The essence of Chapter 4, for last-minute revision: definitions, names, tables, a timeline and a recap. The full explanation lives separately in the detailed notes.
SanchiAmaravatiStupaTipitakaSanghaAhimsaNibbanaMahayanaBhaktiYardsticks
1 The whole chapter in one frame
| Source |
What it tells us |
| Texts |
Tipitaka, Upanishads, Uttaradhyayana Sutta, Puranas, Therigatha |
| Inscriptions |
donative inscriptions (Sanchi, Bharhut), Dhanavati’s inscription, the Ellora copperplate |
| Monuments |
stupas at Sanchi, Bharhut, Sarnath, Amaravati; Ajanta paintings; Ellora cave temples |
| Colonial-era records |
surveys and publications by Cunningham, Mackenzie, Elliot, Cole, Marshall |
2 Numbers worth remembering
64rival sects/schools of thought named in Buddhist texts
23tirthankaras before Mahavira, in Jaina tradition
5vows taken by Jaina monks and nuns
| Number |
What it refers to |
| c. 1500-1000 BCE |
period of the Rigveda’s compilation |
| 200 years |
gap between the Buddha and Asoka’s Lumbini pillar |
| 10 avatars |
the avatars of Vishnu in Vaishnavism |
| 33rd year |
Dhanavati’s inscription, in the reign of the Kushana ruler Huvishka |
3 Dates at a glance
| Date |
Event |
| c. 1500-1000 BCE |
early Vedic traditions, the Rigveda |
| c. 1000-500 BCE |
later Vedic traditions, household sacrifices |
| c. sixth century BCE |
early Upanishads; Jainism (Mahavira), Buddhism (the Buddha) |
| c. third century BCE |
first stupas; Asoka’s Ajivika caves |
| c. second century BCE onwards |
development of Mahayana Buddhism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism and goddess cults |
| c. third century CE |
earliest temples |
| eighth century CE |
Kailashnatha temple, Ellora, carved from a single rock |
| 1796 |
Amaravati discovered, by a local raja |
| 1814 |
founding of the Indian Museum, Calcutta |
| 1818 |
Sanchi discovered |
| 1854 |
Cunningham’s Bhilsa Topes; Walter Elliot’s “Elliot marbles” collection |
| 1868-1901 |
Shahjehan Begum’s reign, funding Sanchi’s preservation |
| 1880 |
H.H. Cole appointed Curator of Ancient Monuments |
| 1888 |
Treasure Trove Act |
| 1914 |
John Marshall and Alfred Foucher’s “The Monuments of Sanchi” |
| 1989 |
Sanchi declared a World Heritage Site |
4 Every definition, in one place
| Term |
Meaning |
| Individual agency |
the idea that anyone could work towards liberation, regardless of birth |
| Ahimsa |
non-injury to living beings; central to Jaina philosophy |
| Hagiography |
a biography of a saint or religious leader, not always literally accurate, but revealing what followers believed |
| Anicca / anatta / dukkha |
transience / soullessness / sorrow intrinsic to existence |
| Nibbana |
the extinguishing of ego and desire; ends the cycle of rebirth for renouncers |
| Tipitaka |
“three baskets”: the Vinaya Pitaka (rules), Sutta Pitaka (teachings), Abhidhamma Pitaka (philosophy) |
| Sangha |
the monastic order founded by the Buddha; ran on consensus, then a vote |
| Chaitya |
a sacred site, tree or rock, possibly related to “chita” |
| Stupa |
a mound holding relics; Sanskrit for “heap” |
| Anda / harmika / yashti |
the round mound of a stupa / the balcony above it / the mast bearing the chhatri |
| Shalabhanjika |
an auspicious, pre-Buddhist folk symbol of a woman holding a tree |
| Mahayana / Hinayana / theravadin |
“the great vehicle” (image-worship centred) / the name Mahayana gave the older tradition, “the lesser vehicle” / that tradition’s own self-name, followers of the theras |
| Bodhisatta |
a compassionate being who uses merit to help others rather than seek nibbana alone |
| Bhakti |
the bond of love between devotee and god |
| Garbhagriha / shikhara |
the innermost square chamber of a temple / the tall structure raised over it |
| Yardsticks from the familiar |
how nineteenth-century European scholars judged Indian sculpture: by comparing it with the familiar Greek sculpture, “devising yardsticks derived from the familiar to make sense of the unfamiliar” |
5 Sanchi versus Amaravati
|
Sanchi |
Amaravati |
| Year discovered |
1818 |
1796 |
| Condition found |
