The Hypaethral Temples
The worship of trees as the abode of spirits and gods was once very popular. These spirits and gods was once very popular. These spirits were associated with many trees, such as the AI (banyan), Arasu (pipal), Iratti (zizyphus or the jujube), Ilanji, Kadamab, Pala (jack), Vakai (Albizzia), Vanni (prosopis), Velli (wood-apple), Vembu (neem), Vengai (pterocarpus), etc. The Kadamba tree is said to be the abode of Murugan (Kartikeya), and the AI (banyan) that of Siva. The Ahanauru, one of the earliest Tamil works, describes a banyan tree in worship as surrounded by a brick enclosure and to which offerings were made. This would appear to be an instance of a tree-temple or uriksha-chaitya that was not particularly Buddhistic. The Tamil epic Silappadikaram, a work somewhat later in point of time, however, mentions a Podi-manram, or temple of the Bodhi-tree, san urisha-chaitya of Buddhist affiliations designated as Bodhi-ghara (Bodhi-griha) in Buddhist literature. All these would constitute a class of hypaethral temples, that is, temples open to the air and devoid of roof over the object of worship.
From archaeological evidence, it would be clear that this conception of tree-worship is very ancient, dating back to the Harappan times. As in the south, so also in north India there are references in early Buddhist texts to their existence even prior to the Buddha. In Buddhist literature such tree-shries, with or without a temple strucutre and not specifically Buddhistic, are referred to as rukka-chaitya (uriksha-chaitya or cgaitya-urikshas) or tree-templees, while those around the Bodhi-tree that had become sacred to the Buddhists are called Bodhi-gharas. The Bodhi-tree at Uruvela was considered sacred, even before Buddhist times, as the abode of a devata or divine being (yaksha) to whom offerings were made and from whom marriage and fertility boons were prayed for. The honour or worship offered to other sacred trees was similar, as, for example, in regard to the offereing of flowers and garlands, bathing or purification with scented water, spreading of clean sand around their trunks to enable perambulation and the performance of the other function and rituals as mentioned above. Sometimes even railings or enclosure walls were constructed and decked with flags, buntings and parasols.
Since construction around the sacred tree was meant not only to be honorific but also to meet the needs of the rituals of worship, it took definite architectural shaped in different plans. This is evident from the sculptural representations in relief of Bodhi-gharas in north and south Indian Buddhist sites, dating back as early as the second century BC. The Bodhi-ghara is always represented as a high gallery, open or roofed, immediately surrounding the Bodhi-tree and the uajrasana at its foot, with definitely posed entrances, into the enclosed sacred area, the Bodhi-manda. In Asokavadana, the emperor, Asoka, in fulfilment of his vow, is stated to have poured scented water from a thousand vessels by mounting on an enclosure (uaram) which he had erected on all the four sides of the celebrated Bodhi-tree at Bodh Gaya. Of the two Amaravati versions of the Bodhi-ghara in south India, one is intact, though poorly preserved, and the other is fragmentary. The former, essentially square in plan, with the ends of the sides extended slightly beyond at each intersecting corner, has a usually high second floor or gallery over the ground level. This was perhaps made accessible, as should be the case also in the other examples, by suitably placed flight of steps not of eight pillarss, each at the four corners, four of each set occupying each of the real cornerrs, while four more are placed in advance of each set in two pairs in front of the corners. The other Amaravati relief is triple storeyed and circular on plan. This too has tall pillars on the groound floor, supporting the two storeys above. The celebrated Bahuputra-chaitya of Vaisali, which was one of the Buddha’s favourite resorts during his many visits to Vaisali, is depicted on one face of an Amaravati stele, to indicate Vaisali in the narrative depiction of the Buddha’s last visit to that place, though he did not stay at this chaitya that time. This part of the scene has three trees, with the basees of two of them enclosed by a railing. The most prominent one on the right, with the railing around it, is shown as being worshipped by two devotees, one with folded hands and the other holding out a baby towards the tree. This has also an inscription below it, calling it ‘Bahuputra-Chaitya of Vaisali’. This would be a rendering of a uriksha-chaitya with a simple railing denoting its antiquity, for the stele and the inscriptions are of post-Asokan times. According to Buddha-ghosha, this was a many-branched tree where people prayed for sons. The depiction accordingly of one praying for the boon, and the other, having obtained it, presenting it in gratitude and for it to be blessed further is appropriate.
