Allahabad, obtained her M.A. degree in Ancient Indian History and Culture from Lucknow University. Her childhood fascination for Kausambi took a concrete shape when she started working on the theme of the Buddhist art of Kausambi region. She has been contributing occasional papers in various research journals and also writing and broadcasting on historical, cultural and social themes. Foreword Buddhist art attracted the attention of foreign scholars and historians from the very inception of archeological explorations in India. The early historiography of ancient Indian art also concentrated on Buddhist art. One of the reasons for this was the evident connection between Indian Buddhist art in Gandhara with the Graeco-Roman tradition of art. Increasingly the main focus of Indian art history has shifted from the question of its foreing affiliations to its inner dynamism. The study of Buddhist art from different centers like Mathura or Sarnath has received much attention. The present monograph gives an exhaustive account of Buddhist sculpture from Kausambi. It traces the history of Kausambi and of the introduction and the growth of Buddhism there. Dr. Aruna Tripathi has done a great service to the students of Indian art by exhaustively documenting Buddhist art from Kausambi, even though she does not accept the idea of a Kausambi School of Buddhist Art. She however draws pointed attention to the fact that the art of Kausambi is suffused with the ideas, motifs and forms characteristic of a pan-Indian tradition. The present work is the result of detailed and painstaking study based on the first hand research. It uses literary as well as archeological sources and provides not only a reference work for other researches but also a virtual gallery of visual representations, which make Kausambi come alive. I am sure that the work would be welcomed by all students of Indian culture and Buddhist art. The author deserves to be congratulated for the work.-G.C. Pande Preface I must have been six or seven years old when I first heard the name of Kausambi. I had gone to Allahabad to visit my great grandfather, Pt. Braj Mohan Vyas. It was a big joint family and one day when the children of the house, including myself, wanted to sit in the car, the driver asked us to go away saying that Babuji (Pt. Braj Mohan Vyas) along with his friend Rai Krishan Das was going to Kausambi. The unusal place name together with the atmosphere of celebration in the house, due to the visit of an honoured friend, made a great impression on my mind and I decided that Kausambi must be a very important place, a very beautiful place. I realized how true this childhood impression was when I started working on 'Buddhist Art of the Kausambi Region' in the Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology of the University of Allahabad. I was lucky to receive the guidance of Prof. G.C. Pande in this work for which I was awarded the D.Phil. degree in 1990. The present work is a thoroughly modified and enlarged version of the said study. The Present book deals with the Buddhist art of Kausambi from 300 BC to AD 500, essentially with reference to stone sculptures. The art objects found at Kausambi consist of stone sculptures, terracotta and miscellaneous objects like beads, bangles, pottery, etc. Among these the Buddhist nature of the objects can be established only in the case of stone sculptures and just a few terracotta images. The present study is, therefore, confined essentially to stone sculptures. Three terracotta images, excavated from the site of Ghositarama monastery, have also been incorporated. In the present work the stone sculptures from ancient sites situated in the vicinity of Kausambi have also been included because it was felt that confining the study only to the site of Kausambi would make it somewhat incomplete. These sites are Mainhai (which is situated only 2 km away from the ruins of the eastern gateway of Kausambi), Bhita, Mankunwar and Deoria (both near Bhita). Stone sculptures from the Kausambi region are housed in various museums, the largest collection being in the Kausambi Museum of the Department of Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology, University of Allahabad. For the present study nearly three thousand stone sculptures, mainly from the sollections of the Kausambi Museum, the Allahabad Museum and the State Museum Lucknow were examined and their details recorded on index cards. Nearly 550 objects out of these were photographed of which 322 representative sculptures have been catalogued in this book. For a comparative study, Mathura Museum, Sarnath Museum, Bharat Kala Bhavan, and the Salarjang Museum, Hydreabad were also visited and the relevant sculptures preserved in these museums were examined. The period chosen for the present work is bracketed between 300BC and AD 550; i.e., from the Maurya period to the Gupta period. Very few Buddhist sculptures of a date later than the sixth century AD have been discovered at Kausambi. Thus, the time-span of the study covers the entire period of beginning, growth, maturity and decline of Buddhist art at Kausambi. The study traces the historical evolution of the Buddhist art of Kausambi with special reference to technical aspects of the plastic art. I am deeply indebted to Prof. G.G. Pande under whose guidance this work has been done. He has further obliged me by writing a Foreword to