Gautama Buddha

Preaching’s and reflection of philosophy of Gautama Buddha in architecture

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the Buddha •

Buddha (Siddarth Gautama) was born the son of a local king in Kapilavastu on what is now the Indian-Nepalese border around the fifth century BC.

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He was thus a member of a relatively privileged and wealthy family, and enjoyed a comfortable upbringing.

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•The sculpture from the stupa of Bharhut, took on the task of illustrating the above-mentioned story in a simple manner. •Maya is shown reclining, her head to the left of the spectator, on a four-legged bed. • A water pitcher and a lighted lamp (indicating that the scene took place at night). •Maidservants at the bottom watch over their mistress’ sleep, one holding a fly whisk and the other being startled to see the entry of the white elephant into Maya.

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the birth of buddha •Soon after his birth the infant buddha was examined by brahmin specialists. •According to Buddhist tradition two destinies are open to one who possesses these marks in full: either he will become a great "wheel-turning" king ruling or he will become a buddha. •Shuddhodana determined that his son should become a wheelturning king. • To this end he arranged matters that Siddhartha should have no occasion to become unhappy and disillusioned with his life at home. •In this way Shuddhodana hoped that he might prevent Siddhartha from renouncing his home-life for the life of a wandering ascetic.

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The Four Encounters • Siddhartha’s disenchantment with his life of pleasure. • As he leaves the confines of his luxurious apartments, he encounters for the first time in his life a decrepit old man, a severely ill man, and a corpse being carried to the funeral pyre by mourners. • The experience is traumatic, and when he afterwards sees a wandering ascetic with serene and composed features Siddhartha resolves that he will leave his home and take up the life of a wandering ascetic himself.

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The Great Departure •Siddhartha was now nearly thirty and the moment of his final decision was imminent. Tired of waiting, his father, King Shuddhodhana, had already begun preparations for the crowning his heir, and in seven days Siddhartha was to be enthroned. •At this same moment Siddhartha’s son, Rahula, was born. "It is a bondage which has come to me," said Siddhartha when he heard of his first-born and only child, meaning that it was another tie added to those already holding him back.

Departure with charioteer chhandaka who later became his disciple in order to find solution to human sufferings

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Austerities During these six years he first spent time with and practiced the systems of meditation taught by two leading ascetics of the time. Although he mastered their respective systems, he felt that here he had not found any real answer to the problem of human suffering. So next, in the company of five other wandering ascetics, he turned to the practice of several austerities.

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Enlightenment •But despite his grueling penance he again felt he had not found what he was searching for. Then he recalled an experience from his youth. One day seated quietly beneath the shade of a rose-apple tree his mind had settled into a state of deep calm and peace. Buddhist tradition calls this state the first meditation or "dhyana." As he reflected, it came to the Bodhisattva that it was by letting the mind settle in to this state of peace that he might discover what he was looking for. •He seated himself beneath a pipal tree, henceforth to be known as "the tree of awakening" or Bodhi Tree. 8

The Uruvela Conversion Soon after his first turning of the wheel in Benares, the Buddha decided to return to the site of his enlightenment. He must have known that near Uruvela there were three brahmin brothers called Kashyapa who led the life of matted-hair ascetics and practiced the fire-cult.

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The Kashyapa followers were recognized by their large mop of hair and by their garments made of bark. Their austerities, their complicated rites had quickly brought them popular veneration in the Benares area. He warned him that the place was haunted by a venomous divine serpent (naga). But the Buddha did not allow himself to be frightened off, and spent the night in the hut. As soon as he went in the hut the serpent entered and a terrible struggle ensued. Smoke against smoke appeared, fire against fire, so that the whole structure seemed to go up in flames. The Buddha is here represented by the stone slab between the five-headed serpent and the sacrificial fire. he placed the serpent in his begging bowl. Totally overpowered by this miraculous feat, Kashyapa and his five hundred threw their ritual utensils into the river and converted to the Buddhist faith.

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•The tumulus seems to have been given its characteristic hemispherical form a little earlier than the 6th century BC, Well before the acquisition of the skill to erect stone structures enclosing appreciable space, •Buddhist monks sought permanence for their chaityagrihas and viharas by carving them from the living rock • In a score of monasteries hewn from the rock walls of the valleys, workers steeped in the conventions of carpentry translated their forms literally into stone, but as sculpture not structure.

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The Great Passing There is a majestic and poignant account of the Buddha’s last days preserved in the ancient canon under the title of "the great discourse of the final passing. In spite of the sever pains, the Buddha insisted upon continuing his preaching tour, and soon ended up in a small village called Kushinagara. On his death bed buddha himself had suggested that stupas should be erected over his remains . Thus marked the root of the stupa-cult. The mallas cremated his body with ceremonies beniffited a universal king. On hearing the news seven claimants built stupas.

