Buddhist Landscapes in Central India

Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, c. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD

Julia Shaw

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781611323443
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315432632
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Archaeology

The "monumental bias" of Buddhist archaeology has hampered our understanding of the socio-religious mechanisms that enabled early Buddhist monks to establish themselves in new areas. To articulate these relationships, Shaw presents here the first integrated study of settlement archaeology and Buddhist history, carried out in the area around Sanchi, a Central Indian UNESCO World Heritage site. Her comprehensive, data-rich, and heavily illustrated work provides an archaeological basis for assessing theories regarding the dialectical relationship between Buddhism and surrounding lay populations. It also sheds light on the role of the introduction of Buddhism in changing settlement patterns.This volume was originally published in 2007 by the British Association of South Asian Studies.

CHAPTER 1
Introduction

The archaeology of Buddhist landscapes

The archaeology of Buddhism has generally been the study of stupas, monasteries, sculpture and epigraphy. The primary geographical focus of interest has been the Gangetic valley, where places such as Sarnath, Bodhgaya, Sravasti, Rajgir or Vaisali were closely connected to events relating to the life and teachings of the historical Buddha (Figure 1.1). Some of the best-preserved monastic sites, however, are situated beyond the cradle of Buddhism in central India and the Deccan. The establishment of Buddhism at sites such as Sanchi and Bharhut coincided in part with the westward expansion of the Mauryan empire in c. third century BC, with major building programmes taking place slightly later between the second century BC and early centuries AD. Some of the early rock-cut caityas and monasteries in the Dec-can, such as Karle, Bhaja, Bedsa, and Pitalkhora, seem also to have been part of this ‘second propagation’ of Buddhism. All of these sites have generated a significant body of scholarship, largely because of their art-historical appeal. Sanchi has been of particular interest because of its continuous history of Buddhist occupation from c. third century BC to twelfth century AD. Its remarkably well-preserved monuments and sculptures have provided a kind of blueprint for the history of art and architecture over this period.

However, one of the major problems that this study seeks to address is that until recently scholars have rarely looked beyond the art-historical value of important ritual sites to their wider archaeological or cultural setting.¹ Little consideration has been given to how Buddhist sites related to less tangible or ‘monumental’ aspects of the landscape, such as topography, local settlement patterns, water-resource structures or, indeed, sites belonging to other religious traditions.² This lacuna reflects the fact that the archaeology of Indian religions has tended to focus on well-known monuments, with little reference to recent theoretical shifts, which amongst other things have led to the recognition of entire landscapes as foci of archaeological enquiry. This has obviously hampered our understanding of the early history of Buddhism and its relationship to other key processes taking place during the early-historic period such as state formation, urbanisation, population shifts, and changes in food production and consumption practices. Secondly, there is still little understanding of how the saṅgha aligned itself with the pre-existing social, economic and religious infrastructure of the new areas into which it arrived. Further, although some scholars of Buddhist history have, through their use of secondary archaeological evidence, spearheaded a departure from the subject’s traditional reliance on texts (Schopen 1997; Trainor 1997), the lack of coordination between active archaeological research and text-based analysis means that many received models of Buddhist history have gone unchallenged. A similar lack of integration between the methods and results of archaeology and history has also had a detrimental effect on the study of state formation and urbanisation in ancient India, something which is taken up for discussion at various points in this book.

The Sanchi Survey Project: a case study

In an attempt to redress some of these problems, it was decided to choose a relatively tightly focused area in which the archaeological setting of monastic sites could be studied in detail. The primary archaeological focus of the Sanchi Survey Project (SSP), which has undergone various stages of research since its inception in 1998, is the well-known monastic complex at Sanchi, a recently designated UNESCO World Heritage Site in Madhya Pradesh (Figures 1.1, 1.2). Its earliest documented history dates to c. third century BC and it is associated with the patronage of the Mauryan empire whose expanding boundaries mirrored in part the early movement of Buddhist monks from their base in the middle Gangetic plains. Both its distance from the ‘cradle’ of Buddhism and its proximity to the early-historic city of Vidisha make it an ideal case-study for examining the socio-economic and religious background of Buddhist propagation. Another reason for choosing Sanchi is that a number of well-preserved Buddhist sites were already known in the surrounding area: Satdhara, Morel khurd, Andher and Sonari. These are all situated within a radius of about 15 km from Sanchi and were originally documented in the mid-nineteenth century in Alexander Cunningham’s (1854) famous monograph entitled The Bhilsa Topes; throughout this study these sites are referred to as the ‘Bhilsa Tope’ sites.