In short, the Bodhi-ghara structures around the principal object of worship would thus anticipate the cloister galleries (or dalans) round the roofed temple structures, or uimanas, often more than one storeyed, ebshrining the object of worship. These cloister galleries are designated in the Tamil inscriptions and texts as malikai (malika) as also in the Silpa and Agama literature on temple architecture. The only difference is that while the early examples surround hypaethral shrines which are not covered by a roof, the later malikais surround roofed shrines or uimanas containing the object of worship or the deity. The very ancient and deep-rooted cult of tree worship continued in south India, particularly the Tamil country, even after organized temple worship of the Hindu cults had grown. This would be seen in the association of religious places, or sthalas, with particular trees, the sthala-urikshas, along with a particular water course, river, lake or tank, the tirtha. A place of important pilgrimage is even now called a sthala, or a tirtha, and a sacred place must necessarily have a combination of sthala-uriksha and tirtha, along with the murti, or god-head. For example, the sthala uriksha in Chidambaram is the Tillai (Aquillaria) in Jambukesvaram (near Tiruchirapalli), the Jambu in the Ekamranatha, at Kanchi the Amra, and in Madurai the Kadamba. These are numerous such instances, and they are mostly Saiva in association.
Further, the early Tamil works associate particular trees, such as the kaval maram (totem trees) with kings and ruling chiefs. The Panai, the Atti and the Vembu were, for example, the emblems, respectively of the Chera, Chola and Pandya Kings.
The other type of hypaethral temple brought into vogue by the Buddhists was the stupa, often called maha-chaitya. Before its advent in the south, the stupa which had begun as a low hemispherical solid dome or anda had developed into one where the anda was raised over a distinct cylindrical drum, the medhi. The medhi, being of a larger diameter than the anda above, provided a narrow circumambulatory passage, pradakshina, often with a low balustrade on its edge at a higher level in addition to the one on the ground level at its base. The balustrade was formed of vertical panels or slabs morticed between uprightt pillars planted at intervals. The medhi was often projected as offsets on the four cardinal sidees in the shape of small platforms, the ayaka platformss, for the placement of offerings in simpler cases of the stupa. In other cases, the ayaka platforms had each a set of five tall pillars planted on their outer edges. These were called ayaka pillars. On the top of the anda is the harmika square on plan and enclosing an umbrella (chhatra) or a series of them (chhatravali). The whole structure is often surrounded by a railing with plain openings on the four sides, and not the elaborate torana entrances as at Sanchi. The brick-built stupa had its anda and medhi and the ayaka platforms. In the earlier and simpler examples, these are merely plastered over, with a large looped garland girdling the anda picked out in stucco as an adornment. In others of the Krishna valley and adjacent areas, they were encased by a series of curved slabs of the local limestone –the marble-like soft Palnad lime-stone-that can be quarried into thin and large slabs and easily carved. The railing was also of the same material and carved likewise. The carvings consist of scenes from the various legends about the Buddha and also his life-story, besides other ornamental and decorative sculptures and motifs.
While the earlier larger and smaller stupas were solid and sometimes massive, the rest were semi-hollow and had adaptations of internal structural designs of brickwork with plans like the spoked wheel, the swastika, square within circles, etc., with the interspaces packed with rubbie. All these were expedients designed to conserve brick and at the same time enhance the strength and stability of the structure, which was to bear the weight of the immense hemisphere and also of the casing of limestone slabs. These independent stupas or maha-chaityas contained reliic caskets preserving fragmentary portions of the relics of the Buddha, or some other great master, suitably hidden and sealed inside.
