The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.s1.65

c11.s1.65

*Rudrâyaṇâvadâna.* — First of all, we must state that we do not see any way of making the story on the stone begin at the corner of the western staircase, but only at the first reëntering angle after the face intersected by that staircase. Do the three first bas-reliefs on the left of the entrance, in which Çakra plays his accustomed rôle of *deus ex machinâ*, form a whole by themselves, or must they not rather be a continuation of those on the right? Or, on the contrary, may we not some day come to think that the story of Rudrâyaṇa also comprises a prelude omitted in the *Divyâvadâna*? Only the chance of reading some Indian text may some day tell us, even if we have not to await a solution by a Tibetan or a Chinese translation.