Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7.31

c7.31

On all stelæ or basreliefs of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture the story of Buddha's life begins with the birth. Stories previous to his birth as Gautama Buddha, such as Māyā's dream or the Jātakas, have not been discovered in Bengal or Bihar up to this time. In the stelæ of the first class, such as those from Bihar³ or from Sibbati, there is a small shrine to the right of the main temple, in the centre of the composition, at the level of the shoulders of the main figure. This miniature shrine contains a female figure, standing, holding on to the branch of a tree over her head with her right hand, while she clasps the neck of another female standing to her left with her left hand. A child is seen issuing from her waist; while to her right, two males are standing in the Bihar stele. The number of figures in the Sibbati stele is not distinct. In both of these stelæ, the figure adjacent to Buddha's mother has the palms of his hands spread out in front. The big female figure standing in the centre, who holds the branch of a tree overhead, is no doubt Māyādevī, the mother of Buddha and the tree, she is holding, a Śāla tree representing the Lumbinī garden near Kapilavastu. The female on her proper left is her sister Prajāpati and the male on her immediate right Indra, who is to receive the child immediately after his birth on a cloth of gold. The second figure in the Bihar stele probably represents Brahmā.