Regarding the development of Buddhism,

Select the sources used to reconstruct this fascinating world of ideas and beliefs

State True or False: the French took Shahjehan Begum's permission and took away the best-preserved eastern gateway to a museum in France as did the English.

How did Shahjehan Begum pacify and find an alternative to the ex-situ studying of the monuments at Sanchi?

List the contributions of the rulers to the site at Sanchi?

State tru or false: Sanchi site escaped the railway contractors, builders, those who sought to take away the find

_________ is the most important Buddhist centres, the discovery of which has transformed our understanding of early Buddhism.

__________ stands testimony to the successful restoration and preservation of a key archaeological site by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Name this structure.

Select the sources that help us understand more about Sanchi and its glory.

Match the following great thinkers to their country- Iran

Match the following great thinkers to their country- India

Match the following great thinkers to their country- Greece

Match the following great thinkers to their country- China

What all did the thinkers of the 1st millennium BCE fathom?

Name some pre-existing traditions,

The Rigveda hymns praised deities including

Why were hymns performed?

State True or False- At first, sacrifices were performed collectively.

Later (c. 1000 BCE-500 BCE onwards) some were performed by? Why?

What do ideas found in the 6th Century Upanishads show?

Questions asked during this 600 BCE - 600 CE period included-

Which of the following statements are true?

Assertion Reasoning-

(A) - If a philosopher succeeded in convincing one of his rivals, the followers of the latter also became his disciples.

(R) - Support for any particular sect could grow and shrink over time.

What did the teachers of the 600 BCE-600 CE period emphasize?

Identify. (12th century)

Statement I: Fatalists: those who believe that everything is predetermined.

Statement II: Materialists- Man is made of four elements. When he dies the earthy in him returns to the earth, the fluid to water, the heat to fire, the windy to air, and his senses pass into space.

Which of the following statement(s) is/are correct?

State True or False-

The basic philosophy of the Jainas was founded in north India before the birth of Vardhamana, who came to be known as Mahavira

In which year was Jainism founded?

According to Jaina tradition, Mahavira was preceded by 23 other teachers or_______, meaning_______.

The most important idea in Jainism is that the entire world is-

_______________ is central to Jaina philosophy.

Principles and Teachings of Jainism include-

What are the 5 vows taken by Jaina monks and nuns?

How was the spread of Jainism ensured?

Identify the image and the script. (14th Century BCE)

Whereabouts (across the subcontinent and beyond) did the teachings of the Buddha spread to?

Knowledge about Buddha’s teachings comes from? 

Siddhartha was the son of a chief of the ________ clan.

Early upbringing-

Order the statements about Buddha's discovery of the struggles, despairs of human life chronologically.

Enlist Siddhartha Gautama's paths/ steps to enlightenment.

After Buddha came to be known as the Enlightened One, what did he do?

Where have the Buddha's teachings, those originated from stories, been found?

What do the stories about Buddha suggest?

Which of the following according to Buddha's philosophy is/are true?

State True or False: In the earliest forms of Buddhism, whether or not god existed was irrelevant

________ are those who have renounced the world.

A: The Buddha regarded the social world as the creation of humans rather than of divine origin.

R: He advised kings and gahapatis to be humane and ethical.

State True or False: Individual effort was rendered irrelevant in transforming social relations.

Select the teachings and propositions of Buddha and Buddhist tradition.

What is nibbana?

Which of the following is true about the followers of Buddha?

Statement 1: A body of disciples of the Buddha and he founded a sangha, an organisation of monks who too became teachers of dhamma.

Statement 2: As they lived on alms, monks were known as bhikkhus.

State True or False: At present, only men are allowed into sanghas.

How was Buddha persuaded to let women into the sangha?

______________ was the first woman to be ordained as a bhikkhuni.

State True or False: Many women who entered the sangha became teachers of dhamma and went on to become theris, or respected women who had attained liberation

___________ were respected women who had attained liberation.

The Buddha’s followers came from many social groups. Enumerate.

State True or False: Once within the sangha, all were differentiated on becoming bhikkhus and bhikkhunis.

The internal functioning of the sangha was based on ______________.

Identify. (Mathura, 3rd Century CE)

A: Buddhism grew rapidly both during the lifetime of the Buddha and after his death.

R: It appealed to many people dissatisfied with existing religious practices and confused by the rapid social changes taking place around them.

There was importance attached to which of the following ideas that drew men and women to Buddhist teachings?

Which of the following statements about Buddhism is/are true?

____________ were sites with small shrines attached to sacred sites that were mentioned in Buddhist literature.

Name the places associated with Buddha's life that gradually became regraded as sacred.

We know that about ____years after the time of the Buddha, ________erected a pillar at _________to mark the fact that he had visited the place.

Why were other places regraded sacred by Buddhists?