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Death of the Buddha

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Influence of Buddhism on architecture Buddha was never reduced into a mythical figure. The profound influence which he exercised over his followers and veneration and devotion he evoked he in their hearts are almost unparalleled. Every incident in his life was recorded in terms of painting and sculpture, and every spot associated with him was immortalized and turned into a centre of pilgrimage by his followers who erected, generation after generation, structures in the hallowed memory of the Master.

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Stupas • Derived from the root stup (‘to heap’).

• They had funeral associations. • They were mounds containing the ashes and charred remains of the dead collected from funeral pyre. • The practice of erection of stupas was pre-Buddhist. • Over a course of time stupas were converted from simple mounds of earth into ostentatious structures of great architectural magnificence. • They became chief emblem of the Buddhist faith.

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The Buddhist stupas may be grouped into four broad categories :• Saririka • Pari-bhogika • Uddesika • Votive

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Saririka • Those erected over the corporeal relics of not only buddha but of chief disciples. •Throughout India many such stupas have been found. • According to buddha only four type of people are worthy of a stupa : a tathagata , a pratyeka-buddha, a disciple of the tathagata and a universal monarch.

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Pari-bhogika •Built over the object believed to have been used by Buddha.

Uddesika •Commemorative of the incidents of Buddha's life. •These had incidents of his previous birth ,or spots hallowed by his presence. •E.g. the eye gift stupa at pushkalavati.

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votive •Countless votive stupas were made. •Small in size. •Mostly built by pilgrims when they visited the scared sites for attaining the religious benefit. •Built with the use of bricks , metal ,wood. •It contained core images of buddha and Buddhist deities. •Manuscripts of Buddhist texts , tablets or plates inscribed with the scared pratitya-samutpada-sutra

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The perfect proportions of the Buddha’s body corresponds to the design of religious monuments. Its architecture developed from the pre-Buddhist Indian grave-mound. Under these mounds the saintly ascetic were buried; their bodies were seated on the ground and covered with earth. These dome-shaped graves, or tumuli, of the saints were regarded as holy places. And were destinations for pilgrimage for the devotional and places of practice for meditators. 21

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Monastery •Being wanderers, monks had no fixed habitats. •Stayed in forest or here and there. •They had to find a temporary shelter during the period of rainfall. •This period was unsuitable for wandering. •Buddha was offered for sixty dwelling places by a local merchant. •Thus came into being the monastic bodies, where they could perform their ceremonies.

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The choice of site for building monastery had 2 factors for ideal monastic life:•It must ensure proper atmosphere for meditation. •Monks must go easily for their begging rounds. Earlier the monasteries where made out of the perishable materials . •Then came in the rock cut monastic architecture which prevailed in the deccan . •This marked the beginning of the rock cut architecture. •They were more of a sculptor than an architecture building.

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Nasik : cave 3 plan Nalanda :monastery

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Jaulin : monastery, plan

Ajanta plan cave 15a

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• In later stage

came the self sufficeint monasteries of two of more floors. • High walls with no openings only the entry . • Monasteries were quadrilateral on plans.

paharpur

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The chaitya-griha CHAITYAS THE PRAYER HALL OR BUDDHIST TEMPLE & USUALLY REFFERED TO AS THE CHAITYA HALL •

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The commonly called Chaitya-Hall and GrihaShelter [for the Devotee]. Devotees got handicapped by weather, thus the construction of open airStupa and Griha, which took simultaneously was explained. Both utilitarian and ritualistic, lay at same root of this particular form of architecture.

VIHARASAN ARRANGEMENS OF THE APPARTMENTS FOR THE ACCOMODATION OF THE MONKS ARE KNOWN AS VIHARAS 29

The Chaitya-Grihas may be broadly classified into three kinds according to their Ground floor plans, namely (2)Circular, (3)Apsidal, (4)Quadrilateral.

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Circular plan • The circular plan and domical contour of the stupa, • The object of worship, together with ritual of circumambulation, promped the original builders to select a particular type with a circular plan and dominical roof having a finial at the crown out of the prevalent types of huts which are represented in early reliefs of bharhuts, sanchi, amaravati, etc. 31

Junnar

Bairat: circular plan chaitya griha 32

Guntupallli: structural chaitya-griha , plan

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Apsidal •Apsidal ground plans are fairly widespread, being found as far as north Harwan and as far south as Brahmagiri (Mysore). •They consist of an apse housing a stupa and a nave for congregation with or without partition wall in between. •Often these two components are surrounded by aisles or an ambulatory passage. •The apse is generally semi circular and exceptionally octagonal.

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In some oblong chaitya grihas the apse is made semi circular with the help of pillars which demarcate the aisles from the apse and nave. The quadrilateral chaitya grihas are usually astylar. There largest concentration is in western India at places like Junnar,Kuda,Karadh,Sailawadi,Mahad,etc., though the type is encountered in central and northern India at places like Dhamnar and Taxila.

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