The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c10.55

c10.55

Such as it is, the chronological table thus obtained is at least worthy of being taken into consideration; and the hope occurs to us that we may have restored, in accordance with the natural play of the religious conscience, the different phases of the evolution of the story. In fact, it is not that we have thus arbitrarily arranged all the accessible documents: it is they, which, when interrogated on a definite, capital point, have spontaneously and without any violence or solicitation on our part, arranged themselves in the order indicated above. As far as the images are concerned, this series is not only in conformity with their historic succession on the whole: it takes into account, in a surprising manner, their proximity as well as their aloofness in time, grouping together at the beginning the four which resemble each other, and reserving the sole variant to quite at the end. Then, as regards the texts, the impression of confidence and security, which arises from this spontaneous classification, would be still further increased, if we made our inquiry apply equally to such or such other accessory episodes of the legend. It is not, indeed, the manner of giving the tusks only, it is a whole group of concomitant details, which concur in determining theoretically, for one who knows how to read them, the order of priority of the various narratives. Take the one which comes at the head of the list, that is, the rhymed account of the Jātaka; you will observe that there everything takes place in accordance with the customary rules of elephant-hunting. The hunter hides in a ditch; at the cry of the wounded animal all his companions flee; remaining alone in the presence of the man, the elephant advances to kill him: the fact that it stops on recognizing on him the colour of the monastic coat is the sole sign of the Buddhist adaptation of the ballad. Beginning with the *Lieu tu tsi king* (nº 6), it is no longer sufficient that the clothes of the hunter should be naturally of a reddish-brown, like those of that hunter (¹) from whom Buddha formerly borrowed his first monk’s coat : henceforward the man will deliberately disguise himself as a monk, in order to inspire confidence in his prey. But, since he now employs this infallible means of approaching within easy reach, there is no longer need for him to hide in ambush : and in fact, beginning with the *Kalpadrumâvadâna* (nº 8), he ceases to have recourse to this obsolete proceeding. At the same time, as he has approached openly, it will be necessary that by a refinement of pity his victim should defend him against the vengeance of his first wife, if not from the rest of the herd : this is what the Bodhisattva fails not henceforth to do (nº 9-11). Soon — with nº 10 — scruples are aroused in the mind of the hunter, thus protected : he no longer dares to lay his sacrilegious hand on the tusks of the « Great Being », for fear that it may fall from his body. Finally, in the *Sûtrâlaṅkâra* (nº 11), to these interested fears is added a real and too legitimate repentance. Thus is seen how a striving after increased edification has by degrees modified a whole concordant assemblage of details : and so it is not, as might be imagined, for an isolated reason, but by a whole sheaf of proofs, if we had time to consider them more closely, that the order of the preceding table would be justified.