State True or False: The tradition of erecting stupas may have been pre-Buddhist, but they came to be associated with Buddhism.

A: The entire stupa came to be venerated as an emblem of Buddha and Buddhism.

R: The relics stupas contained were regarded as sacred.

According to a Buddhist text known as the Ashokavadana, Asoka distributed portions of the Buddha’s relics to every important town and ordered the construction of stupas over them. Name the places where stupas had been built by the second century BCE.

According to a Buddhist text known as the _____________, Asoka distributed portions of the Buddha’s relics to every important town and ordered the construction of ______ over them.

_______found on the railings and pillars of stupas record _________made for building and decorating them.

Who all donated to stupas?ome donations were made by kings such as the Satavahanas; others were made by guilds, such as that of the ivory workers who financed part of one of the gateways at Sanchi. Hundreds of donations were made by women and men who mention their names, sometimes adding the name of the place from where they came, as well as their occupations and names of their relatives. Bhikkhus and bhikkhunis also contributed towards building these monuments.

Stupa means ___________ when translated from Sanskrit.

The stupa originated as a simple ________, later called _______.

Gradually, the mound evolved into a more complex structure, balancing ______ and _______ shapes.

__________ was a balcony like structure that represented the abode of the gods, situated above the mound. 

______ arose from the harmika. It was surmounted by a _______.

Why was there a railing around the mound?

The early stupas at ______and ________were plain except for the ________ railings, which resembled a bamboo or wooden fence, and the _________, which were richly carved and installed at the four cardinal points.

Worshippers entered through the ______ gateway and walked around the mound in a __________ direction keeping the mound on the right, imitating the sun’s course through the sky.

Where were the mounds of the stupas elaborately carved with niches and sculptures?

Identify the picture. Where has it been found?

Identify.

Identify this vibrant structure.

What discovery was made in 1796?

What was Colin Mackenzie's contribution to the site?

What did the commissioner of Guntur do in 1854?

_________________ was the commissioner of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

What are Elliot's marbles?

What had begun to take place by the 1850s?

One of the few men who had a different point of view was an archaeologist named_____________.

Who said the statement, “It seems to me a suicidal and indefensible policy to allow the country to be looted of original works of ancient art.” What does it mean?

What was H.H. Cole's view on preservation of the Buddhist sites?

State True or False: Cole did succeed in convincing the authorities about Amaravati, although his plea for in situ preservation was not adopted in the case of Sanchi.

Why did Sanchi survive and not Amaravti?

A: Sculptures were removed from stupas and transported all the way to Europe.

R: Those who saw them considered them to be beautiful and valuable, and wanted to keep them for themselves.

Identify the image. What does it depict?

________________ are wandering storytellers carrying scrolls of cloth or paper with pictures on them and pointing to pictures as they narrate a story.

What did the sculptures depict?

Art historians who have carefully studied the sculpture at Sanchi identify it as a scene from ______________ depicting ________________.

State True or False:

Historians often try to understand the meaning of sculpture by comparing it with textual evidence.

Identify.

Art historians had to acquire familiarity with ________________of the Buddha in order to understand Buddhist sculpture. According to _____________, the Buddha attained enlightenment while meditating under a tree.

State True or False:

Many early sculptors showed the Buddha in human form.

What did the empty seat, stupa and wheel depict in Buddhism?

State True or False:

Sculptures cannot be understood literally – for instance, the tree does not stand simply for a tree, but symbolises an event in the life of the Buddha.

To understand such symbols, historians have to familiarise themselves with the _________ of those who produced these works of art.

State True or False:

Other sculptures at Sanchi were perhaps not directly inspired by Buddhist ideas.

Scholars were a bit intrigued about the image, which seemed to have little to do with renunciation. However, after examining other literary traditions, they realised that it could be a representation of what is described in Sanskrit as a _____________. According to popular belief, this was a woman whose touch caused trees to flower and bear fruit. It is likely that this was regarded as an auspicious symbol and integrated into the decoration of the stupa. The _____________ motif suggests that many people who turned to Buddhism enriched it with their own pre-Buddhist and even non-Buddhist beliefs, practices and ideas. Some of the recurrent motifs in the sculpture at Sanchi were evidently derived from these traditions.

The finest depictions of animals are found there include that were carved to create lively scenes to draw viewers. These include-

Animals were often used as symbols of ___________. ___________, for example, were depicted to signify strength and wisdom.

Identify.

Identify.

Identify.

Woman surrounded by lotuses and elephants which seem to be sprinkling water on her as if performing an abhisheka or consecration is identified by historians as-

The serpent, which is found on several pillars, seems to be derived from popular traditions, which were not always recorded in texts. Interestingly, one of the earliest modern art historians, ___________, considered Sanchi to be a centre of tree and serpent worship. He was not familiar with Buddhist literature – most of which had not yet been translated – and arrived at this conclusion by studying only the images on their own.

