A Further Note on the Origin of the Bell Capital

This miscellaneous note criticises Ananda Coomaraswamy’s attempt to identify bell capitals with lotus supports. Coomaraswamy argued that the lotus pedestal and bell capital represent the same form, citing examples from Bharhut and relating them to Vedic water symbolism. The author challenges this by pointing out that Coomaraswamy later moderated his claim but still conflated bell capitals with lotus supports. He argues that bell capitals, lotus supports and Dhvaja‑stambha capitals are distinct categories of architectural element and cannot be treated as a single class. The article observes that not all lotus supports carry symbolic meaning and that the presence of animals and floral motifs varies. It critiques the reliance on cosmological symbolism and Vedic references to explain every lotus motif suggesting that such interpretations may be forced. Instead, the author calls for a classification based on form and context. By drawing on a wider range of sculpture and architectural evidence, he proposes that bell capitals should be studied independently rather than subsumed under lotus symbolism.

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