CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 57 of 120

Correct — D, A garland of thousand lotus flowers. The term comes from the Sanskrit kinjalka, the fine filament of a lotus; the derived form kinjalkini means 'having lotus filaments', and in the vocabulary of stupa decoration it names a great garland of lotuses. The word belongs to a whole family of ornamental motifs that carvers used on the railings, gateways and drums of stupas — lotus medallions, garlands slung between figures, creepers, drapery and pendants — and each has its own name. Reading it from the root is the safest route: a term built on the word for a lotus filament will describe something made of lotuses, which rules out the creepers, the drapery and the mango-shaped pendants offered in the other three options.

• (a)Creepers showing ornaments and textiles — Creepers carrying ornaments and textiles are a distinct motif of stupa decoration, usually described by the vocabulary of the vine or kalpalata, not by a word built on the lotus filament.
• (b)Scarves and saris — Scarves and drapery are carved on stupa railings and gateways, but they are a separate class of ornament and have nothing to do with the lotus root of this term.
• (c)Mango shaped pendants — Mango-shaped pendants are another well-known decorative element on stupa railings; again the word for them is not built on the lotus filament.

A stupa is a solid hemispherical mound over a relic, surrounded by a railing with gateways and circumambulatory paths. Because the mound itself is plain, the decorative energy goes into the railing uprights, the crossbars, the coping and the gateways, and into the drum in the later Andhra stupas. The repertoire is largely floral and narrative together: lotus medallions and garlands, creepers, animals, auspicious symbols, and scenes from the life of the Buddha and the Jataka stories.

Terminology items of this kind are unwinnable by memory alone but very winnable by etymology, so train the habit of breaking a Sanskrit term into its root. Kinjalka is a lotus filament; a garland of a thousand lotus flowers is what the derived word names. One note on the printing: the paper gives the term without diacritical marks as 'Kinjalkini', so a student who goes looking for it should search the Sanskrit kinjalkini, written kiñjalkinī in scholarly transliteration, and the root kiñjalka. The lotus is not a decorative accident here — it carries the meaning of purity and of awakening in Buddhist art, which is why it is the motif that recurs most often on stupa surfaces.

• The Sanskrit kinjalka means the fine filament of a lotus, and kinjalkini is the derived form.
• In stupa decoration the term names a garland made of a thousand lotus flowers.
• The lotus in Buddhist art carries the sense of purity and of awakening, and is the most frequently repeated motif on stupa surfaces.
• Stupa ornament is concentrated on the railing uprights, crossbars, coping and gateways, and on the drum in the Andhra stupas such as Amaravati.
• The great stupa sites for this vocabulary are Bharhut, Sanchi and Amaravati.

• Guessing at an unfamiliar Sanskrit term instead of breaking it into its root — kinjalka gives the answer here.
• Assuming every ornamental term refers to a figure or a narrative; much stupa vocabulary names purely floral motifs.
• Confusing the railing ornament of Sanchi with the drum reliefs of Amaravati, which belong to a later phase and a different school.

As a single-term definition from art-history vocabulary, best answered by reading the Sanskrit root.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Sanskrit word 'kinjalka', from which the stupa decorative term in this question is formed, means

  • (a)the filament of a lotus
  • (b)a carved railing post
  • (c)a ceremonial umbrella
  • (d)a relic casket

  Answer(a) the filament of a lotus — which is why the derived term names a garland of lotus flowers.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the architecture of a stupa, the term 'harmika' refers to

  • (a)the hemispherical mound over the relic
  • (b)the square railing on top of the mound
  • (c)the gateway of the railing
  • (d)the circumambulatory path

  Answer(b) the square railing on top of the mound — from which the yashti and the chhatras rise.