The ruined maha-chaitya at Amaravati had its foundations laid in Asokan times. It was subesquently enlarged and encased with carved and sculptured limestones slabs with a stone railing. In the earlier phase here, as in the stupas at Bhattiprolu, Jaggayyapeta and Garikapadu, the ayaka platform alone came to be more elaborately sculptured in its stone casing as compared to the rest of the drum. This was consistent with the fact that the ayaka extensions served as altars for placing flowers, lamps and offerings by the devotees. The drum had more or less plain slabs with little carving, except perhaps for the low relief pilasters at the edges. These pilasters carried animal figures of devotees flanking the Buddha’s symbols. Even during subsequent renovations the sculptors devoted greater attention to the ayaka platform, as in the case of other stupas elsewhere. The parapet slabs of the circumambulatory passage over the medhi had their inner faces finely carve as in the maha-chaityas of Nagarjunakonda, Jaggayyapeta, Ghantasala and pedda-Ganjam. These slabs were morticed between uprights placed at intervals overr the outer circumference with running moulded coping on top. The stone railing dating earlier than 200 BC was also enlarged in the course of reconstruction and emerged in its final architectural and embellished form between AD 150 to 200. After this came the last phase of embellishment of the stupa when many of the earlier sculptured casing slabs of the basal parts were reversed and their erstwhile unsculptured inner faces trimmed and covered with some of the finest sculptures. This was done during the period Ad 200 to 250.
The large maha-chaitya of Nagarjunakonda, built early in Iksvaku times, belongs to the class of uncased stupas. Its brick-work has been mostly plastered over, and the anda decorated by an immense garland ornament in stucco. But unlike the Amaravati stupa which was built solid, this stupa had a central column with eight radial walls meeting a peripheral circular wall, thus producing the appearance, on plan, of a cart-wheel with its hub, spokes and felly. There was a second concentric outer wall with further projections of the radial walls between it and the inner circular wall, the two circular walls forming, respectively, the bases of the anda and the medhi, while the inner cross-walls with fillings between them afforded the necessary structural support. It probably also had an outer circular railing. Many of the other stupas in this area had stone railing. The ayaka platforms, though generally seen in the stupas of this area, are not noticed in the stupas at Ramatirtham and Salihundam, while they are seen only on one side of thee rock-cut stupa at Sankaram. Likewise in the case of the Buddhist stupas on the east coast, lying between Nagarjunakonda and Amaravati on one side and Salihundam on the other, sttupas like those at Sankaram have th ayaka platform on one of their sides.
It is to be noted in this context, that while the Amaravati stupa revealed below its levels urn-burials, the site of Nagarjunakonda has shown the prevalence of the stupas with almost contemporaneous megalithic monuments. Such associations of megalithic north Mysore areas, roughly coinciding with the southern tracts of the Mauryan empire and the regions where Buddhism, among other northern religions, had a greater influence. This perhaps gave rise to the cult of the worship and reverence of the stupa, which is essentially funerary in content as well as by association. This was easily assimilable in this area which had an earlier megalithic tradition. For the same reason, therefore, one can assume that stone which was primarily associated with the dead and the cult of the dead for many centuries, could be adopted in the make- up these essentially brick-built stupas, either as a protective veneer or as a surrounding enclosure or rail, and in columns that were free standing or structural supports. However, in constrast to the highly developed technique of brick construction, the structural patterns in stone were elementary and did not extend beyond simple casing or joining, as in the rails and balustrades of crosspieces or slabs with tenons to morticed uprights. This was pure imitation of timberwork a simulation of carpentry in stone. Actual stone construction involving structural carpentry in stone. Actual stone construction involving structural principles of design, support, coursing and breaking of joints, counteraction of thrusts and loads, had not yet been developed.
