GUARDSTONE (Muragala)

 The rectangular blocks of stone which stand on each side of the steps at the

entrance to ancient Buddhist shrines in Ceylon are widely called

Guardstones.

 The special word used for them is not known from any ancient source, but

as many of the sculptures are prominent by the mythical semi-human

beings, the latter being taken, so to say, as guards, the name of Guardstone

is loosely used for them.

 They are also set amid a profusion of sculpture found in the adjacent

Moonstones, scroll makara balustrades and risers of steps.

 Some of the figures, especially the Nāga-rājas with multiple cobra hoods

forming an aura round the head, are works of great beauty which contain a

wealth of chaste ornamentation.

 Rarely and in the remote districts away from metropolitan influences and

traditions there is found an almost inexplicable representation, too.

 Maligawila

 But these were apparently haphazard motifs, not falling into any scheme

and seem to be in the nature of individual eccentricities without a

comprehension of the symbol proper to the occasion.

 When the idea of carving on the face of a Guardstone was conceived

obviously a motif was selected from one of several. In this selection there

must have been a guiding principle.

 The design could not have been picked up at random. In other words we

have to imagine that the ultimate choice was symbolic signification.

 The largest number of the carved Guardstones have three motifs upon their

faces:

1. the Water Pot

2. Bahirava (a word which is better known locally than Sanskrit

bhūta)

3. Nāga-rāja

 A. M. Hocart, who was Archaeological Commissioner for nearly a decade,

had attempted to study on chronology of the guardstones; investigated that

the three types existed, simultaneously up to the ninth or tenth century.

 He inferred this from the circumstance that he did not find the Bahirava

(and presumably the Water Pot) in the twelfth century capital of

Polonnaruva.

 Although the principal types were found sometimes simultaneously the

degree of frequency of their appearance would nevertheless suggest that

the broad chronological stages should be: Pot, Bahirava, Naga-raja.

The Water Pot

 The Sinhalese Buddhist who sets out on a journey would seek no better

sign of the outcome of his mission than that a person with a pot full of

water should be the first to meet him.

 The water- filled pot placed at the entrance greets the eye of the invitee to

a ceremony, domestic or religious.

 The Pot of Good Luck, as we may properly regard it, has been hardly

shown as a mere outline.

 The Pot of Good Luck must be shown that it is full. An empty pot is a most

inauspicious sign. The pot is more natural, with flowers, leaves and stalks.

 These would realistically convey the idea of fullness. In the early carved

Guardstones it was the Water Pot which most prevailed.

Bahirava

 This is identified as bhūta in Sanskrit writings.

 In Ceylon he is called the Bahirava. The Bahiravas are considered semi-

demons, living close to the earth, guarding buried treasures and requiring

appeasement with sacrifices before the secrets in their keeping are

revealed.

 Most pairs of Bahiravas wear on their head a stylized padma (Lotus) and

the saṅkha (Shell), respectively, which are expressed in the artistic idiom.
 The largest of these pairs are in Abhayagiri Dageba, Anuradhapura, where

they stand 4 ft. 2 in. high.

 In the course of time the restrictions were relaxed and human figures

became prominent. It was also possible that, at the same time, a number of

inchoate ideas (one being that of a guard) were associated with the (human)

Bahirava apart from the very specific reason for his existence here on a

Guardstone.

 It could be seen that Guardstone is a continuation of the symbol of the Pot.

(Consider the physical features of the general Bahirava.)

 D. T. Devendra:

 The most prominent of them is his pot-belly, and we are of the opinion that

this is exactly why the motif was selected in preference to many another,

when the time was considered ripe for an animate device to take the place

of an inanimate one in continuing the symbol.

 Again, he noted that the idea of water is further indicated by lotus and shell.

 There- fore, he suggests that the idea of the Pot filled with water is precisely

the idea which the Bahirava represents; that though the visible form has

varied the content has remained.

 From literary sources we gather that Saṅkha and Padma were two gate-

keepers of Kuvera, the God of Wealth.

 Saṅkha and Padma are water-spirits; they are associated with the nāgas

who are better known in the same connection.

 Saṅkha is a Naga-raja in Hindu writings, too, in one of which he is one of

the chiefs of the tribe of serpents. The general idea prevails in Nepal and

in some parts of India besides Kashmnir.

Naga Rāja

 Sri Lanka, too, has some believes on Naga spirits. This connection is

sculpturally indicated in some Guardstones at Ruhunu Maha Vehera.

 They belong to the fifth or sixth century at the latest and show the Naga-

raja, accompanied by what may reasonably be taken as the Bahirava in

much larger size than when the pair are represented together in later times.
 Later on, the Naga-raja came to be prominent and the Bahirava was

indicated diminutively as the idea progressed.

 So that, we have Guardstones of Vessagiriya, Ruvanvalisaya, Vijayarama

and the Outer Circular Road (all of them in Anuradhapura) in which

Saṅkha and Padma figure as the small attendants of Naga- raja.

 Why was the Naga-raja brought in conjunction with the Bahirava? We

suggest that it is because of the same symbolic idea. "In Buddhist tradition

both Varuna and Sagara, really gods of the sea, have become converted

into Nagarajas." So Dr. Vogel in his work.

 The water-associations of both Bahirava and Naga-raja.

 The Naga-raja of the Guardstone is an expression of a traditions. (Pot/

Bahirava)
 Every Naga-raja carries a pot in one hand and holds a long spray in the

other. These unvarying features convey an exact idea and take us back to

the origin of the motifs. It is relevant here to note an instance of the

integration of the pot and the cobra.

 D. T. Devendra- when he was excavating a small stūpa in Padaviya he was

struck by an unusual concentration of the representations of cobras on the

floor of the relic chamber.

 The stūpa was close to the embankment of a reservoir and dated about the

tenth century A. D. Here, it seems, is a fusion of two motifs and an

expression of identity of ideas.


 Yapahuva, a fourteenth- century rock citadel: They are women and each is

holding up a jar in one hand. We can see how though the outward form has

changed, yet the symbol itself has remained through the many centuries

since it was conceived.