Śuṅga Railing Pillars from Lālsoṭ, RājasthānAuthor(s): Umakant P. ShahSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 82, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1962), pp. 70-71Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/595984 .

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Brief Communications

St4nga Railing Pillars from Lalsot, Rajasthan Cunningham and Carlleyle in their Archae-

ological Survey Reports,l and D. R. Bhandarkar in his Progress Reports as Superintendent of Archaeology, Western Circle,2 have rendered pioneer service in noticing valuable ancient monu- ments, sculptures, inscriptions, etc., in Rajasthan. Tessitori brought to light the remains of Bud- dhist stupas and Hindu brick structures from Hanumangadh, Suratgadh, Rang Mahal, liall- banga, Per-Sutan-ki There and others, in the old Bikaner State.3 Terracottas from these sites later discussed by H. Goetz, Satya Prakash, R. C. Agrawal, U. P. Shah and V. S. Agrawal,4 have been proven to show Gandhara influence in at least the fourth-fifth centuries, A. D., and probably earlier. D. R. Sahni, as Director of Archaeology, old Jaipur State, conducted further exploration in this part of Rajasthan and his excavations at Bairat (about 52 miles from Jaipur, on the Delhi- Jaipur road) brought to light from a monastery site on the hill there punch-marked coins, coins of :Eeliokles, Appolodotus, Menander, Antialkidas, and DEermaios, besides a terracotta figurine of a dancing girl or of a yakst (which Sahni compared with figures on railing pillars, of about the first century, .a., from Mathura) and several pieces of Chunar stone, polished on both sides, with es- quisitely ribbed undersides, which, according to Sahni, ' no doubt belonged to an A;okan um- brella.' 5 DEere on the hill, known as ' Bljak-k Paharl,' is reported to have been found the Bhabru-Rock-Edict of Asoka, later removed to the Museum of the Asiatic Society, Bengal.6 Sahni, in his excavation report, also reported having "brought to light in the northern half of the plat- form an interesting circular temple, of the time of Asoka, surrounded by a rectangular wall." 7 He also discovered polished pieces of broken pillars

1 Archaeologtcal Survey Reports, Vols. II, VI, XXIII, etc.

2 Annual Progress Reports of the Archaeologtcal Sur- vey of Indta, Western Ctrcle, for the years ending 31st March 1908 to 1915.

3 Annual Report, Archaeologtcal Survey o Indta, for 1917-18.

4 Lalttkala, No. 8, pp. 55-68, which contains earlier references to discussions by Goetz, R. a. Agrawal and others.

5 Sahni, op. ctt., p. 24. 6 Ibtd ., p. 18. 7 Ibtd., p. 25.

which he rightly concluded were possibly those of Asokan pillars.

Sahni refers to a terracotta sealing from Sam- bhar (Sakambharl), an ancient site, which in the mediaeval period became the capital of the Caha- manas. According to his description, the sealing, now in Jaipur Museum, ' displays a sacrificial post (yqipa) surrounded by a railing. The upper por- tion of the post is, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Satapatha Brahmana, bent down to about the middle of the shaft and has a bifur- cated end. Below this is the well-known Ujjain symbol consisting of a cross with balls attached to each arm and on {he opposite side the Prakrit legend ' Indasamasa,' ' of Indrasarman ' in Brahm characters of about the third century B. C.' 8

Explorations at Nagar, the site of ancient Kar- kota-Nagara, also in the Jaipur region, revealed, amongst others, coins inscribed in the Brahml script of the second century, B. C. to the fourth century, ft. D.

Excavations and explorations at the above and other sites in Rajasthan have made it clear that fairly well-advanced cultural activity was being carried on in these parts from at least the third century, B. a., onwards.

It is no wonder, therefore, that six pillars of a relatively much later chatr3 (memorial structure) at Lalsot. (about sixty miles from Jaipur), have been identified as railing-pillars of a structure, probably a stupa, assignable to the Sunga period. Two of them, illustrated here in Fig. 1, are about five feet high, square at the base and top and octagonal in the middle, and have, in the middle of each of them, three roundels and one half-roundel at the top. In the uppermost roundels are human heads, probably devout worshippers (one of them with folded hands), wearing large turbans, which, along with the modelling of the faces, are closely similar to those found on railing pillars of the Bharhut stupa. One of the pillars shows, in the central roundel, a stupa with a triple gateway in front, the central entrance being surmounted by an arch and having what appears to be a smaller entrance on each side. This can be compared with the entrance of a shrine at Bharhut, illustrated by Coomaraswamy, La Sculpttlre de BharEtlt, planche IV, Fig. 3, and planche II, Fig. 3 (toran. a pillar,

8 Sahni, op. ctt., pp. 2-3.

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Two Pillars from Lalsot Chatrl ( Details )

Copyright and Courtesy of tfie Department of Archaeoloyg, Rajasthan, India.