In the extreme south beyond the southernmost reaches of the Mauryan Empire, where according to the Asokan inscriptions, the Tamil kingdoms of the Cheras, Pandyas, Cholas and Satyaputas flourished, there is almosst a paucity of Buddhist stupas. But contemporary literature speaks of Buddhism along with the three other religious from the north which appear to have had a stronger hold in this area, particularly Hinduism and Jainism. The Ajivikas are heared of even towards the close of the first millenium AD and perhaps they merged into Jainism, which was predominantly Digambara and hadd strong footholds in the southern Mysore or Kannadaa region also.
The megalithic cult was popular and worship and veneration of funerary monuments are frequently described, particularly the nadukal or stone erection (menheir or megalith) with offerings including toddy and animal sacrifice, keeping lamps lighted, and oblations of large quantities of boiled rice in heaps (perumchoru or pavadai). The dead, according to the literary evidence, were believed to have become stone itself which had acquired divine properties. A stone could be a hero, a warrior, a king, or even an ordinary person. Women, who immolated themselves on the death of their husbands, at a time when the cut of chastity and faithfulness was spreading fast, were given memorials in the nature of sati stones, later called in inscriptions toru or masatikkal (maha-sati-kal). Such memorial or sati stones, belonging to the second-third centuries AD, are found with inscriptions and sculptural reliefs in the Andhra sites, particularly at Nagarjunakonda, and aree called chhaya-khabas or chhaya-khambas. These are also common in the Kannada country and across the borders in the peripheral regions of the Tamil country from the fourth century onwards. The early Tamil works speak of such a stone erection or nadukal in many contexts on which were written, evidently with ochre paint and brush, or later inscribed the name and exploits of the dead person it represented. This object of worship was surrounded by an enclosure, and a spear and shield were planted in front, and offerings of food and toddy were made. This instance of hypaethral temple is represented by a similar ancient construction on the Rangasami peak in the Coimbatore district, with a menheir or upright stone, having a trident or trisula planted in front and surrounded by a rubble wall.
The sculptured hero-stone slab or uirakal, so erected in memory of, or over the grave of, the dead hero, was often flanked on either side, in front of the sculptured slab stele, by two more lateral slabs and the whole topped by a horizontally laid roof-slab, thus enclosing a roofed space. The formation can be called a dolmenshrine because it comprises the sculptured figure; thatt is venerated, on the inner face of its back wall. Such shrines called Ammankovils abound in the western districts of Tamil Nadu, in the Kognu area, and the adjoining districts of the Mysore plateau on the west in the Karnataka area. Besides the relief sculpture they carry inscriptions of the seventh-eighth centuries and later.
Temples as places of worship- the podiyil or manram, or murram-had objects of worship that were very Often mere mounds or platforms-medai-under a particular tree in the village. Sometimes they were Trilithons of a stone slab placed over two uprights-the Terri which survives even today in some remote parts. Some of the platforms had a post, or kandu, representing the deity planted over them. These shrines are Described as kandudai-p-podiyil, meaning the common place of worship where the kandu is installed. From some of the brief descriptions in the earliest Tamil works, we learn that the kandu, as the abode of a Deity, stood in a pillared hall, or podiyil, on a platform that was cleansed and smeared with water and Cowdung by young women who, after a dip in the bathing ghat, lighted and ever-burning lamp near the Kandu. We are also told that many came here to worship with offerings or Bali.
The Buddha-pitikai or Dharma-pitikai as the object of worship by the Buddhists is referred to in the Tamil Epic, Manimekalai. From its brief description it would appear to have been a circular padma-pitha, or seat Of expanding lotus petals, mounted over a square plinth, also with a lotus petal base, the whole evidently of Brickwork. A solitary example of a Buddha-pada, the tiruvadi (or punya-pada) of the master, as an object of the master, as an object of worship, has come up from the recent excavations of the anicient Chola port city of Kaveri-p-pattinam at the mouth of the river Kaveri. It is a carved slab of palnad Limestone of about the fourth century AD and perhaps formed the top piece of a brick platform. It.was probably originally installed in a shrine for worship. These two instances would show that , in the absence of stupas as object of worship in the Tamil country, it was the Buddha-pitikai and the Buddha-pada that were worshipped till the much later advent of the iconic forms of the Buddha in stone or other materials.
