Archaeological Excavations at Piprāhwā and Ganwaria and the Identification of Kalilavastu

7/28/2019 Archaeological Excavations at Piprhw and Ganwaria and the Identification of Kalilavastu

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

BUDDHIST STUDIES

EDiTOR-IN-CHIEFA . K. Narain

University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

EDITORSHeinz Bechert Leon Hurvitz

Universitat Gottingen, FRG UBC , Vancouver, CanadaLewis Lancaster A lexander W. MacDonald

University of California, Berkeley, USA Universite de Paris X, Nanterre, FranceB.J. Stavisky A lex Waym an

WN 1IR, Moscow, USSR Columbia University, New York, USA

ASSOCIATE EDITORStephan Beyer

University of Wisconsin, Ma dison, USA

Volume 3 1980 Number 1


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CONTENTS

I . ARTICLES1. A Study of the Madhyamika Method of Refutation,

Especially of its Affinity to that of Kathdvatthu,by Shohei Ichimura 7

2 . Prajnaparamita and the Buddhahood of the Non-SentientWorld: The San-Lun Assimilation of Buddha-Natureand Middle Path Doctrine, by Aaron K. Koseki 16

3 . A Clue to the Authorship of the Awakening of Faith:"&k$ananda's" Redaction to the W ord "Nien,"by Whalen W. Lai 34

4 . T h e Abhidharmika Not ion o f Vijndnaand its Soteriological Significance, by Braj M. Sinha 54

5. Som e Com men ts on Ts ong kha pa's Lam rim chen mo andProfessor Wayman's Calming the Mind and Discerning theReal, by Geshe Sopa 6 8

Alex W ayman Replies to Geshe Sopa 93G eshe Sopa Replies to Alex Wayman 98

II. SHORT PAPERS1. Ar cha eolog ical Excavations at Piprahwa and Ganwaria

and the Identification of Kapilavastu, by K. M. Srivastava 1032 . Notes on the Textcritical Editing of the

Bodhisattvdvaddnakalpalatd, by Frances Wilson 111


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III . BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTICES1. Santideva: Mystique bouddhiste des Vile et VHIe siecles,

by Amalia Pezzali 1152. On Knowing Reality: The Tattvartha Chapter of Asariga's

Bodhisattvabhumi, by Janice Dean Willis 1173. Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine inMahayana Tradition, by Diana Y. Paul 1204. Wittgenstein and Buddhism, by Chris Gudmunsen. 122

IV. NOTES AND NEWS1. A Re po rt on the 2n d Con ference of the IABS 1272. Report on A Critical Dictionary of Pali 130

Contributors 132


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Archaeological Excavations at Piprahwaand Ganwaria and the Identificationof Kapilavastu

by K.M . Srivastava

T h e r e has been a long-s tand ing con t roversy rega rd in g the locat ion of Kapi lavas tu ,1 the capital of the Sakyan State. As a result of ourrecen t a rchaeo log ica l excava t ions a t P ip rahwa and Ganwar ia 2 in theBast i Dis t r ic t of Ut tar Pradesh, in India , we feel now encouraged toident i fy th e s ite of Kap i lavas tu . T he se s i tes are ab out tw ent h-th ree k ilom et r es no r th o f N au ga rh , a t ehs il he ad qu ar t e r an d a rai lway s ta tion onth e G o r ak h p u r -G o n d o lo o p l in e o n th e No r th eas t e rn Railway, an dthey are n ine k i lometres north of Birdpur, which fal ls on the road toL u m b i n i f ro m N a u g a r h .

T h e f irst indicat ion that Pip rahw a could be the si te of the an cientKapi lavas tu was p rov ided by W.C. Peppe 3 in 1897-98 wh en eightee nfeet below the summit of a stupa he came across a huge sandstone boxw hich c on tain ed , am on gst o th er objects , f ive caskets . An inscrip t ion onthe l id of a steati te casket furnished a clue to the identification ofKapi lavas tu by its re fe re nce to the B ud dh a and h i s com mu ni ty , th eSakyas .4 T h e fol lowing is th e text of the inscrip t ion:

Sukiti bhatinam sa-puta-dalanam iyam salila-nidhane Budhasabhagavate sakiydnam.