However, the way in which Sanchi has been studied acts as an exemplar for the theoretical and methodological problems already mentioned, relating to South Asian archaeology in general and the study of Buddhism in particular. Despite the large body of art-historical and epigraphical scholarship at Sanchi (notably Marshall 1940) prior to the present study, its relationship to neighbouring Buddhist sites, or to other aspects of the archaeological landscape, remained unexamined. Thus, the history of Sanchi has hitherto remained disconnected from other social and religious histories based on the distribution of local habitational settlements, agricultural systems and both Buddhist and non-Buddhist ritual sites.

Figure 1.1 Map of India showing key Buddhist sites and early-historic urban centres

Figure 1.2 Map of key archaeological sites in the Sanchi-Vidisha area

The primary aim of the fieldwork that formed the basis of this book was to achieve a less fragmented picture of Buddhist history by combining the methods of landscape archaeology, and art and architectural history, while drawing on debates generated within religious studies and ancient Indian history. The field-based project consisted of a multi-stage archaeological survey carried out over 750 km² with Sanchi roughly at its centre. The principal fieldwork was conducted over two six-month seasons between 1998 and 2000 (Shaw 2000a; 2000b; 2001; Shaw and Sutcliffe 2001), with several follow-up seasons in subsequent years (Shaw 2004a; 2004b; 2005; Shaw and Sutcliffe 2003a; 2003b; 2005; Shaw et al., 2007). The survey resulted in the documentation of over 35 Buddhist sites, 145 settlements, 17 irrigation works and over 1000 sculpture and temple fragments. Each of these site categories provides valuable information relating to the history of Buddhist monasticism, settlement history, the changing configuration of the multi-layered ritual landscape, the development of new forms of land use and changing attitudes towards food during the early-historic period. However, one of the primary contentions of this study is that these sites do not exist in isolation from each other, but form integrated components of a series of what may be termed ‘archaeological complexes’ (Shaw and Sutcliffe 2001), or ‘site groups’, as they are referred to in this book. An analysis of the internal spatial dynamics of these groups provides an empirical basis for assessing theories of social and religious change, and the emergence of exchange networks between monastic and non-monastic sections of society, between c. third century BC and fifth century AD.

History of archaeological research in the Sanchi area

Sanchi hill

Since its discovery almost 200 years ago, the Buddhist monuments on Sanchi hill have attracted considerable scholarly interest.³ The site was first noticed in 1818 by General Taylor of the Bengal Cavalry (Burgess 1902) and was revisited in the following year by Captain Edward Fell (1819). In subsequent years, the site was subjected to various bouts of haphazard digging, constituting little more than ill-conceived treasure hunts. The most ambitious project carried out in 1822 resulted in considerable damage to the site (Marshall 1940, 47), so much so that by the time J.D. Cunningham visited in 1847, many of the monuments were already in complete ruins (Cunningham 1847).

The first serious excavations were initiated in 1851 by Alexan-der Cunningham and F.C. Maisey and formed the primary focus of Cunningham’s Bhilsa Topes (1854). These resulted in the retrieval of relics and inscribed reliquaries from Stupas 2 and 3; the former bear the names of the Hemavata school of monks (Willis 2000), thus providing a crucial framework for understanding the identity of early Buddhist schools in the area. Restoration work began in 1881 (Cole 1884), continuing in later years under John Marshall (1940), whose excavations between 1912 and 1919 represent the most comprehensive and authoritative study to date. Marshall’s six-phase sequence between c. third century BC and twelfth century AD still provides the primary framework for ongoing studies, as does Foucher’s art-historical analyses of the stupa railing carvings published in the same volume. Finally, N.G. Majumdar’s chapter on the site’s epigraphical record, including the Asokan edict, a large body of second-century-BC donative inscriptions and a later group of Gupta-period land-grants, provides the primary basis for ongoing scholarship on the history of patronage at Sanchi (Dehejia 1992; Singh 1996).

