The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.s1.60

c11.s1.60

Çibi-jātaka. — We should say the same of those which we might propose for the ten bas-reliefs which continue the series as far as the western staircase, excepting the sixth (L., pl. LXXI, 112). It seems indubitable that this latter represents the essential episode of the Çibi-jātaka, that is to say, that previous life in which the future Buddha ransomed a dove from a falcon at the price of an equal weight of his flesh (¹). At least, nothing is wanting to the scene, neither the Bodhisattva seated in his palace, nor the bird of prey perched on a neighbouring tree, nor the pigeon, which appears twice, once placed on the back of the throne and once in one of the plates of the scales (pl. XXXVI, 2). This time the bas-relief would be sufficient for its own interpretation. We feel how rare is such a case among all these sculptures; and the greater number of those of the upper row — which in the south-west corner extend from the birth of Çâkya-muni to the four excursions which determined his vocation — are not more expressive.