Recent excavations in the Gudimallam temple in Chittoor on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra border have revealed the facet that the linga with its pitha, both of sandstone, were originally hypaethral in the second century BC. A brick shrine enclosing it came up in the first-second centuries AD to be replaced by a stone apsidal one, much later. The brick shrine was apsidal too (Dr I.K. Sharma).
From archaeological evidence, it would be clear that this conception of tree-worship is very ancient, dating back to the Harappan times. As in the south, so also in north India there are references in early Buddhist texts to their existence even prior to the Buddha. In Buddhist literature such tree-shries, with or without a temple strucutre and not specifically Buddhistic, are referred to as rukka-chaitya (uriksha-chaitya or cgaitya-urikshas) or tree-templees, while those around the Bodhi-tree that had become sacred to the Buddhists are called Bodhi-gharas. The Bodhi-tree at Uruvela was considered sacred, even before Buddhist times, as the abode of a devata or divine being (yaksha) to whom offerings were made and from whom marriage and fertility boons were prayed for. The honour or worship offered to other sacred trees was similar, as, for example, in regard to the offereing of flowers and garlands, bathing or purification with scented water, spreading of clean sand around their trunks to enable perambulation and the performance of the other function and rituals as mentioned above. Sometimes even railings or enclosure walls were constructed and decked with flags, buntings and parasols.
Since construction around the sacred tree was meant not only to be honorific but also to meet the needs of the rituals of worship, it took definite architectural shaped in different plans. This is evident from the sculptural representations in relief of Bodhi-gharas in north and south Indian Buddhist sites, dating back as early as the second century BC. The Bodhi-ghara is always represented as a high gallery, open or roofed, immediately surrounding the Bodhi-tree and the uajrasana at its foot, with definitely posed entrances, into the enclosed sacred area, the Bodhi-manda. In Asokavadana, the emperor, Asoka, in fulfilment of his vow, is stated to have poured scented water from a thousand vessels by mounting on an enclosure (uaram) which he had erected on all the four sides of the celebrated Bodhi-tree at Bodh Gaya. Of the two Amaravati versions of the Bodhi-ghara in south India, one is intact, though poorly preserved, and the other is fragmentary. The former, essentially square in plan, with the ends of the sides extended slightly beyond at each intersecting corner, has a usually high second floor or gallery over the ground level. This was perhaps made accessible, as should be the case also in the other examples, by suitably placed flight of steps not of eight pillarss, each at the four corners, four of each set occupying each of the real cornerrs, while four more are placed in advance of each set in two pairs in front of the corners. The other Amaravati relief is triple storeyed and circular on plan. This too has tall pillars on the groound floor, supporting the two storeys above. The celebrated Bahuputra-chaitya of Vaisali, which was one of the Buddha’s favourite resorts during his many visits to Vaisali, is depicted on one face of an Amaravati stele, to indicate Vaisali in the narrative depiction of the Buddha’s last visit to that place, though he did not stay at this chaitya that time. This part of the scene has three trees, with the basees of two of them enclosed by a railing. The most prominent one on the right, with the railing around it, is shown as being worshipped by two devotees, one with folded hands and the other holding out a baby towards the tree. This has also an inscription below it, calling it ‘Bahuputra-Chaitya of Vaisali’. This would be a rendering of a uriksha-chaitya with a simple railing denoting its antiquity, for the stele and the inscriptions are of post-Asokan times. According to Buddha-ghosha, this was a many-branched tree where people prayed for sons. The depiction accordingly of one praying for the boon, and the other, having obtained it, presenting it in gratitude and for it to be blessed further is appropriate.
