Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s3.20

c13.s3.20

The scene evidently illustrates the belief referred to in old Indian poetry that an aśoka tree could be made to blossom when kicked by a maiden with her left foot. It recalls a scene described later by Kālidāsa in his drama Mālavikāgnimitra in which the king watches the young heroine while she performs a dance in honour of the Aśoka tree's blossing and touches it with her left foot.