Famous Temples in India

Architecture

The Archaeological finds from Kausambi give a most comprehensive picture of the life and the culture of Buddha Visits. At present the ruins roughly cover an area of about four miles. Like many other contemporary cities Kausambi was also protected by a rampart wall having high bastions and running around it. At places its walls still rise to the height of 30 to 40 feet above the adjacent ground level. Potsherds, bricks and minor antiquities are spread over a wide expamse outside the rampart wall and it is presumed that the main city had a number of suburbs. Towards the Yamuna side there exist remains of a fort wall built sometime during the Mugal period. A wide portion of land above the ruins is under cultivation at the present moment. Practically all the houses of the nearby villages have been constructed from the bricks removed from the exposed walls of the older structures. The usual size of the bricks varies considerably. Some of them measure 20x42x2.5 but they must have been used only in the important buildings. Except Kausambi no other site of India has supplied such a large number of surface antiquities. But for this Archaeological data our knowledge of the Vatsa kingdom and its people would have been otherwise quite shadowy. The most significant object of Archaeological importance at the ruined site is the monolithic pillar believed to have been set up by Ashoka. The top portion surmounting the capital is unfortunately lost. The pillar does not bear any ordinance off. Asoka though a few inscriptions belonging to the Gupta and later times are found engraved on its body. There probably stood one more pillar at Kausambi but it was removed to the Allahabad Fort. The inscription on the pillar is addressed directly to the Mahamatras of Kausambi. The inscription also makes mention of the fatal dissensions which were cropping up in the Buddhist church during the time of Asoka.

In the Allahabad Municipal Museum there are five Mauryan objects made in soft reddish stone. Fragments of the circular discs containing on the inner side a nude female goddess standing amidst honeysuckle motifs have been found at Kausambi. Such pieces have already been noticed at Taxisila, Pataliputra and Laurya mandangarh. A disc of similar stone having around its rims a row of human-faced lion alternated by crocodiles is very interesting. A round medallion has on it exquisitely carved Honeysuckle designs, at the top. Kausambi has yielded a large number of coins. They include,punch-marked, silver and copper types, cast, dumbbell-shaped uninscribed coins, coins of Soter Megas, Mitras, Kusanas, Wagas besides coins issued by the medieval, Hindu dynasties. The early cast coins offer a wide range of motifs in different denominations. There is a superb collection of such coins in the Allahabad Museum. Some of the, coins deciphered by Dr.Altekar have brought to light the names of a dozen kings not known through any other source of History. Many valuable sculptures nave been found ar Kausambi. The earliest examples belong to the Sunga period and are represented by railing pillars containing males and females standing, crossbars depicting lotus, bull or the lion. A big door lintel, a part of which has been unfortunately broken contains the representation of goddess Laksmi along with the animals of the four quarters.

The most important object so far found at Kausambi is the headless image of a Bodhisattjiva executed in the red-spotted sandstone of Fatehpur Sikri. On its pedestal is engraved an inscription which says that it was set up by nun Buddhamitra (at the place where the Lord Buddha used to walk) in the second year of the reign of Kanishka. This is the earliest inscribed image of the reign of this ruler. Fortunately another image dedicated by this nun who is spoken of as well versed in the Tripitakas has been dug out recently by the Allahabad university Archaeological expedition. Another good sculpture shows Siva and Parvati, this piece is also inscribed. lt was dedicated in the year 139 of the Gupta era during the reign, of Maharaja Bhimavarman. A select group of images of different periods have been recently dug up in the Ghositarama Monastery area. A beautiful image of Ghsindramahaprabhu datable to the Gupta period have come from Kausambi. Many Pancha Mukha Siva lingas have also been found at and in the neighborhood of the Yajrsa capital. A few fragmentary inscriptions have also come to light at Kausambi. The most outstanding group relates to the rulers of the Magha dynasty. Some of these have confirmed the existence of the rulers already mentioned in the Puranas. Many individual seals made in ivory, clay, bone and metals have been collected from the site. They generally belong to the period between the 2nd century B.C. and the 1st century A.D. A sealing of Kaniska has also been unearthed by the Allahabad University Archaeological expedition. A seal of the Ghositarama monastery has also come to light in the recent excavations. A very important inscriptional discovery was made by the Allahabad University expedition in the working season of 1950-51. This inscription which lay on the floor of a room in the Mürtihar area. The discovery of this Inscription fully corporates the statement of Hsuen Tsang who saw the Ghositarama monastery situated outside the city on the southeast side along with an Asoka Tope over 200 feet high. Buddha is reported to have resided here. Later on his favorite disciples, Tnanda, Mahajnoggalana, Sariputra, Musila, Mrada and Rihdola Bharadwaja also came to reside here. When Fa-Hien visited the monastery in 500 A.D. only a few monks of the lesser vehicle were residing there. Two hundred years later hsuen Tsang found the monastery in ruins.