In short, the Bodhi-ghara structures around the principal object of worship would thus anticipate the cloister galleries (or dalans) round the roofed temple structures, or uimanas, often more than one storeyed, ebshrining the object of worship. These cloister galleries are designated in the Tamil inscriptions and texts as malikai (malika) as also in the Silpa and Agama literature on temple architecture. The only difference is that while the early examples surround hypaethral shrines which are not covered by a roof, the later malikais surround roofed shrines or uimanas containing the object of worship or the deity. The very ancient and deep-rooted cult of tree worship continued in south India, particularly the Tamil country, even after organized temple worship of the Hindu cults had grown. This would be seen in the association of religious places, or sthalas, with particular trees, the sthala-urikshas, along with a particular water course, river, lake or tank, the tirtha. A place of important pilgrimage is even now called a sthala, or a tirtha, and a sacred place must necessarily have a combination of sthala-uriksha and tirtha, along with the murti, or god-head. For example, the sthala uriksha in Chidambaram is the Tillai (Aquillaria) in Jambukesvaram (near Tiruchirapalli), the Jambu in the Ekamranatha, at Kanchi the Amra, and in Madurai the Kadamba. These are numerous such instances, and they are mostly Saiva in association.
Further, the early Tamil works associate particular trees, such as the kaval maram (totem trees) with kings and ruling chiefs. The Panai, the Atti and the Vembu were, for example, the emblems, respectively of the Chera, Chola and Pandya Kings.
The other type of hypaethral temple brought into vogue by the Buddhists was the stupa, often called maha-chaitya. Before its advent in the south, the stupa which had begun as a low hemispherical solid dome or anda had developed into one where the anda was raised over a distinct cylindrical drum, the medhi. The medhi, being of a larger diameter than the anda above, provided a narrow circumambulatory passage, pradakshina, often with a low balustrade on its edge at a higher level in addition to the one on the ground level at its base. The balustrade was formed of vertical panels or slabs morticed between uprightt pillars planted at intervals. The medhi was often projected as offsets on the four cardinal sidees in the shape of small platforms, the ayaka platformss, for the placement of offerings in simpler cases of the stupa. In other cases, the ayaka platforms had each a set of five tall pillars planted on their outer edges. These were called ayaka pillars. On the top of the anda is the harmika square on plan and enclosing an umbrella (chhatra) or a series of them (chhatravali). The whole structure is often surrounded by a railing with plain openings on the four sides, and not the elaborate torana entrances as at Sanchi. The brick-built stupa had its anda and medhi and the ayaka platforms. In the earlier and simpler examples, these are merely plastered over, with a large looped garland girdling the anda picked out in stucco as an adornment. In others of the Krishna valley and adjacent areas, they were encased by a series of curved slabs of the local limestone –the marble-like soft Palnad lime-stone-that can be quarried into thin and large slabs and easily carved. The railing was also of the same material and carved likewise. The carvings consist of scenes from the various legends about the Buddha and also his life-story, besides other ornamental and decorative sculptures and motifs.
While the earlier larger and smaller stupas were solid and sometimes massive, the rest were semi-hollow and had adaptations of internal structural designs of brickwork with plans like the spoked wheel, the swastika, square within circles, etc., with the interspaces packed with rubbie. All these were expedients designed to conserve brick and at the same time enhance the strength and stability of the structure, which was to bear the weight of the immense hemisphere and also of the casing of limestone slabs. These independent stupas or maha-chaityas contained reliic caskets preserving fragmentary portions of the relics of the Buddha, or some other great master, suitably hidden and sealed inside.
