The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.s1.59

c11.s1.59

18-20. But from this moment a certain hesitation begins to manifest itself between the text and the bas-reliefs; and immediately the uncertainty in our identifications reappears. According to the *Divyâvadâna*, Mândhâtar after the battle asks : « Who is conqueror? » — « The king », is the reply of his ministers; whereupon the infatuated king carries his presumption so far as to wish to dethrone Indra, in order to reign alone in his place. But this time he has gone too far. Scarcely has he conceived this thought than he is thrust from the height of the heavens down to the earth; and he has hardly time, before he dies, to pronounce a few edifying words concerning the excess of his blind ambition. Consequently no. 18 (L., 96), which is quite analogous to no. 15, should represent the last consultation of the king with his minister; no. 19 (L., 98) should be dedicated to the last words which he pronounces after his fall, while on the left Çakra, standing and with a halo, should turn away from him; then finally no. 20 (L., 100) should show us his funeral and, as befits a cakravartin, the depositing of his ashes in a stûpa. But these explanations, plausible though they may be, have not the obviousness of the preceding.