Sanchi Stupa 1: Column Decorations
Sandstone
Sanchi Stupa 1: Column Decorations
INDIA, Madhya Pradesh, Sanchi
The panel is located on the south column of the eastern gateway. The bottom of the decorative band depicts a makara, a hybrid water beast with a crocodile’s forequarters and a fish’s tail. A lotus emerges from the creature’s mouth, the stem winding upwards and sprouting lotuses in all stages of growth. Empty spaces are filled with water fowls. A bloom also emerges from the mouth of a crested bird perched on a sprig near the bottom. There are several versions of the hybrid beast going by the name of makara, which seems to be the ancestor of the dragons that emit lotuses in Chinese sculptures in later centuries.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture N-Sr, page 947.
Cite this article:
Hsingyun, et al. "Sanchi Stupa 1: Column Decorations." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture N-Sr, vol. 12, 2016, pp. 947.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Yann Lovelock, Yuan Chou, Susan Huntington, Gary Edson, and Robert Neather. 2016. "Sanchi Stupa 1: Column Decorations" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture N-Sr, 12:947.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Lovelock, Y., Chou, Y., Huntington, S., Edson, G., & Neather, R.. (2016). Sanchi Stupa 1: Column Decorations. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture N-Sr (Vol. 12, pp. 947).
@misc{Hsingyun2016,
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Lovelock, Yann and Chou, Yuan and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture N-Sr},
pages = 947,
title = {{Sanchi Stupa 1: Column Decorations}},
volume = 12,
year = {2016}}
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Lovelock, Yann and Chou, Yuan and Huntington, Susan and Edson, Gary and Neather, Robert,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Sculpture N-Sr},
pages = 947,
title = {{Sanchi Stupa 1: Column Decorations}},
volume = 12,
year = {2016}}