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Image / Elephant wall: Miniature Stūpas

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Title
Elephant wall: Miniature Stūpas
Creator
de Silva, Preethi
Date Created and/or Issued
2016
Publication Information
Claremont Colleges Library
Contributing Institution
Claremont Colleges Library
Collection
Ancient Cultural Sites and Royal Residences
Rights Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Description
Close-up of a corner depicting two sides of the so-called "Elephant Wall" of Ruvanvälisǟya, which is located inside the courtyard that is enclosed by the outer wall with gate-houses at the four cardinal points. It was circa 7 feet high (or 9 feet according to some sources) and had been decorated with a row of heads (with trunks and tusks) and the front legs of elephants; the wall supported the terrace of the Stūpa. Badly damaged, the elephant sculptures have now been reconstructed. The area is still under restoration. The "Elephant wall" covers the space between a sand terrace and the terrace of stone slabs. There were 344 elephant figures, each 9 feet in height. The wall measured 475 X 477 feet. Two of the extant miniature Stūpas at the corner is also visible. It is likely that there would also have been two at the other corners.
Type
image
Format
image/jp2
Identifier
acs00316.jpg
http://ccdl.claremont.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p15831coll15/id/411
Subject
Shrines (structures)
Walls
Time Period
Begun in 144 BCE
Place
Mahāvihāra (The "great" monastery): Ruvanvälisǟya Dāgäbe (Mahāthūpa)
Anurādhapura
Sri Lanka
Relation
Ancient Buddhist Sites and Royal Residences in Sri Lanka - https://ccdl.claremont.edu/digital/collection/p15831coll15

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