the present volume. I am also deeply grateful to Mrs. G.C. Pande for encouraging me and making me feel welcome in her home. I have no words to thank Dr. S.P. Gupta, the then Director of Allahabad Museum and now the Chairman, Indian Archaeological Society, who, in spite of being a very busy man, always found time to help me and without whose help this work would not have been completed. He was also kind enough to go through the manuscript of this book and make a number of valuable suggestions. He has also written an introduction to the book for which I am grateful. I also thank Shri Susheel K. Mittal of D.K. Printworld for taking great pains to ensure that the printing of this volume is flawless and attractive. Needless to say I received all sorts of help and encouragement from my family members, especially from my grandfather the late Pt. Janardan Bhatt, my aunt Smt. Gayatri Dubey and my husband, Shri C.D. Tripathi without whose cooperation this book would not have been published.-Aruna Tripathi Contents Foreword-G.C. Pande vii Preface-Aruna Tripathi ix Introduction - S.P. Gupta xi Transliteration Chart xvi Acknowledgements xxi Abbreviations xxii 1. BACKDROP 1 Location and Identification 1 Kausambi as Centre of Trade and Traffic 2 Kausambi as a Prominent Center of Art Activities 3 Previous Works 4 2. HISTORY OF KAUSAMBI 5 Literary Sources 5 Brahmanic Tradition The Tradition of the Brahmanas - The Tradition of the Epics-The Tradition of the Puranas 5 Tradition in Secular Sanskrit Works 8 Buddhist Literary Tradition 9 Jaina Tradition 10 Accounts of Foreign Travellers 11 Archaeological Sources 11 Evidence of Pottery 12 Epigraphic and Numismatic Evidence 13 3. Buddhim in Kumasaki 21 Traditions about Buddha's Visits to Kausambi 21 Royal Patronage 22 King Udayana 22 Queen Samavati 23 Vasavadatta 24 Bodhi Rajakumara 24 Buddhist Establishments in and near Kausambi 25 Ghositarama 25 In Literature-Epigraphic Evidence about Ghositarama-Archaeological Evidence Regarding the Monastery of Ghositarama-The Plan of the Monastery- Decline of the Ghositarama Monastery Ghositarama and other Buddhist Establishments of Kausambi in Foreing Travellers accounts 30 Identification of Other Buddhist Establishments 31 Schism in the Sangha and Kausambi 32 4. EARLY ARCHAEOLOGICAL, EXPLORATIONS AND EXCAVATIONS AT KAUSAMBI 37 5. SCULPTURES FROM KAUSAMBI: DOCUMENTATION 43 Objects pertaining to Mauryan Period 43 Objects pertaining to Sunga Period 45 Objects pertaining of Late Sunga - Early Kusana Phase 76 Objects pertaining to Kusana Period 84 Objects pertaining to Late Kusana - Early Gupta Phase 123 Objects pertaining to Gupta Period 129 Coloured Visuals 227 6. SCULPTURES FROM KAUSAMBI: AN APPRAISAL 247 Mauryan Art 247 Mauryan Pillars 247 ring Stones 249 Sunga Art 250 Capitals of Monumental Pillars 251 Inverted Lotus Capital With a Series of Animals on the Abacus - Inverted Lotus Capital with Lions and Honeysuckle or Nagapuspa on Abacus - The Palm-Leaf Capital Animal Figures which may have Crowned the Pillars Horse (or Bull?)-Crocodile 252 Fragment of a Four sided Pillar Carved on all Sides 252 Yaksa Head 253 Stupa Railing or Vedika 254 Railing Posts-Corner Pillars-Cross Bars-Coping-Railing Fragment-Torana Architrave Frieze Showing Nativity of Buddha 261 Decorated Fragments 261 The Late Sunga-Early Kusana Art: Transitional Phase 262 Kusana Art 264 The Bodhisattva-Buddha Images 265 Standing Images - Seated Images-Torsos-Seated Images Showing Gandharan Impact-Fragments of Buddha Images Slab with a Buddha Figure 274 Ayagapatta 274 Lions 274 Fragments of Columns 275 Decorated Fragments 275 Yaksa 275 Darpana Yaksi 275 Terracotta Images from the Shrine of Hariti 276 The Late Kusana-Early Gupta Art: Transitional Phase 276 Buddha Heads 276 Standing Buddha Image 277 Halo 278 Parasols 278 Votive Stupa 278 Fragment of Standing Bodhisattva (?) 278 Decorated Fragments 278 Gupta Art 279 The Buddha Images 280 Standing Images - Seated Images - Fragment Fragments of the Buddha/Bodhisattva Images 291 Halos -Parasols -Feet on Lotus Pedestal Images of Other Dieties 293 -Nagaraja-A Female Diety -Sri Laksmi Miscellaneous Sculptures 295 A Panel Showing Nagaraja and Other Figures - Male Figures Carved on Slabs- A Slab with Two Male Figures in a Niche -Fragment of Two Standing Human Figures Architectural Fragments 293 Fragments of Doorframes - Pilaster Fragments- Pillars -Capital of a Pilaster- Decorated Fragments Yaksa Images 301 Yaksa Head -Fragments of Yaksa(?) Images Images of Female Devotees 302 Mother and Child Images 302 Heads of Devotees and Bodhisattvas 302 7. STONE AND STONE CARVING: A STUDY OF TYPES AND TECHNIQUES 305 Stone 305 Quarrying 306 Carving Technique 306 Dressing - Detailing -Carving Panels on One and the Same Plane - Final Finish-Grinding and Polishing-Painting 8. Summary And Conclusion 311 The Kausambi Region: Vatsabhumi 311 Archaeological Sites and Excavations 313 Art Tradition at Kausambi: Historical and Economic Background 313 Buddhism in Kausambi: Archaeological Remains 314 Buddhist Sculptures of Kausambi: A Resume 315 Was There a Kausambi School of Art? 321 Maurya Period 323 Sunga period 323 Kusana Period 323 Gupta Period 324 Art Tradition at Kausambi: Its Significance and Place in Indian Art 327 Map 329 Plan of Ruins of Kausambi 329 Location of Kausambi on Ancient Trade Routes 330 Bibliography 331 Index 337

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