Although the text has been edi ted and t rans lated variously , theref ere nc e to the en shr ine m en t o f the re lics o f the Bu dd ha by theSakyas undoubted ly conf i rms the s ta tement o f the Buddhis t t ex tMahdpartnibbdnasuttdnta that the Sakyas of Kapilavastu were oneamongst the e ight c la imants to a port ion of the re l ics of the Buddhaaf te r he was c remated a t Kush inagar and tha t they ceremonious lyc o n s t r u c t e d a stupa over the relics. s

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I t i s in te res t ing to note tha t according to the Chinese t rave l le rFa -hs ien , 6 Lumbini should be nine miles east of Kapilavastu, whichcorresponds very wel l wi th the d is tance of Lumbini f rom the s i te ofPiprahwa. But this was not found to be in conformity with the la tera c c o u n t o f H su a n T sa n g , 7 and some scho la r s the re fo re made o the rsu g g e s t i o n s . A m o n g t h e m , F u h r e r ( 1 8 9 7 ) 8 an d P.C. M ukher j i (1899) 9th ou gh t of Ti lau rak ot , in the d is tr ic t of Taul ihaw a, in Nepal , as the s i teof K api lavastu . I t may be note d , however , tha t the d i f fe rence be tweenthe rou te s and d i s t ances reco rded by Fa -hs ien and Hsuan Tsang , a ssu pp os ed by scho la r s , a re very con foun ded and indeed some t imescon trad ic tor y . S om e schola rs t r ied to reconc i le the ev idence of the twodive rse acco unts by pro po sin g the ex is tence of two Kapi lavastus , on e a tP ip rahwa and the o the r a t T i l au rako t . 1 0

In 1962 , M rs. D. M itra of the Arach aeological Survey of Ind ia ledan expedi t ion of explora t ion and excava t ion in the Nepalese tarai.Dur ing the course o f he r work , she excava ted a t Kodan andT i la ur ak ot , bu t could no t find any evidence ident ify ing T i laura kotwi th Kapi lavastu . In the absence of any evidence , she remarked , " Incase N ya gr od ha rm a (no t Ny agrod h ika town) rep re s en t s P ip rahwa ,wh ich is no t unlike ly, the rem ain s of Kapilavastu are to be so ug ht in themounds immedia te ly a round P ip rahwa , and no t a t the d i s t an t s i t e o fTi laurakot ." She fur ther s ta ted , " in fac t , the inscr ip t ion on there l iqua ry found wi th in the ma in stupa at Piprahwa coupled withP ip rahwa ' s co r re spondence wi th Fa -hs ien ' s bea r ing and d i s t ance o fKapi lavastu in re la t ion to Lumbini ra ises a s t rong presumpt ion forPiprahwa and i t s surrounding v i l lages l ike Ganwaria be ing the anc ients i te of K api lavastu ." 1 1 But some schola rs , however , cont inued to re fe rto Ti laurakot as Kapi lavastu . The d is t r ic t of Taul ihawa, in Nepal , haseven b ee n re na m ed Kapi lavastu in one- inch- to-a -mi le survey shee tm a p N o . 6 3 M / 2 o f N e p a l .

In 197 1, w he n the pres ent au th or was posted in Pa tna , we s ta r teda p ro g ra m of a rchaeologica l excava t ion a t the s ite of Piprahwa wi th aview to co ntin uin g th e search for Kapilavastu. In view of the considerablelapse of t ime be tween the dea th of the Buddha in 483 B.C. andthe Piprahwa inscr ip t ion , which may not be ear l ie r than the th i rdcentury , B .C. , the au thor fe l t tha t the re l ic caske ts found by Peppe in1897-98 were not the or ig ina l ones so lemnised by the Sakyas immedi-i at ely a f t e r the dea th o f Bud dh a . Th i s p rov ided g ro un ds fo r expec t ingear l ie r a nd o r ig ina l caske ts in the stupa. Sylvain Levi was of the op ini ontha t the inscr ip t ion mere ly reca l led a more anc ient consecra t ion104


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and was engraved on the occasion of the reconstruction of the stupa. l2Proceeding with the hypothesis that earlier and original relicswere still below in t he stupa, a small trenc h was sunk in its north-easternqu ad ra nt , which revealed interesting features. An outline of the shaftbo red by Pepp e could be easily observed. At a depth of six metres fromthe extant top of the stupa, two burnt brick chambers came to light.Th es e c ham bers, sep arated from one an oth er by 65 cms. of yellowishcompact clay mixed with kankar, were at a much lower level than thespot where the stone box containing the inscribed casket had beenfound by Pep pe. Th ere was a m ud deposit, about six centim etres thick,between the last course of the bu rnt brick stupa and the chambers. Th etwo cham bers were identical in shape, me asuring 82 x 80 x 37 cms.