The ruined maha-chaitya at Amaravati had its foundations laid in Asokan times. It was subesquently enlarged and encased with carved and sculptured limestones slabs with a stone railing. In the earlier phase here, as in the stupas at Bhattiprolu, Jaggayyapeta and Garikapadu, the ayaka platform alone came to be more elaborately sculptured in its stone casing as compared to the rest of the drum. This was consistent with the fact that the ayaka extensions served as altars for placing flowers, lamps and offerings by the devotees. The drum had more or less plain slabs with little carving, except perhaps for the low relief pilasters at the edges. These pilasters carried animal figures of devotees flanking the Buddha’s symbols. Even during subsequent renovations the sculptors devoted greater attention to the ayaka platform, as in the case of other stupas elsewhere. The parapet slabs of the circumambulatory passage over the medhi had their inner faces finely carve as in the maha-chaityas of Nagarjunakonda, Jaggayyapeta, Ghantasala and pedda-Ganjam. These slabs were morticed between uprights placed at intervals overr the outer circumference with running moulded coping on top. The stone railing dating earlier than 200 BC was also enlarged in the course of reconstruction and emerged in its final architectural and embellished form between AD 150 to 200. After this came the last phase of embellishment of the stupa when many of the earlier sculptured casing slabs of the basal parts were reversed and their erstwhile unsculptured inner faces trimmed and covered with some of the finest sculptures. This was done during the period Ad 200 to 250.
The large maha-chaitya of Nagarjunakonda, built early in Iksvaku times, belongs to the class of uncased stupas. Its brick-work has been mostly plastered over, and the anda decorated by an immense garland ornament in stucco. But unlike the Amaravati stupa which was built solid, this stupa had a central column with eight radial walls meeting a peripheral circular wall, thus producing the appearance, on plan, of a cart-wheel with its hub, spokes and felly. There was a second concentric outer wall with further projections of the radial walls between it and the inner circular wall, the two circular walls forming, respectively, the bases of the anda and the medhi, while the inner cross-walls with fillings between them afforded the necessary structural support. It probably also had an outer circular railing. Many of the other stupas in this area had stone railing. The ayaka platforms, though generally seen in the stupas of this area, are not noticed in the stupas at Ramatirtham and Salihundam, while they are seen only on one side of thee rock-cut stupa at Sankaram. Likewise in the case of the Buddhist stupas on the east coast, lying between Nagarjunakonda and Amaravati on one side and Salihundam on the other, sttupas like those at Sankaram have th ayaka platform on one of their sides.
It is to be noted in this context, that while the Amaravati stupa revealed below its levels urn-burials, the site of Nagarjunakonda has shown the prevalence of the stupas with almost contemporaneous megalithic monuments. Such associations of megalithic north Mysore areas, roughly coinciding with the southern tracts of the Mauryan empire and the regions where Buddhism, among other northern religions, had a greater influence. This perhaps gave rise to the cult of the worship and reverence of the stupa, which is essentially funerary in content as well as by association. This was easily assimilable in this area which had an earlier megalithic tradition. For the same reason, therefore, one can assume that stone which was primarily associated with the dead and the cult of the dead for many centuries, could be adopted in the make- up these essentially brick-built stupas, either as a protective veneer or as a surrounding enclosure or rail, and in columns that were free standing or structural supports. However, in constrast to the highly developed technique of brick construction, the structural patterns in stone were elementary and did not extend beyond simple casing or joining, as in the rails and balustrades of crosspieces or slabs with tenons to morticed uprights. This was pure imitation of timberwork a simulation of carpentry in stone. Actual stone construction involving structural carpentry in stone. Actual stone construction involving structural principles of design, support, coursing and breaking of joints, counteraction of thrusts and loads, had not yet been developed.
In the extreme south beyond the southernmost reaches of the Mauryan Empire, where according to the Asokan inscriptions, the Tamil kingdoms of the Cheras, Pandyas, Cholas and Satyaputas flourished, there is almosst a paucity of Buddhist stupas. But contemporary literature speaks of Buddhism along with the three other religious from the north which appear to have had a stronger hold in this area, particularly Hinduism and Jainism. The Ajivikas are heared of even towards the close of the first millenium AD and perhaps they merged into Jainism, which was predominantly Digambara and hadd strong footholds in the southern Mysore or Kannadaa region also.
