DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2371#0356
334 BUDDHIST CAVE-TEMPLES.
one behind holds a parrot and fruit. Below are eleven small figures,
some of them making rams butt, others wrestling, and some playing
on musical instruments for the child's amusement. This is probably
intended to represent the infancy of Buddha nursed by his mother
Mayadevi (or Mahaprajapate) with a peculiar round headdress, who
sits by his father, Suddhodana. In the upper corners are repre-
sentations of a holy man giving instruction to a woman and her
child ; and of Buddha attacked by a four-armed demon -with skull,
necklace, club, snake, &c.
In a corresponding apartment on the other side there are two fat
male figures with elaborate headdresses, neck-chains, and armlets,
the one holding an egg-shaped object in his hand. The frilled back
to the headdress on the right-hand figure is of the style in vogue-in
sculptures of about the sixth or seventh century a.d. Female slaves
with chaims stand on either side, and Gandharvas or Buddhist
cherubs with large wigs appear in the upper corners. Below are
two semicircular representations; but whether intended for vege-
table food or not, is uncertain. Over the fronts of these side chapels
in the back wall are also groups, the central one over the left chapel
having a Naga Raja and his family in it.
The shrine itself is about 14 feet by 11; but, owing to the cm
being only 11 feet 5 inches high, it is very dark, and smells strongly
of bats. The Buddha squats in the dharmacfwbkra muird with the
wheel and two deer in front, and behind them, to the right, a female
in the attitude of adoration before a male, with a long object like an
empty bag; to the left is a female kneeling with a long-twisted
object, and behind her a kneeling male worshipper. The right
cMmara-be&rer is richly dressed with mulcuta and nimbus ; the let'
one is Avalokitesvara; he has the jatd headdress, and an ins tei
hand a bottle-shaped object. The other has a rich headdress.
The doorway to the shrine (Plate XLV., fig. 1) is a rich and elegant
specimen of its class, though hardly of so pleasing a design as tna
Cave No. I. (Plate XLIL). The inner pilaster consists of five panels-
each containing: two figures, a male and a female, the male is m
lowest compartment, being represented by a dwarf. The outsicte '
equally consists of five panels, but only with single figures in ej*c '
all except the top one males with five-headed snake hoods,
lintel is adorned with seated figures in pairs, with three figui®>
the central compartment. The figure sculpture on this doo
one behind holds a parrot and fruit. Below are eleven small figures,
some of them making rams butt, others wrestling, and some playing
on musical instruments for the child's amusement. This is probably
intended to represent the infancy of Buddha nursed by his mother
Mayadevi (or Mahaprajapate) with a peculiar round headdress, who
sits by his father, Suddhodana. In the upper corners are repre-
sentations of a holy man giving instruction to a woman and her
child ; and of Buddha attacked by a four-armed demon -with skull,
necklace, club, snake, &c.
In a corresponding apartment on the other side there are two fat
male figures with elaborate headdresses, neck-chains, and armlets,
the one holding an egg-shaped object in his hand. The frilled back
to the headdress on the right-hand figure is of the style in vogue-in
sculptures of about the sixth or seventh century a.d. Female slaves
with chaims stand on either side, and Gandharvas or Buddhist
cherubs with large wigs appear in the upper corners. Below are
two semicircular representations; but whether intended for vege-
table food or not, is uncertain. Over the fronts of these side chapels
in the back wall are also groups, the central one over the left chapel
having a Naga Raja and his family in it.
The shrine itself is about 14 feet by 11; but, owing to the cm
being only 11 feet 5 inches high, it is very dark, and smells strongly
of bats. The Buddha squats in the dharmacfwbkra muird with the
wheel and two deer in front, and behind them, to the right, a female
in the attitude of adoration before a male, with a long object like an
empty bag; to the left is a female kneeling with a long-twisted
object, and behind her a kneeling male worshipper. The right
cMmara-be&rer is richly dressed with mulcuta and nimbus ; the let'
one is Avalokitesvara; he has the jatd headdress, and an ins tei
hand a bottle-shaped object. The other has a rich headdress.
The doorway to the shrine (Plate XLV., fig. 1) is a rich and elegant
specimen of its class, though hardly of so pleasing a design as tna
Cave No. I. (Plate XLIL). The inner pilaster consists of five panels-
each containing: two figures, a male and a female, the male is m
lowest compartment, being represented by a dwarf. The outsicte '
equally consists of five panels, but only with single figures in ej*c '
all except the top one males with five-headed snake hoods,
lintel is adorned with seated figures in pairs, with three figui®>
the central compartment. The figure sculpture on this doo