Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7.77

c7.77

After taking leave of Kanthaka, the Bodhisattva changed his royal robes, made of the finest Benares silk, with the coarse clothes of a hunter, or, as some say, with the clothes of his groom Chhandaka. In the Gāndhāra school one or two persons are to be found in addition to the principal figures; but in this school also all representations of this incident are very rare. M. Foucher has reproduced only one basrelief from the Lahore Museum.³ Among specimens of the Mathurā school representations of this incident are also very rare and it is known from one specimen only in the Mathurā Museum.⁴ In this particular case, Dr. Vogel, who identified the scene for the first time, states that figures of the Bodhisattva, the horse Kanthaka and an elephant, indicating the Bodhisattva’s royal rank, are present. So far as our knowledge goes this scene has not been found among known specimens of the Benares school. But in one of the big stelæ we find a representation of the Bodhisattva cutting his hair. This is to be found in the lowest panel of S. 3.⁵ In the Bengal school the change of garments and the cutting of hair are represented on both stelæ of the first class and in both cases the incident is to be found represented to the left of the basrelief, representing the leave-taking of Kaṇṭhaka. In Br. 5 we find the Bodhisattva cutting his long hair with his sword, and a male is seated on each side with hands clasped in adoration. The scene is to be found in the corresponding place of the Sibbati stele, but, in this case, only the figure of the Bodhisattva cutting his hair with a long sword can be discerned with difficulty.