Bharhut Stupa: Early Buddhist Reliefs of Ancient India

The Bharhut stupa is a ruined Buddhist monument in central India whose carved stone railings and gateway, made around 150 BC, are among the earliest surviving works of Buddhist narrative art. Its reliefs show stories of the Buddha’s past lives, events from his life and guardian deities, many labelled with short inscriptions that identify the scenes. Found by Alexander Cunningham in 1873, its sculptures are now mostly in the Indian Museum in Kolkata.

The monument

A stupa is a solid domed mound built over relics of the Buddha or of revered monks, and walked around in worship. At Bharhut, the brick stupa stood inside a circular stone railing with four gateways, or toranas, at the cardinal points. The railing marked off a path for circumambulation and provided large surfaces for carving.

The stupa may first have been built in the Mauryan period, perhaps under Ashoka in the 3rd century BC, like the Great Stupa at Sanchi. The stone railings and gateways were added later. An inscription on the east gateway records that it was given by Dhanabhuti “in the reign of the Sungas”, linking it to the Shunga dynasty that ruled much of northern India after the fall of the Mauryas around 185 BC.

The reliefs

The railing posts, crossbars and coping stones are covered with sculpture. Round medallions on the crossbars and panels on the posts contain scenes, while the coping carries a continuous undulating vine with episodes set among its loops.

Many scenes illustrate jatakas, stories of the Buddha’s previous lives as a man or an animal. Others show events from his last life: his mother Queen Maya’s dream of a white elephant at his conception, his descent from the heaven of the thirty-three gods at Sankissa, and visits by kings who came to honour him.

One of the best-known panels shows the merchant Anathapindika buying the Jetavana park at Shravasti for the Buddha. According to the story, the owner demanded that the ground be covered with coins, and the relief shows workers laying them out while carts bring more.

The most unusual feature is the use of labels. Short inscriptions in Brahmi script name the subject of many scenes, for example identifying a particular jataka. Together with more than a hundred donor inscriptions, recording gifts by monks, nuns and lay people from many towns, they make Bharhut an exceptional source for the history of early Buddhism.

Showing the Buddha without his image

The Buddha himself never appears in human form at Bharhut. In this early phase of Buddhist art, his presence was indicated by symbols: an empty throne, a pair of footprints, a parasol, the tree under which he gained enlightenment, a wheel or a stupa. Worshippers kneel and bring offerings to these symbols as they would to the Buddha himself.

The reasons for this aniconic phase are still debated. Images of the Buddha appeared only around the 1st century AD, in Gandhara and Mathura.

Guardians and other figures

The corner posts of the railing carry life-size figures of yakshas and yakshis, nature spirits who were worshipped in India long before Buddhism and were adopted as guardians. Several are named by inscriptions, among them the yaksha Kubera and the goddesses Chulakoka and Sirima. Their solid, frontal style reflects the earliest phase of Indian stone sculpture.

One post shows a warrior in clothing that resembles Greek dress, holding a sword and a plant with a Buddhist emblem. He is often called the “Bharhut Yavana” and may reflect contact with the Indo-Greeks of the north-west.

Discovery and dispersal

By the 19th century the stupa had largely disappeared; villagers had reused its bricks and stones for building. Alexander Cunningham, director of the Archaeological Survey of India, found the site in 1873. With his assistant J. D. Beglar he excavated it and recovered large parts of the railing and the east gateway.

Most of the pieces were taken to Calcutta, where the east gateway and sections of railing were reconstructed in the Indian Museum. Other fragments are in the Allahabad Museum and in collections in India and abroad. Cunningham published The Stupa of Bharhut in 1879, with drawings and readings of the inscriptions.

Timeline

• c. 3rd century BC: The stupa may be founded, possibly under Ashoka.
• c. 185 BC: The Shunga dynasty replaces the Mauryas in northern India.
• c. 150–100 BC: The stone railings and east gateway are carved; Dhanabhuti donates the gateway.
• 1873: Alexander Cunningham identifies the site.
• 1874: Excavation by Cunningham and J. D. Beglar.
• 1879: Cunningham publishes The Stupa of Bharhut.

Why it matters

Bharhut is a cornerstone of Indian art history. Its labelled reliefs show how early Buddhists told their stories in stone, and its donor inscriptions reveal a broad community of supporters. Together with Sanchi and the earlier Barabar Caves, it documents the first great age of Indian stone carving, which later flowered at sites such as Ajanta.