The specific purpose of the brick chambers, to keep the sacredobjects, was ap pa ren t eno ug h from the natu re of their construction. Asoapstone casket and a red ware dish placed close to each other wereobserv ed in the n or th ern cham ber after the top three courses of brickha d been rem oved (Plate I). Th is dish was covered by ano ther dish ofthe sam e type, which ha d b roken into three pieces. Both the soapstonecasket an d t he d ish were foun d to be carefully packed w ith the help ofbricks an d b rickbats. T h e casket contained fragments of cha rred b one .The contents of the dish could not be distinguished, because it wasbadly smashed and filled with earth. That there were no bonefragments in it, is, however, certain. The positions of the casket anddishes w ere different in the sou thern brick cham ber. Two dishes, ofthe sa m e type and size as in the no rthe rn cham ber, were placed side byside ju st below the topm ost course of the brick. Both dishes werereduced to fragments. When two further courses of brick wererem ov ed, an oth er soapstone casket, bigger in size, came to light. T helid of th e casket was found brok en. On removal of the earth , which hadfilled u p th e casket, charred bones were found inside.

Since the relic caskets were found in deposits contem poran eouswith the Northern Black Polished Ware, they could be dated to thefifth-fourth cen turies B.C., and thu s earlier than the inscribed reliccasket discovered by Peppe at a higher lever, and also distinguishedstratigraph ically. T h e possibility that the stupa at Piprahwa could be thesam e as that con structed by the Sakyas at Kapilavastu over their shareof relics received at Kushinagar increased. The excavation was, therefore, resu m ed in 1973. G reater attention was paid duri ng that year tothe eas tern m onastery , which was partly exposed in the first two years.W hen the cells and th e verandah on the no rthern side of the monastery105


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were be ing exposed , some inscr ibed t e r raco t ta sea l ings were found .A bo ut fo r ty o f the m ha ve so fa r bee n co l lec ted , f rom a de p t h ran g in gbe tw ee n 1 .05 a nd 1 .75 m etr es . T h e seal ings w ere not foun d in a hoa rd ,bu t oc cu rre d a t d i f fe ren t l eve ls and spo t s . Genera l ly rou nd in shape ,so m e of th e seal ings w ere oval as wel l. T h e leg end o n the sealings can bec lass i f i ed in to th ree g roups . One of them reads "Om Devaputra VihareKapilavastu Bhikkhusamghasa." The seal ings in the second ser ies havebeen r ead a s "Maha Kapilavastu Bhikshusamghasa" (Plate I I ) . Thesea l ings in the th i r d g r o u p car ry the nam es o f m onk s . O n e of the m hasbeen r ead a s Sarandasasa. The le t ters on the seal ings are in Brahmich ar ac ter s of th e f i rs t -second ce ntu r ies A.D. In 1974, a pot- lid c arry ingth e sa m e insc r ip t ion as on the f irs t gr o up of sealings was also found , int h e e a s t e r n m o n a s t e r y .

T h e te rra co t ta seal ings an d, above all , th e pot- l id wi th the legen dKapilavastu, found dur ing the excavat ions a t P ip rahwa, seem to us tohave se t t l ed the long-s tand ing con t roversy regard ing the p rec i se locat ion of K api lavas tu . T he y also es tablish tha t the mo naster y was m ea ntfor the o rder o f monks a t Kapi lavas tu . Fur ther , the word Devaputraindicates that the monastery was probably bui l t by the Kushan kings .T h a t t h e stupa at P ipr ah w a w as buil t in i ts init ial s tages by the Sakyas ofKa pi lavas tu ove r the corpo rea l re l ics o f the B ud dh a sho uld a lso betaken as set t led now. I t was reconst ructed twice, f i rs t during the th i rdcen tury B.C. and the second add i t ion , a square base wi th n iches ,appea r s t o have been made du r ing t he pe r i od o f Kus han k ings . Thecaskets found in the br ick chambers were those placed by the Sakyas;the rich and varied objects , along with five caskets contained in themassive coffer , were placed in the th i rd century B.C.; and the onecasket found by Peppe at a depth of ten feet was the donat ion of theKus han k ings .

