Page:The Rock-cut Temples of India.djvu/315



HE pendant to the bas-relief last described, as representing the campaigns of Rama, from the Ramayana, is taken with the impartiality that characterises this age from the Mahabarata, the other great epic of the Hindoos, and is composed of episodes in the lives of the Pandavas; the upper part apparently representing peaceful occupations, but ending in a battle as a matter of course, and closing with a group of prisoners, the principal of whom is being strangled or having his head cut off.

Having finished his story before he had filled his tablet, the sculptor has left one line blank, and then filled up the remainder with scenes of domestic life and occupations, the subject of which, however, it is not always easy to make out. 75