Page:The Buddhist Antiquities Of Nagarjunakonda MASI 54 Longhurst A. H..djvu/48

Rh attended by a numerous retinue, the king himself holding an umbrella above his head. Seeing Sumati, Dipatikara resolved to proclaim the young man's virtue to the world and caused a shower of rain to fall. Sumati and the girl threw their flowers over the head of the Buddha and they remained there like an umbrella. The rain had caused a pool of mud to form in the path of the Buddha and Sumati, as did Sumedha in the Pali version, prostrated himself, stretching his hair forward so that the Buddha might pass without soiling his feet. A fellow student of Sumati who was present there gave vent to his anger at seeing the Buddha treading over the locks of a Brahman student and thus qualified himself for a period in hell. 'The Bodhisattva's vow, the Buddha's prediction and the rest follow as in the Pali version.

This story has been illustrated in many of the bas-reliefs found in the Gandhara country and, as may be expected, the version which the artists have utilised is that found in Sanskrit Buddhist books. In the Nagarjunakonda sculpture before us, the same version seems to have been followed. The treatment of the subject by the Andhra school, while agreeing in the main with that of the Gandhara artists, shows important divergences in detail. The moment selected by both schools for sculptural representation is the dramatic one of the Bodhisattva's throwing himself at the feet of the Buddha. Our sculpture is much damaged; but the figures of the principal characters of the story are all preserved and can be easily recognised. The Buddha Dipankara occupies the centre of the composition and from the two lotuses beneath his feet it can be inferred that he is in the act of walking. He is attended on the left by Vajrapani, whose head is broken off, and on the right is another mutilated figure which may have represented the king, who according to the text, was holding an umbrella over the Buddha's head. In the Gandhara sculptures representing the story, the flowers thrown by the Bodhisattva are shown as resting on the edge of the halo above the Buddha's head; but as the halo in our sculpture is partly damaged we cannot be certain whether this detail was there. The figure prostrate at the Buddha's feet is of course that of Sumati or Sumedha. Unlike the Gandhara reliefs, his hair is not shown stretched forward, as the text would require. Perhaps the moment illustrated by the artist is just as the Bodhisattva was throwing himself down before he could stretch his hair forward for the Buddha to walk on. The female on the right side of the composition, in a surprised attitude, is no doubt the girl who figures in the story. The figure of a gana is shown near the head of the Bodhisattva, with hands uplifted and clasped together. This is perhaps meant to represent the fact that supernatural beings applauded the act of devotion and self-sacrifice on the part of the Bodhisattva. The damaged figure of a man standing on the extreme left of the composition, holding what looks like a ladle in his hands, probably depicts the fellow-student of Sumati who reviled the Buddha. In the Gandhara sculptures the Buddha Dipankara is shown attended by a monk. 'The damaged portion of our sculpture may have contained such a figure behind the Buddha.