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Brief (7onznzunications Brief (7onznzunications 1 1

These pillars are noteworthy inasmuch as they demonstrate that the style was not restricted merely to the region around Bharhut but flour- ished over a wider area. They are, furthermore, interesting since they suggest a future possibility of discovering remains of early Buddhist stupas in Rajasthan. A chance recovery of more remains of the stupa from which the Lalsot pillars came cannot be ruled out

U1WAEANT P. SHAH ORIENTAL INBTITUTS, BARODA;

UNIVERBITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

These pillars are noteworthy inasmuch as they demonstrate that the style was not restricted merely to the region around Bharhut but flour- ished over a wider area. They are, furthermore, interesting since they suggest a future possibility of discovering remains of early Buddhist stupas in Rajasthan. A chance recovery of more remains of the stupa from which the Lalsot pillars came cannot be ruled out

U1WAEANT P. SHAH ORIENTAL INBTITUTS, BARODA;

UNIVERBITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

East gateway, restored). In spite of the close similarity, the difference is obvious. The Lalsof representation is simple, the one from Bharhut more ornamental. It would be difficult to say that the LElso1; roundels represent an earlier stage since the available evidence is scanty as compared with Bharhut. Besides, such facts can be explained away by regarding the LElsof; pillars as the work of less accomplished artists of the same age. It would, however, be safer to regard the Lalsot pil- lars as dating from about the same age as Bharhut or slightly later.

East gateway, restored). In spite of the close similarity, the difference is obvious. The Lalsof representation is simple, the one from Bharhut more ornamental. It would be difficult to say that the LElso1; roundels represent an earlier stage since the available evidence is scanty as compared with Bharhut. Besides, such facts can be explained away by regarding the LElsof; pillars as the work of less accomplished artists of the same age. It would, however, be safer to regard the Lalsot pil- lars as dating from about the same age as Bharhut or slightly later.

Fqzrther Evidence of Inter-Tocharian- Lexical Borrowing Fqzrther Evidence of Inter-Tocharian- Lexical Borrowing

0. Since the writing of my article on "Lexical interchange between ' Tocharian ' A and B " (JAOS 81 (1961), 271-280; here referred to as Int.) a few of the problems discussed in it have been treated in some detail by Wolfgang Krause in a study entitled "Zum Namen des Lachses" (Nachrichten der Akadernie der Wtssenschaf ten in Gottingen, I. Philologisch-Historische :Klasse, Jahrgang 196l, Nr. 4, 83-98). In particular, cases of the highly troublesome agreement - between (graphic) a in B and (graphic) a in A are studied.

1. S:rause interprets the complete agreement as due to borrowing in three sets of forms,

B = A waste ' protection ' B palaqxnsb: A palorn ' praise ' B prattrn: A pratirn ' decision,'

assuming borrowing from B for the first two sets and borrowing from A for the last. No doubt exists concerning BA waste (cf. Int. 272); for the second set, I have presented arguments for a priority o:f the A form in Int. 279-80.

For B pratirn: A pratirn, Erause emphasizes the fact that the two forms do not agree in their final material and that the B form occurs alongside a small group of other words in -i7n (which, by the way, appear to be semantically related to prativrn 'decision': onrnirn 'remorse' and paqxecirn 'turn- ing away' both belong to the domain of mental and spiritual actions), while A pratirn is a com- pletely isolated form. :Krause concludes that the A form has a better claim to priority and that therefore B pratirn is best considered a loanword which underwent remodeling. He supports this

0. Since the writing of my article on "Lexical interchange between ' Tocharian ' A and B " (JAOS 81 (1961), 271-280; here referred to as Int.) a few of the problems discussed in it have been treated in some detail by Wolfgang Krause in a study entitled "Zum Namen des Lachses" (Nachrichten der Akadernie der Wtssenschaf ten in Gottingen, I. Philologisch-Historische :Klasse, Jahrgang 196l, Nr. 4, 83-98). In particular, cases of the highly troublesome agreement - between (graphic) a in B and (graphic) a in A are studied.