By the first century CE, there is evidence of changes in Buddhist ideas and practices. Explain.

The new way of thinking involving the worship of Bodhisatta-Mahayana (greater vehicle).

Those who continued with the older tradition and its beliefs- Hinayana (lesser vehicle).

State True or False: The notion of a saviour was unique to Buddhism.

In ________________, cults developed around the various avatars or incarnations of the deity. Ten avatars were recognised within the tradition. These were forms that the deity was believed to have assumed in order to save the world whenever it was threatened by disorder and destruction because of the dominance of evil forces. It is likely that different avatars were popular in different parts of the country to create a more unified tradition.

Some of these forms were represented in sculptures, as were other deities. _______, for instance, was symbolised by the ________, although he was occasionally represented in human form too.

All such representations depicted a complex set of ideas about the deities and their attributes through symbols such as ______________, ____________and ___________– ___________or _________ ____________the deities hold in their hands – how they are ________, etc. 

Identify. (6th Century CE)

Familiarity with the stories behind them – many of which are contained in the Puranas, compiled by Brahmanas (by about the middle of the first millennium CE). They contained much that had been composed and been in circulation for centuries, including stories about gods and goddesses. Generally, they were written in simple Sanskrit verse, and were meant to be read aloud to everybody, including women and Shudras, who did not have access to Vedic learning.

Much of what is contained in the Puranas evolved through interaction amongst people – priests, merchants, and ordinary men and women who travelled from place to place sharing ideas and beliefs. We know for instance that Vasudeva-Krishna was an important deity in the Mathura region. Over centuries, his worship spread to other parts of the country as well.

Around the time that the stupas at sites such as Sanchi were acquiring their present form, the first temples to house images of gods and goddesses were also being built. The early temple was a small square room, called the garbhagriha, with a single doorway for the worshipper to enter and offer worship to the image.

Gradually shikhara was built over the central shrine. Temple walls were often decorated with sculpture. Later temples became far more elaborate – with assembly halls, huge walls and gateways, and arrangements for supplying water.

One of the unique features of early temples was that some of these were __________ . The tradition of building artificial caves was an old one.

Identify. (5th Century CE)

3rd century BCE on the orders of Asoka for renouncers who belonged to the Ajivika sect. This tradition evolved through various stages and culminated much later – in the eighth century – in the carving out of an entire temple, that of Kailashnatha (a name of Shiva). A copperplate inscription records the amazement of the chief sculptor after he completed the temple at Ellora: “Oh how did I make it!”

Observe.

By now you have had a glimpse of the rich visual traditions that existed in the past – expressed in brick and stone architecture, sculpture and painting. We have seen that much has been destroyed and lost over the centuries. Nevertheless, what remains and has been preserved conveys a sense of the vision of the artists, sculptors, masons and architects who created these spectacular works. Yet, do we always automatically understand what they wanted to convey? Can we ever know what these images meant to people who saw them and venerated them about 2,000 years ago?

It will be useful to recall that 19th century European scholars first saw some of the sculptures of gods and goddesses, they could not understand what these were about.

Sometimes, they were horrified by what seemed to them grotesque figures, with multiple arms and heads or with combinations of human and animal forms.

These early scholars tried to make sense of what appeared to be strange images by comparing them with sculpture with which they were familiar, that from ancient Greece. While they often found early Indian sculpture inferior to the works of Greek artists, they were very excited when they discovered images of the Buddha and Bodhisattas that were evidently based on Greek models. These were, more often than not, found in the northwest, in cities such as Taxila and Peshawar, where Indo-Greek rulers had established kingdoms in the second century BCE. As these images were closest to the Greek statues these scholars were familiar with, they were considered to be the best examples of early Indian art. In effect, these scholars adopted a strategy we all frequently use – devising yardsticks derived from the familiar to make sense of the unfamiliar.

Consider another problem. We have seen that art historians often draw upon textual traditions to understand the meaning of sculptures. While this is certainly a far more efficacious strategy than comparing Indian images with Greek statues, it is not always easy to use. One of the most intriguing examples of this is a famous sculpture along a huge rock surface in Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu). Clearly, Fig. 4.30 is a vivid depiction of a story. But which story is it? Art historians have searched through the Puranas to identify it and are sharply divided in their opinions. Some feel that this depicts the descent of the river Ganga from heaven – the natural cleft through the centre of the rock surface might represent the river. The story itself is narrated in the Puranas and the epics. Others feel that it represents a story from the Mahabharata – Arjuna doing penance on the river bank in order to acquire arms – pointing to the central figure of an ascetic.

Look and learn.

Lastly, lookie and learnie.

Name a religious text of Jainism.