The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.s1.67

c11.s1.67

2. (L., 130). A king is seated in his palace; on his right a courtier holds in both hands a rectangular tablet : this must represent the letter which, in the first fire of his enthusiasm, the sovereign of Roruka resolved to write to his cousin of Magadha. Further, two suppositions are permissible : if the king represented the sender, his name is Rudrâyaṇa; if, as seems more natural, he is the addressee, he is Bimbisâra. We do not ask our sculptors to decide this by attributing to each of the two monarchs a characteristic physiognomy : that would be exacting too much from them.