Vedika

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Sanchi - Stupa No. 1 with vedika , toranas , harmika and chhatras

Vedika is a protective fence made of hewn and polished stones that surrounds a Buddhist stupa and symbolically separates the inner sacred from the surrounding secular sphere.

to form

In ancient Indian times, a vedika was a wooden fence that surrounded a sacred place (sacrificial place or tree shrine). Stone vedikas can be free-standing at ground level or attached to the stupa in an elevated position. In early stupas, the vedika forms an outer ring around the building, creating a corridor for the ritual circumnavigation ( pradakshina or parikrama ) by the pilgrims. These free-standing vedikas were broken through by four gates ( toranas ) in the cardinal points; with smaller stupas only one gate was often sufficient. The third type of vedika is a small stone fence at the top of the stupa hemisphere ( anda ), which forms a square box ( harmika ) to protect the crowning screen ( chhatra ).

The vedikas of Stupa No. 2 in Sanchi and the stupas of Bharhut and Amaravati (now in the Archaeological Museums of Kolkata and Chennai ), which are covered with a multitude of figurative and ornamental reliefs, are among the outstanding achievements of Indian stone carving.

distribution

The vedikas spread throughout the Indian subcontinent as part of early Buddhist art. In other Asian countries they are unknown - at least in their Indian form. They have also not found their way into Hindu or Jain art in India - perhaps because of their exclusivity.

Origin and function

Fences of tree sanctuaries made of wood mesh probably originally served as protection against animals roaming free. Relief representations of such tree sanctuaries - albeit already with stone vedikas - have been preserved in Bodhgaya and Sanchi. In addition to their original function, the vedika fences marked the boundaries of a sacred area from the outside world.

development

In Sanchi's stupa No. 2, the angled entrances are integrated into the vedikas .

From around the 1st century BC Some of these vedikas were made of polished stone. As a rule, they consist of vertical pillars ( thabhas ) with lateral recesses into which the stone crossbeams could be inserted. In the entrance areas of Buddhist cave temples , they can sometimes be seen as wall or wall reliefs (e.g. Mahakali caves (Mumbai) or Kanheri caves (Mumbai) ). Already on the Great Stupa of Sanchi, but also on many votive stupas and figure reliefs, vedikas can be found as parapets, balconies or window parapets, until they gradually rise in the 6th / 7th centuries. Going out of style in the 19th century.

  • Kanheri , Cave 2 - Guardian; to the left a stone fence

  • Kanheri, Cave 3 - Votive stupa with parapet fence

  • Kanheri, Cave 2 - stone fence relief in the roof area

literature

  • Adrian Snodgrass: The Symbolism of the Stupa. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1992, ISBN 81-208-0781-2 .
  • Le Huu Phuoc: Buddhist Architecture. Grafikol 2010, ISBN 978-0-9844043-0-8 . ( Online in Google Book Search; English)
  • Robert Knox: Amaravati. Buddhist Sculpture from the Great Stupa. British Museum Press, London 1992, ISBN 0-7141-1452-9 .

Web links

Commons : Stupas  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adrian Snodgrass: The Symbolism of the Stupa. M. Banarsidas Publ., Delhi 1992, p. 154 (Fig. 89a and b), ISBN 81-208-0781-2 .