DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0105
84 EASTERN CAVES.
mind the scenes depicted at Sanchi on Plate XXXVIII. of Tree and
Serpent Worshi/p. The first pair are seated on a couch, the gentleman
with his arms round the lady's waist, and a wine bottle on the ground
in front of them. In the second group the lady is seated on the
gentleman's knee, and there is a table with refreshments before them.
The third it is difficult to describe, and the fourth is too nearly
obliterated—if it ever existed—for anything to be made out regard-
ing it.1
The seventh bas-relief is partially destroyed and was not cast.
As it at present stands, the evidence derived from these bas-reliefs
is too indistinct to admit of any theory being formed of much value
regarding their import. It looks, however, as if the first, the third, the
fifth and seventh were Jatakas, while the even numbers—the re-
maining four—represented local legends or scenes in the domestic
life of the excavators of the cave.
Several of the reliefs on the front of the lower storey were cast
by Mr. Locke, but they are so fragmentary and so ruined by ex-
posure to the weather, that no continuous group can be formed out
of any of them, nor can any connected story be discerned either of
a legendary or religious character. Whether on the spot in the
varying lights of the day, anything could be made out of them it is
impossible to say, but neither the photographs nor the casts give
much hope of this being done. They seem to represent men and
women following their usual avocations or amusements, and cer-
tainly nothing can be discerned in them that illustrates either the
religion of Buddha, or the history of the country.2
This fortunately cannot be said of the sculptures on the right-
hand wing, where they are perfectly well protected from the
weather by a verandah 8 feet in depth. This leads through
three doors into an apartment measuring 7 feet by 20, on the front
of which there is consequently space for two full and two half
compartments, which are filled with sculptures. In the left-hand half
division, a man and his wife are seen approaching the centre with
1 A similar scene occcurs at Buddha Gaya. See Cunningham's Reports, vol. i.,
Plate X., Fig. 33. Eajendralala's Buddha Gaya, Plate XXXIV., Fig. 3. It is most
unmistakably a love scene.
2 They have all been lithographed for Babu Eajendralala's second volume, so that
when that is published the public will have an opportunity of judging how far this
account of them is correct.
mind the scenes depicted at Sanchi on Plate XXXVIII. of Tree and
Serpent Worshi/p. The first pair are seated on a couch, the gentleman
with his arms round the lady's waist, and a wine bottle on the ground
in front of them. In the second group the lady is seated on the
gentleman's knee, and there is a table with refreshments before them.
The third it is difficult to describe, and the fourth is too nearly
obliterated—if it ever existed—for anything to be made out regard-
ing it.1
The seventh bas-relief is partially destroyed and was not cast.
As it at present stands, the evidence derived from these bas-reliefs
is too indistinct to admit of any theory being formed of much value
regarding their import. It looks, however, as if the first, the third, the
fifth and seventh were Jatakas, while the even numbers—the re-
maining four—represented local legends or scenes in the domestic
life of the excavators of the cave.
Several of the reliefs on the front of the lower storey were cast
by Mr. Locke, but they are so fragmentary and so ruined by ex-
posure to the weather, that no continuous group can be formed out
of any of them, nor can any connected story be discerned either of
a legendary or religious character. Whether on the spot in the
varying lights of the day, anything could be made out of them it is
impossible to say, but neither the photographs nor the casts give
much hope of this being done. They seem to represent men and
women following their usual avocations or amusements, and cer-
tainly nothing can be discerned in them that illustrates either the
religion of Buddha, or the history of the country.2
This fortunately cannot be said of the sculptures on the right-
hand wing, where they are perfectly well protected from the
weather by a verandah 8 feet in depth. This leads through
three doors into an apartment measuring 7 feet by 20, on the front
of which there is consequently space for two full and two half
compartments, which are filled with sculptures. In the left-hand half
division, a man and his wife are seen approaching the centre with
1 A similar scene occcurs at Buddha Gaya. See Cunningham's Reports, vol. i.,
Plate X., Fig. 33. Eajendralala's Buddha Gaya, Plate XXXIV., Fig. 3. It is most
unmistakably a love scene.
2 They have all been lithographed for Babu Eajendralala's second volume, so that
when that is published the public will have an opportunity of judging how far this
account of them is correct.