Several excavations have been carried out since Marshall’s time. In 1936, Hamid (1940) excavated a large courtyard-type monastery immediately to the west of Stupa 1, while in 1995–6, clearance by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) of an area SW of Stupa 1 revealed a group of small stupas (Plate 20; Willis 2000). As discussed in chapter 9, similar stupas, found at a wide range of north Indian sites, were traditionally viewed as performing a ‘votive’ function. However, recent scholarship on the stupa and relic cult (Schopen 1987) suggests that they belonged to a burial ad sanctos tradition, possibly containing the mortuary remains of ‘ordinary’ monks or lay followers.⁴ Recent clearance work undertaken around the large stone platform known as Building 8, resulted in the discovery of a stairway built into the body of the structure (Plate 76). Both Marshall and Cunningham were unclear as to the function of this building, but comparisons with similar buildings at neighbouring sites (Willis 2000; Shaw 2000) provide strong evidence that it formed the base of an early monastery. The significance of this and other ‘monastery platforms’ in the area for challenging received assumptions regarding the history and chronology of monasticism is discussed in chapters 9 and 11. Alarge trench opened in the upper terrace above Stupa 1 by theASI under S.B. Ota, who also cleared areas around the smaller stupas on the lower ground immediately to the east of the main Stupa, revealed paving stones and other features. Further, several ‘new’ monasteries were uncovered by P.K. Mukherjee around the seventh-century monastery cluster in the southern part of the site. These and other repairs and soundings have not yet been published.

Neighbouring monastic sites

As already mentioned, Sanchi is not the only published Buddhist site in the area. Four other well-preserved stupa sites, Sonari, Satdhara, Morel khurd and Andher (Figure 1.2), all situated within about 15 km of Sanchi, were first documented by Cunningham (1854). Excavations carried out together with Maisey resulted in the retrieval of reliquaries from a number of the stupas at these sites. Some of these were found to bear names which correspond to those of the Hemavata monks listed in the reliquary inscriptions from Stupa 2, Sanchi. This demonstrates that all five sites were linked under the Hemavata school, which under the leadership of a teacher called Gotiputa, appears to have played a major role in the ‘second propagation’ of Buddhism in the last quarter of the second century BC (Willis 2000). All four of these sites are under the protection of the ASI. However, apart from basic conservation measures, they have received meagre archaeological attention since Cunningham’s time. The exception is Satdhara, which has undergone renewed excavation and conservation in recent years. The most important discoveries have been described in a summary report (Agrawal 1997), but have yet to be digested in a scholarly way.

A summary report of a sixth monastic site, Bighan, about 3 km NW of Vidisha, was published by H.H. Lake (1910b) around 60 years after Cunningham’s explorations. Until it was taken up for renewed investigation during the present study, this important site had not received any scholarly interest in subsequent years. Consequently it has escaped state protection, and is increasingly in danger of destruction from ongoing stone-quarrying and tree-planting programmes at the site.

Ancient Vidisha

The other key archaeological site is the ancient city of Vidisha whose mounds are situated in the fork of the Rivers Betwa and Bes, around 8 km north of Sanchi. Also referred to as Besnagar after the village Bes which occupies a key position on the city mounds, the city is thought to have moved to its new location as represented by the modern town of Vidisha, approximately 1 km to the south, some time during the post-Gupta period in the sixth or seventh century AD. However, as discussed in chapter 6, there is evidence for occupation of the ‘modern’ site during earlier periods also (Figure 1.2).

The earliest archaeological examination of the site was conducted by Cunningham (1880), whose site-plan illustrates the main city mound protected by a massive earthen rampart in the west. Cunningham’s excavations were mainly concerned with some of the smaller mounds overlying various Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain structures, and thus contributed little to the understanding of the site’s urban history. Several of these mounds were re-excavated in later years by H.H. Lake (1910a), but it is difficult to relate Lake’s numbered mounds to those studied by Cunningham due to the absence of a site-plan which is nevertheless referred to in the former’s report. Both scholars were principally interested in the sculptural remains at these sites, many of which are now stored in the Gujari Mahal Museum, Gwalior. Of particular interest was a group of pillars and capitals to the north of the River Bes, in the vicinity of a site known at the time as Kham Baba. It was only following Lake’s (1910a, 137–9) discovery of the associated inscription buried beneath layers of sindhūr on the principal pillar there that the site’s link with He...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Plates
• Abbreviations
• Select Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Buddhism, Urbanisation and the State
• 3. Physical Geography and Archaeology of Central India
• 4. Sanchi Study area: The Physical Environment
• 5. Political History of the Sanchi Area
• 6. Religious Historyand Religious Change in the Sanchi Area
• 7. Theoryand Method of Landscape Archaeology
• 8. The Sanchi Survey Project: Research Design and Field Methodology
• 9. Archaeology of Vidishaand Sanchi Hill
• 10. The Sanchi Survey Project: Chronology
• 11. Buddhist Sites and ‘Buddhist Landscapes’
• 12. Non-Buddhist Ritual Sites
• 13. Habitational Settlement Sites
• 14. Irrigation Systems
• 15. Conclusion: Towards an Integrated Model of Religious Change
• Appendices
• Bibliography
• Index