1. S:rause interprets the complete agreement as due to borrowing in three sets of forms,

B = A waste ' protection ' B palaqxnsb: A palorn ' praise ' B prattrn: A pratirn ' decision,'

assuming borrowing from B for the first two sets and borrowing from A for the last. No doubt exists concerning BA waste (cf. Int. 272); for the second set, I have presented arguments for a priority o:f the A form in Int. 279-80.

For B pratirn: A pratirn, Erause emphasizes the fact that the two forms do not agree in their final material and that the B form occurs alongside a small group of other words in -i7n (which, by the way, appear to be semantically related to prativrn 'decision': onrnirn 'remorse' and paqxecirn 'turn- ing away' both belong to the domain of mental and spiritual actions), while A pratirn is a com- pletely isolated form. :Krause concludes that the A form has a better claim to priority and that therefore B pratirn is best considered a loanword which underwent remodeling. He supports this

claim by pointing out that a form regularly related to A pratirn is to be found in B eprete 'deter- mined.'

If we pursue S:rause's line of thinking a little further, some of the remaining difficulties can be removed.

B eprete is to be analyzed as consisting of the prefis e(n)- < *n- 'together with' or 'in' (for two slightly differing viewpoints cf. Langqxage 28. 1952.186-191 and Franz Bernhard, I)ie Norninal- kornpositiorb irn Tocharischerb [mimeographed dis- sertation, Gottingen, 1958], 29-32) plus prete 'decision,' a word not attested outside this com- pound (one may speculate whether the introduc- tion of the Indic loanword prete ' preta ' led to the replacement of prete = pratirn). The regular match of B prete in A would be prat, and this can indeed be found in the first half of prat-irn. But what is -i7n ?

The answer is readily available once we decide not to take it as a suffiX. It is a very common phenomenon in the Tocharian languages that two near-synonyms in one phrase or even compounded to form one word serve to denote what to us seems one meaning unit; it will suffice to refer here to such cases as B nern-kalywe: A norn-klyqz 'fame' ('name' + 'fame'), B sairn waste: A sern waste ' sarana ' ( ' support ' + ' protection ' ), etc. (cf. par- ticularly Sieg-Siegling-Schulze, Tochariosche Grarn- rnatik [Gkottingen, 1931], 219-226) . It is proposed to analyze A pratirn as a compound or juxtaposi- tion consisting of prat ' decision,' the formal equivalent of B prete, and of i7n 'awareness,' the formal equivalent of B irne.

claim by pointing out that a form regularly related to A pratirn is to be found in B eprete 'deter- mined.'

If we pursue S:rause's line of thinking a little further, some of the remaining difficulties can be removed.

B eprete is to be analyzed as consisting of the prefis e(n)- < *n- 'together with' or 'in' (for two slightly differing viewpoints cf. Langqxage 28. 1952.186-191 and Franz Bernhard, I)ie Norninal- kornpositiorb irn Tocharischerb [mimeographed dis- sertation, Gottingen, 1958], 29-32) plus prete 'decision,' a word not attested outside this com- pound (one may speculate whether the introduc- tion of the Indic loanword prete ' preta ' led to the replacement of prete = pratirn). The regular match of B prete in A would be prat, and this can indeed be found in the first half of prat-irn. But what is -i7n ?

The answer is readily available once we decide not to take it as a suffiX. It is a very common phenomenon in the Tocharian languages that two near-synonyms in one phrase or even compounded to form one word serve to denote what to us seems one meaning unit; it will suffice to refer here to such cases as B nern-kalywe: A norn-klyqz 'fame' ('name' + 'fame'), B sairn waste: A sern waste ' sarana ' ( ' support ' + ' protection ' ), etc. (cf. par- ticularly Sieg-Siegling-Schulze, Tochariosche Grarn- rnatik [Gkottingen, 1931], 219-226) . It is proposed to analyze A pratirn as a compound or juxtaposi- tion consisting of prat ' decision,' the formal equivalent of B prete, and of i7n 'awareness,' the formal equivalent of B irne.

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