DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0107
RANI KA NUR. 83
The third compartment I have very little doubt contains a repre-
sentation of one of the various editions of the Mriga or Deer Jataka ;
not exactly that narrated by Hiuen Thsang,1 nor exactly that repre-
sented at Bharhut,2 but having so many features in common with
both, that it seems hardly doubtful the story is the same. The prin-
cipal figure in the bas-relief is undoubtedly a king, from the um-
brella borne behind him and the train of attendants that follow
him. That he is king of Benares is also probable, from his likeness
to the king represented at Sanchi in the Sama Jataka.3 The
winged deer is almost certainly the king of the herd, who was after-
wards born as Buddha, but whether the second person represented
is the king repeated, or some other person,—as would appear to be
the case at Bharhut,—I am unable to guess. The deer at his feet is
probably the doe who admitted that her turn to be sacrificed had
come, but pleaded that she ought to be spared in consequence of the
unborn fawn she bore in her womb, whose time had not yet arrived.
I am unable to suggest who the woman in the tree may be. I know
of no Devatas or female tree divinities elsewhere, though there may
have been such in Orissa.
The fourth, which is the central compartment, is the only one in
which anything like worship can be traced, but at its right hand
corner, though much injured, I think we can detect something like a
miniature dagoba or relic casket with some one praying towards it,
and above a priest or some one seated in the cross-legged attitude
afterwards adopted in the statues of Buddha. To the left of these is a
figure in an attitude sometimes found at Amravati, bearing a relic.4
It is difficult to say who the great man or woman is who is seated
further to the left and surrounded with attendants. He or she is
evidently the person in whose honour the puja or worship in the
right hand corner is being performed, but who these may be must
be left for future investigation.
The next compartment is so completely destroyed that no cast
was taken of it, and its subject cannot of course be ascertained. The
following one, however, containing three couples with possibly a
fourth—for the right-hand end is very much ruined—at once calls to
1 Translated by Julien, vol. ii. p. 355.
2 The Stupa at Bharhut, Plate XXV. Fig. 2.
3 Tree and Serpent Worship, Plate XXXVI. Fig. 1.
4 Ibid., Plate LI., Fig. 1.
s 2
The third compartment I have very little doubt contains a repre-
sentation of one of the various editions of the Mriga or Deer Jataka ;
not exactly that narrated by Hiuen Thsang,1 nor exactly that repre-
sented at Bharhut,2 but having so many features in common with
both, that it seems hardly doubtful the story is the same. The prin-
cipal figure in the bas-relief is undoubtedly a king, from the um-
brella borne behind him and the train of attendants that follow
him. That he is king of Benares is also probable, from his likeness
to the king represented at Sanchi in the Sama Jataka.3 The
winged deer is almost certainly the king of the herd, who was after-
wards born as Buddha, but whether the second person represented
is the king repeated, or some other person,—as would appear to be
the case at Bharhut,—I am unable to guess. The deer at his feet is
probably the doe who admitted that her turn to be sacrificed had
come, but pleaded that she ought to be spared in consequence of the
unborn fawn she bore in her womb, whose time had not yet arrived.
I am unable to suggest who the woman in the tree may be. I know
of no Devatas or female tree divinities elsewhere, though there may
have been such in Orissa.
The fourth, which is the central compartment, is the only one in
which anything like worship can be traced, but at its right hand
corner, though much injured, I think we can detect something like a
miniature dagoba or relic casket with some one praying towards it,
and above a priest or some one seated in the cross-legged attitude
afterwards adopted in the statues of Buddha. To the left of these is a
figure in an attitude sometimes found at Amravati, bearing a relic.4
It is difficult to say who the great man or woman is who is seated
further to the left and surrounded with attendants. He or she is
evidently the person in whose honour the puja or worship in the
right hand corner is being performed, but who these may be must
be left for future investigation.
The next compartment is so completely destroyed that no cast
was taken of it, and its subject cannot of course be ascertained. The
following one, however, containing three couples with possibly a
fourth—for the right-hand end is very much ruined—at once calls to
1 Translated by Julien, vol. ii. p. 355.
2 The Stupa at Bharhut, Plate XXV. Fig. 2.
3 Tree and Serpent Worship, Plate XXXVI. Fig. 1.
4 Ibid., Plate LI., Fig. 1.
s 2