Cityscapes, City Limits, and Beyond: Revisiting Early Buddhist Art at Sanchi

This chapter interprets images of cities, city limits, forests, and their inter-relationships by analysing representative visual narratives carved on the toraṇa-gateways of the great stūpa at Sanchi in central India. Whereas city structures have been studied from the perspective of Indian architectural history, the city as experienced in the interactions of its built and natural landscapes, as a populated  place , and in its intersections with the countryside have not been adequately explored in art historical scholarship. The ordered hierarchies of urban life offer a counterpoint to the changing landscape of the country as an expansive space for human-nature interactions. Three sets of narrative panels have been interpreted, with a focus on the theme of ‘the city and the country’. The first relates to the bodhisattva prince, Vessāntara, his exile to the forest and return to the city of Jetuttara. The second is an account of bodhisattva Siddhārtha’s renunciation and departure from the city of Kapilavastu, to interpret perceptions of the city and the country as expressed through visual symbols and metaphors. The third set of images centre on the town of Kuśīnagara and the contestations between competing chieftain-kings for the Buddha’s relics.