With the locat ion of the Sakyan stupa and the monas ter ies o fKapilavastu the task of the identificat ion of the si te as that of ancientKapi lavas tu seemed easy. After a l imi ted explorat ion in the vicini ty ,excav at ion was un de r ta ke n a t an ad jo in ing m ou nd , in Ganw ar ia , a k ilom e tr e to th e sou thw est . T h e s i te is a t least 200 (EW) x 250 (NS) m etre sin ex ten t , hav ing a maximum occupat iona l depos i t o f seven met res .Dur ing the excavat ion , two mass ive burn t b r ick s t ruc tu ra l complexes ,wi th impress ive p ro jec ted en t rances to the eas t , were exposed . Of thet w o , th e l a rge r on e , on the wes tern f r inge o f the m ou nd , is abou t th i r tymetres square . I t has twenty-f ive rooms wi th a gal lery at each of thefou r c or ne rs . In the last pha se , the num be r of room s ha d been ra ised to106


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twenty-six wi th the help of a par t i t ion wal l . The gal lery a t the cornerswas in a l ignment wi th the cardinal di rec t ions. In a l l , there were f ivephases in the complex . The two rooms on e i the r s ide of the en t rancewere the most spacious. Genera l ly , the f loor ing was made of br ickconcre te mixed wi th l ime , though in phase I I I p ieces of burn t b r i ckwere a lso used. A r ing wel l of s t ructura l phase I , having a diameter of85 cms. , was observed in the gal lery on the nor thwestern corner . Withan open cour tya rd about twenty- f ive met res square in the cen t re , therooms and ga l l e r i e s were cons t ruc ted a l l a round i t . The wid th of theo u te r wall was m o re tha n two m etres and th at of the inn er on e 1.70met res , on the top . The c ross wa l l s were more than a met re th ick .The l a rge r s t ruc t u ra l c ompl e x e mbod i e d c e r t a i n e x t r a o rd i na ryarchi tec tura l fea tures . Complete br icks were used only in the fac ing ofthe walls and the core was fi l led up with brickbats. The bricks used inthe fac ing in the last two phases were rubbed and then se t in order top re se n t a be a u t i fu l a ppe a ra nc e a nd t o p rov i de more s t r e ng t h t o t hes t ruc ture . Two pro jec t ing bas t ion- l ike s t ruc tures were cons t ruc ted tog ive a majes ti c ap pe ara nc e to the en t ranc e . As an add i t iona l a t t rac tion ,th ree corners in each bas t ion were provided a t the wes te rn end . Ino rd e r to rest r ic t ent r y , a t a la ter s tage , two wal ls , fac ing each o th er an dprojec t ing f rom the bast ions, were ra ised a t the easternmost f r inge ofthe en t ra nc e . In f ron t o f the two walls the re was a pav em ent m ad e ofbr ickba t s wi th com ple te br icks used in the fac ing . T h e ope nin g of thesecond en t rance , however , cont inued to be 2 .35 met res .

But for a few addi t ional fea tures , the smal ler s t ructura l complex,ab o ut th i r ty m etr es to th e no r the ast , was, on th e who le , s imi lar to thela rg e r on e . I t was abo ut twenty-s ix me t res squ are and had twenty-onero om s res t r i c t ed to th re e phase s . A small roo m in the nor theas t co rne r ,m ea n t e i th er for lavatory or ba th , was a new fea tu re in this com plex . T omain ta in pr ivacy , access to the room was provided th rough anothersma l l r oom ope n i ng on t o t he c e n t r a l c ou r t ya rd . Though t he numbe rof r oo m s in th e smal ler com plex was less , th e en t ra nc e was wide r ,m ea su r in g 3 .15 met re s . In the ea r l i e r s t ages , the en t ran ce was towardsthe east . Later on, i t was sealed with the help of a curtain wall , and ana r ro w en t ra nc e , 1.20 m et res wide , was prov ided towa rds thenor the rn s ide . Unl ike in the l a rge r complex , the corner rooms on thesoutheas t and nor thwes t were the b igges t , and square in shape . Theen t ra nc es to th e s t ruc tu ra l comp lexes a t Gan war ia a re no t towards thestupa, as they w ere in the cases of all the m on aster ies a t P iprahw a.

