DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0113
90 BUDDHIST ARCHITECTURE. Book I.
Fur the present we must be content with the knowledge, that we
now know perfectly what the state of the arts was in [ndia when the
the Divinity (Bhagavat)." Above him is
the great five-headed Xaga himself, vising
from a lake. To its right a man in the
robes of a priest standing up to his
middle in the water, and above the Naga
a female genius, apparently floating in
tlie air. Below is another Xaga Raja, with
his quintuple snake-hood, and behind
him two females with a single snake
at the baek of their heads—an arrange-
ment which is universal in all Xaga
sculpture. They are standing up to their
waists in water. If we may depend on
the inscription below hint, this is Era-
patra twiee over, and the females his
two wives. I should, however, rather be
inclined to fancy there were two Naga
Rajas represented with their two wives.
This bas-relief is further interesting
as being an epitome of my work on
'Tree and Serpent Worship.' As ex-
pressing in the shortest possible com-
pass nearly all that is said there at
length, it will also serve to explain
much that is advanced in the following
pages. As it is 200 years older than
anything that was known when that
book was written, it is a continuation
of its theories, as satisfactory as it is
complete.
28.
Tree and Serpent Worship at Mharhut. (From a Photograph;)
Fur the present we must be content with the knowledge, that we
now know perfectly what the state of the arts was in [ndia when the
the Divinity (Bhagavat)." Above him is
the great five-headed Xaga himself, vising
from a lake. To its right a man in the
robes of a priest standing up to his
middle in the water, and above the Naga
a female genius, apparently floating in
tlie air. Below is another Xaga Raja, with
his quintuple snake-hood, and behind
him two females with a single snake
at the baek of their heads—an arrange-
ment which is universal in all Xaga
sculpture. They are standing up to their
waists in water. If we may depend on
the inscription below hint, this is Era-
patra twiee over, and the females his
two wives. I should, however, rather be
inclined to fancy there were two Naga
Rajas represented with their two wives.
This bas-relief is further interesting
as being an epitome of my work on
'Tree and Serpent Worship.' As ex-
pressing in the shortest possible com-
pass nearly all that is said there at
length, it will also serve to explain
much that is advanced in the following
pages. As it is 200 years older than
anything that was known when that
book was written, it is a continuation
of its theories, as satisfactory as it is
complete.
28.
Tree and Serpent Worship at Mharhut. (From a Photograph;)