The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.s1.117

c11.s1.117

Let us sum up : the principal wall of the first gallery of Boro-Budur is decorated with 240 bas-reliefs, arranged in two rows; all those of the upper row have already been identified by the help of the *Lalita-vistara*; thanks especially to the *Divyâvadâna*, the same may now be said of two thirds of those of the lower row. This recapitulation of the results obtained not only encourages us to hope for the fortunate completion of this enterprise in a relatively near future : it also allows us to discern the ways and means to the ultimate success, as well as the difficulties which we shall continue to encounter. Among the first of these we must naturally place the absence of satisfactory reproductions. The long series which we have just examined would doubtless have been recognized long ago, as were immediately the scenes, in two or three pictures, of the *jâtakas* figured on the opposite wall, if the published drawings had been perfectly exact. But a slight inattention — such as, in the story of Maitrakanyaka, the change of sex of a person, or, in that of Rudrâyaṇa, the transformation of a monk into a Buddha — is, as may be conceived, sufficient to put us off the scent, and forces archæologists who have not direct access to the originals to abandon the most judiciously chosen clue. We must, therefore, rejoice that the Government-General of the Dutch Indies has recently sanctioned the project of photographing all the sculptures still existing at Boro-Budur. Doubtless it will, with its accustomed generosity, not fail to distribute copies among the various societies for oriental studies. On this condition alone will the enigmas which still resist, although invaded on all four sides at once, finally yield to the collective researches of students of Buddhism; in the meantime we cannot legitimately reproach the latter for having left so long unexplained a monument of this importance.