The megalithic cult was popular and worship and veneration of funerary monuments are frequently described, particularly the nadukal or stone erection (menheir or megalith) with offerings including toddy and animal sacrifice, keeping lamps lighted, and oblations of large quantities of boiled rice in heaps (perumchoru or pavadai). The dead, according to the literary evidence, were believed to have become stone itself which had acquired divine properties. A stone could be a hero, a warrior, a king, or even an ordinary person. Women, who immolated themselves on the death of their husbands, at a time when the cut of chastity and faithfulness was spreading fast, were given memorials in the nature of sati stones, later called in inscriptions toru or masatikkal (maha-sati-kal). Such memorial or sati stones, belonging to the second-third centuries AD, are found with inscriptions and sculptural reliefs in the Andhra sites, particularly at Nagarjunakonda, and aree called chhaya-khabas or chhaya-khambas. These are also common in the Kannada country and across the borders in the peripheral regions of the Tamil country from the fourth century onwards. The early Tamil works speak of such a stone erection or nadukal in many contexts on which were written, evidently with ochre paint and brush, or later inscribed the name and exploits of the dead person it represented. This object of worship was surrounded by an enclosure, and a spear and shield were planted in front, and offerings of food and toddy were made. This instance of hypaethral temple is represented by a similar ancient construction on the Rangasami peak in the Coimbatore district, with a menheir or upright stone, having a trident or trisula planted in front and surrounded by a rubble wall.
The sculptured hero-stone slab or uirakal, so erected in memory of, or over the grave of, the dead hero, was often flanked on either side, in front of the sculptured slab stele, by two more lateral slabs and the whole topped by a horizontally laid roof-slab, thus enclosing a roofed space. The formation can be called a dolmenshrine because it comprises the sculptured figure; thatt is venerated, on the inner face of its back wall. Such shrines called Ammankovils abound in the western districts of Tamil Nadu, in the Kognu area, and the adjoining districts of the Mysore plateau on the west in the Karnataka area. Besides the relief sculpture they carry inscriptions of the seventh-eighth centuries and later.
Temples as places of worship- the podiyil or manram, or murram-had objects of worship that were very Often mere mounds or platforms-medai-under a particular tree in the village. Sometimes they were Trilithons of a stone slab placed over two uprights-the Terri which survives even today in some remote parts. Some of the platforms had a post, or kandu, representing the deity planted over them. These shrines are Described as kandudai-p-podiyil, meaning the common place of worship where the kandu is installed. From some of the brief descriptions in the earliest Tamil works, we learn that the kandu, as the abode of a Deity, stood in a pillared hall, or podiyil, on a platform that was cleansed and smeared with water and Cowdung by young women who, after a dip in the bathing ghat, lighted and ever-burning lamp near the Kandu. We are also told that many came here to worship with offerings or Bali.
The Buddha-pitikai or Dharma-pitikai as the object of worship by the Buddhists is referred to in the Tamil Epic, Manimekalai. From its brief description it would appear to have been a circular padma-pitha, or seat Of expanding lotus petals, mounted over a square plinth, also with a lotus petal base, the whole evidently of Brickwork. A solitary example of a Buddha-pada, the tiruvadi (or punya-pada) of the master, as an object of the master, as an object of worship, has come up from the recent excavations of the anicient Chola port city of Kaveri-p-pattinam at the mouth of the river Kaveri. It is a carved slab of palnad Limestone of about the fourth century AD and perhaps formed the top piece of a brick platform. It.was probably originally installed in a shrine for worship. These two instances would show that , in the absence of stupas as object of worship in the Tamil country, it was the Buddha-pitikai and the Buddha-pada that were worshipped till the much later advent of the iconic forms of the Buddha in stone or other materials.
Recent excavations in the Gudimallam temple in Chittoor on the Tamil Nadu-Andhra border have revealed the facet that the linga with its pitha, both of sandstone, were originally hypaethral in the second century BC. A brick shrine enclosing it came up in the first-second centuries AD to be replaced by a stone apsidal one, much later. The brick shrine was apsidal too (Dr I.K. Sharma).
