Rows Of Chapels Around The Stupa Courts

Enclosing the stupa-courts with rows of chapels was a common practice
among the Buddhists of Gandhara.At jamalgarhi and at the Dharmarajaka
Stupa of Taxila, the chapels were arranged in a circle immediately
around the chief monument.At other times, as at Takht-i-Bahi and at
jaulian they were planned in the form of a quadrangle sufficiently
large to enclose, not only the chief edifice but all the subsidiary
structures grouped around it.The circular lay-out appears to date from
the first century A.D and the quadrangular, from a substantially
later age.Chapels of his kind would not, of course, be needed until
cult images of the Buddha had come generally into fashion, and in the
North-west this did not happen before the first century A.D. Here, at
Jaulian, all the chapels are constructed of semi-ashlar masonry and
were erected long after the main stupa, those around the upper court
probably coming first, and the others later on.
The total number of chapels in the three courts appears to have been
fifty-niine, namely, thirty-one in the lower and western sourts and
twenty-eight in the upper, in addition to two at the entrance to the
monastery and one inside it.Their roots were constructed, like those
of the monastic cells, of timber protected by a layer of earth.So
much is evident from the remains of charred timber and clay found
on their floors during excavation.

Hall Of Assembly At Jaulian

Assembly Hall is an integral part of all the Buddhist monasteries.
This spacious hall was used for gathering of the monks and daily
sermons of Chief Monk.
At Jaulian, the original monastery seems to have embraced only the
court of cells and the assembly hall, all the other chambers being
later additions.
The assembly hall is too spacious to be spanned by timbers from side
to side, pillars had to be erected in it to support the roofbeams.
In the assembly hall the existing bases show that there were four such
pillars disposed in a square in the middle of the hall, the
architraves above them being laid probably in a corresponding
square with diagonals from each pillar to the nearest corner of
the room.Walls of the assembly hall subjected to the extensive
repairs in the later period.

Kitchen And Refectory In Jaulian

In the earlier days, therefore, it may be inferred that, in accordance

with established rule, the monks depended for their food entirely
upon charity, eating it forthwith from their begging bowls, and that
it was only in the early medieval period that they developed the idea
of possessing store-rooms and kitchens of their own, and of embarking
generally on a more luxurious mode of life.kitchen and refectory,
were too spacious to be spanned by timebers from side to side, pillars
had to be erected in each of them to support the roof beams.in the
refectory the existing bases show that there were four such pillars
disposed in a square in the middle of the hall, in the kitchen a
raised stone pilnth, near its middle and running from east to west,
suggests that there were two pillars here carrying the rool numbers.
This room possesses a drain of rough limestone,besides several
millstones and grinding slabs to small storeroom belonging
to the kitchen is round bench of stone,about 1 ft. 5 in. high,
running round three sides of the chamber.In the floor of the latrine
nare the eastern entrance, is a square depression about 6 in. deep,
paved with limestone flags.

Stairway In jaulian

The Stairway leading to the upper story is situated next to the
chapel.There must have been some special reason for placing it where
it is and it's explanation maybe that on entring the monastery the
monks made a practice of paying their devotions, in passing, at the
chapel before going to their cells, and perhaps repeated the
devotions when leaving the monastery.
The stairs are divided into two flights,with six steps in the lower
and nine in the upper, and the passage-way which connected the
stairs with the upper veranda returns again at right angles to the
upper flight.Possibly there was a second chapel above the ground-
floor one, but more probably the latter occupied the full height of
both stories.It would have been contrary to Buddhist practice to
construct a cell for habitation over the holy images.

Subsidary Stupas in jaulian

Of the small subsidiary stupas there are twenty-one set in close
array in the upper court, five in the lower and one in the western
court.In their essential features they are, as might be expected,
diminutive copies of the larger edifice, but they doffer from it in
the decoration and shape of their plinths, which were square in plan
insteas of oblong and usually enriched with more elaborate ornament.
In every case the core of these builddings is of rough rubble, faced
as a rule with soft kanjur stone in which the main features of the
decoration are blocked out and then finished off in lime syucco, the
details of the architectural members and the erliefs being modelled
throughout in stucco.Plinth of the stupa A 15 is faced with large
diaper masonry similar to the emploved in the older parts of the
main stupa and monastery, and it is likely that this is one of the
earliest among the small stupas, although it was redecorated at a
later age.The domes had in very case perished, but some remains of
the harmika and umbrellas with which they were crowned were found in
the debris of the courtyard.
The schems of decoration on the plinths of these stupas, although
as a rule richer and more intricate than that on the main structure.