Digital Rare Book:
A Peep into the Early History of India
From the foundation of the Maurya Dynasty to the downfall of the imperial Gupta Dynasty - 322 BC to circa 500 AD
By Ramakrishna G. Bhandarkar
With a preface by H.G. Rawlinson
Published by D.B. Taraporevala Sons, Bombay - 1920

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Image:
Reliquary from Stupa No 2, Sonari, central India, steatite, c 200 BCE

It was customary from the time of the Buddha’s death to preserve and venerate his relics. Under the great Mauryan emperor Asoka (circa 268-233 BC), a convert to Buddhism and an energetic patron of the faith, a series of stupas, relic mounds, were erected across the empire, marking sites of significance in the Buddha’s life. This practice continued, and this relic container is believed to have been interned around 200 BC. Relic deposits of this period usually represented re-deposits of original Buddha corporal relics.

This relic container was excavated at Sonari, a Buddhist monastery six miles south-west of Sanchi, by A Cunningham and F C Maisey in 1851. Stupa No 2 at Sonari was found to contain three miniature reliquaries – two in steatite and one in rock crystal - as well as a quantity of powdered bone-ash and a piece of wood. This steatite reliquary casket is shaped to resemble a lotus bud, with incised petals decorating the lower half of the reliquary. It was turned on the lathe and then carved in low relief with bands of lotus-petals on the shoulder and lower part of the body, whilst on the upper body is a broad zone divided into eight rectangular compartments in each of which is an elephant, horse, deer or winged lion, typical motifs of the Mauryan period. It was first published by Alexander Cunningham in The Bhilsa Topes in 1854.

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