On the basis of pot tery and ant iqui t ies yie lded by the excavat ion,107


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the earliest occupation at the site can be dated to about the eighthcen tury B.C. Am ongst the principal ceramic industries, mention maybe m ad e of grey w are, red w are vases associated with the Painted G reyW are in the w estern par t of No rther n India, black polished ware andbeautiful specimens of Northern Black Polished Ware in plenty. Thesite was occupied till about the fourth century A.D.The entire occupational deposit could be divided into fourPerio ds. Period I was repre sente d by dishes having a red rim a nd greybo ttom , red ware vases, beautifully polished red w are dishes and bowlsoccasionally painted in black and black polished ware. The deluxeNorthern Black Polished Ware characterized Period II. Period III ispost N .B.P . belon ging to Su nga tim es. Period IV was characteristicallyKushan.T h e proxim ity of these structu res to the ancient site of P iprawha,where the sealings with the name of Kapilavastu were found, theirimpressive size and constructional features and the large quantity ofantiquities found within them, leave little doubt that the structuresform ed th e reside ntial com plex of the chief of the capital town, K apila

vastu, i.e., the Sakya King Suddhodhana and his predecessors.N O T E S

1. C. Lasen, Indische Altertumskunde (Leipzig 1858), vol. Il l, p . 201 ; A. Cunningham,The Ancient Geography of India (reprinted, Varanas i 1963) p . 349; A.C.L. Carl leyle , inC u n n i n g h a m , Archaeological Survey of India Reports (rep rint ed, Va ranas i 1972) , vol . X II ,p . 87 ; A . Fuh re r , "Ant iqu i t i e s o f the Bud dha ' s b i r thp lace in the Nepa lese Te ra i , " Archaeological Survey of India, New Im perial Series (re pri nte d V aranas i 1972) , vol . XX VI, p . 44;P .C . Mukher j i and V.A. Smi th , A ntiquities of Kapilvastu, Tarai of Nepal, 1899, A rchaelogkalSurvey of India (re pri nte d V aran as i 1969) p . 50 ; T .W . Rhys Davids , Buddhist India(L on do n 19 03 )p . 18; VV.Vost, " Ident i f ica t ion s in the region of Ka pi lav as tu , '7 /M S, 1905,p . 553; Deba la Mi t ra , Buddhist Monuments (Calcut ta 1972) p . 253.

2 . Indian Archaeology, a Review, 1971-72, 1972-73; K.M. Srivas tava , "A Note onth e Rec ent E xcavat ion s a t P ipra hw a, Dis tr ic t Bas t i (U-P)," Purdtaltva: Bulletin of the IndianArcheological Society, 6 (1972-73) p . 51 ; "B udd ha ' s Los t To wn of Kapi lavas tu Iden t i f i ed ,"Vishveshvaranand IndologicalJournal, vol. XV , pt. 1 (M arch 1977), also, Kapilavastu in BastiDistrict of U.P. (N a g p u r 1 9 7 8 ) .

3. "P ipr ahw a S tupa con ta in ing re li cs o f Buddh a ," JRAS, 1898, p . 573 .4. G. Bi ih le r . / f l AS , 1898 , p . 387 ; T .W. Rhys Davids , JRAS, 1898, p . 588; J .F .

F le e t J /M S , 1905 , p . 679 , 1906 , p . 150; D .C . S i rca r , ed., Select Inscriptions bearing on IndianHistory and Civilisation (2n d ed . ) vol . I (Univers i ty of Calcut ta , Calcu t ta , 1965), p . 81 .

5. Mahdparibbdna sutta, ed. by Chi lders , in JRAS, 1876, p . 258.6. Fa-hsien, A Record of the Buddhist Countries, tr. Li Yung-hsi (Peking, 1957), p. 51,7 . T . Wal te rs , On Yuan Chwang's travels m India (London, 1904-05) , vol . I I , p .

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8. Fuhrer, op . at., p. 44.9. P.C. M u k h er j ee , op. cit., p. 50.

10. V.A. Smi th , op . cit., p. 10; T.W. Rhys Davids, op. cit., p. 11, 18 f .n . l ; but contraW . Ho ey , JRAS, 1905, p. 4 5 4 , W. Vost , op. at., p. 5 5 3 .

1 1. Buddhist Monuments, p. 2 5 3 .12 . Indian Antiquary, 36 (1907), p. 120.

Plate I. Piprahwa. Soapstone casket and dish in the northern chamber.

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Documents

Archaeological Excavations at Piprāhwā and Ganwaria and the Identification of Kalilavastu