In the monastery area some railings and detached pillars of about the 1st century B.C. also came to light. They follow the motifs of Sanchi in general in filling up the outer spaces. Kausambi has yielded hundreds of beans prepared out of semi-precious, crystal, and artificial material. The etched beads in particular offer many lovely designs. Animal shaped beads were indeed a specialty of Kausambi. A number of assorted and delicately carved objects of different periods have been collected from the ruins or this celebrated city. These comprise bangles, weights, playthings, pieces of ivory and bone, besides/molds used by the goldsmiths of the city. Kasambi has yielded the finest set of Sunga terracotta a in northern India. Close to the ruins is the Famous hill of Paphos which contains an inscription dated Samvat 1859, saying that Pabhosa was situated outside the city of KaushambI. Unquestionably the somewhat neglected site of Kausambi claims vast archaeological potentialities. No extensive excavations have ever been attempted at the site and the material evidence which forms the subject matter of this thesis is furnished by the finds on the surface alone.

Ashoka Pillar - Ashokan Pillar now in Allahabad fort which also has famous ‘Prayag Prasasti’ of Samudragupta engraved on it, is believed to have originally set up in Kaushambi, although another pillar is still standing institution with some minor inscriptions of Gupta and later periods. Later on, it suffered serious reverses at the hands of Tormana, the Huna Chief (circa A.D 500-515). Ashoka the great also gave importance to this place and positioned an Asokan Pillar in Kaushambi which has its inscriptions there in Pali. A Jaina temple was also constructed in Kaushambi. Both, the pillar and the temple still exist there and the ruins of the Vatsa empire and its University are to date being excavated by different archaeologists. it is particularly notable for containing later inscriptions attributed to the Gupta emperor Samudragupta (4th-century C.E). Also engraved on the stone are inscriptions by the Mughal emperor Jahangir, from the 17th century. The Ashokan inscriptions on the Allahabad Pillar (along with inscriptions elsewhere) was pivotal to the decipherment of the Brahmi script by The Asiatic Society's James Prinsep. It led to the rediscovery of the Mauryan emperor and the unearthing of the full extent of his empire. The inscription is engraved in continuous lines around the column in Brahmi and contains the same six edicts that can be seen on the other pillars. The surviving inscriptions from the Ashoka period are "uniform in size, neat and deeply engraved" observed Cunningham. The pillar contains the Major Pillar Edicts of Ashoka, from 1 to 6. The first and second edicts have survived in full. However, much of the third and fourth edicts were "ruthlessly destroyed by the cutting of the vain-glorious inscription of Jahangir, recording the names of his ancestors". Only two lines of the fifth edict have survived, others lost by surface peel off. The sixth is almost complete, with a loss of about half a line. These edits are the same as found at other Ashokan pillars. Besides the six edicts, the Allahabad pillar also includes what is known as the Schism edict, the Queen's edict and the Birbal Magha Mela inscription. A later inscription, also known as the Prayag Prashasti, is attributed to the 4th century C.E Gupta emperor Samudragupta and follows immediately below the edicts of Ashoka. It is considered "the most important historical document of the classical Gupta age". It is in excellent Sanskrit, written in the more refined Gupta script (a later version of Brahmi) by the poet and minister, Harishena. The inscription is a panegyric praising Samudragupta and lists the political and military achievements of his reign including his expeditions to the south. It provides a unique snapshot of the Gupta empire and its neighbors and is the source of much of what is known of the geopolitical landscape of that era.