three of four gateways still standing |
mined for stone, sculpture soon dispersed |
| Outcome |
became an ASI restoration model |
today just “an insignificant little mound” |
| Deciding factor |
the begums of Bhopal funded its preservation, and Cole’s plea for in-situ preservation was adopted here |
perhaps discovered before scholars understood the value of preserving finds where they were found; Cole could not convince the authorities |
6 The four sacred sites of the Buddha’s life
| Site |
Event |
| Lumbini |
birth |
| Bodh Gaya |
enlightenment |
| Sarnath |
first sermon |
| Kusinagara |
nibbana (mahaparinibbana) |
7 Who’s who
| Name |
What to remember them for |
| Shahjehan Begum, Sultan Jehan Begum |
Nawabs of Bhopal who funded Sanchi’s preservation, museum and publications |
| Major Alexander Cunningham |
drew, deciphered inscriptions and bored shafts at Sanchi; published Bhilsa Topes (1854) |
| John Marshall, Alfred Foucher |
published The Monuments of Sanchi (1914), dedicated to Sultan Jehan Begum |
| Colin Mackenzie |
drew Amaravati sculpture; his report went unpublished |
| Walter Elliot |
commissioner of Guntur; his 1854 Amaravati collection became the “Elliot marbles” |
| H.H. Cole |
argued for in-situ preservation; succeeded at Sanchi, failed at Amaravati |
| James Fergusson |
wrongly read Sanchi as a centre of tree and serpent worship, without translated texts |
| Mahavira (Vardhamana) |
preceded by 23 tirthankaras; taught ahimsa and the five vows |
| The Buddha (Siddhartha) |
Sakya clan; taught dhamma, the middle path, after enlightenment |
| Ananda |
persuaded the Buddha to admit women into the sangha |
| Mahapajapati Gotami |
the Buddha’s foster mother; first ordained bhikkhuni |
| Punna |
a dasi (slave woman); her Therigatha verses challenge ritual purity |
| Makkhali Gosala, Ajita Kesakambalin |
Ajivika (fatalist) and Lokayata (materialist) teachers |
| Dhanavati |
bhikkhuni whose inscription (Huvishka’s 33rd year) records her family and teacher |
| Fa Xian, Xuan Zang |
Chinese pilgrims who carried Buddhist texts back from India |
8 Quick Revision · read this the night before the exam
- The mid-first millennium BCE produced thinkers across the world (Zarathustra in Iran, Kong Zi in China, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Greece, Mahavira and the Buddha in India); in India, Mahavira and the Buddha questioned the authority of the Vedas and stressed individual agency, alongside the Ajivikas’ fatalism and the Lokayatas’ materialism.
- Jainism centres on ahimsa, since the whole world is held to be animated, and on renunciation through the five vows; 23 tirthankaras are said to have preceded Mahavira.
- The Buddha’s path is the middle way between penance and indulgence, built on anicca, anatta and dukkha, with nibbana as the goal; his teachings survive as the Tipitaka, first compiled orally at Vesali.
- The sangha admitted every social group as equals, women included from Ananda’s mediation onward, and ran by consensus, then vote.
- A stupa holds relics in the anda, topped by the harmika, yashti and chhatri, ringed by a railing; worshippers circled it clockwise.
- Sanchi survived because in-situ preservation was already gaining support by the time its fate was settled; Amaravati, found earlier, was stripped and dispersed as the “Elliot marbles” and more.
- Sculpture must be read through the tradition that made it: symbols such as the empty seat, wheel and stupa stand for episodes in the Buddha’s life; popular, pre-Buddhist motifs like the shalabhanjika sit alongside them.
- Mahayana added the idea of a saviour, the concept of the Bodhisatta and the worship of images of the Buddha and Bodhisattas; Vaishnavism and Shaivism developed parallel bhakti and avatar traditions, and the first temples (garbhagriha, later shikhara) were built around the same time.
- Nineteenth-century scholars judged Indian sculpture against familiar Greek statues (“yardsticks derived from the familiar”); matching images with texts works better, but even that, as at Mahabalipuram, can leave genuine disagreement.
