The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c6.s1.18

c6.s1.18

The texts specify elsewhere that in this last existence the Bodhisattva had realised the perfection of « determination », in the life of Vidhura (XXII) that of « wisdom », in that of Mahâjanaka (XIX) of « heroism », in that of the ascetic with the lotus stems (XV) of « detachment », in that of the king of the monkeys (X) of « truth », in that of the stag (VIII) and the elephant with six tusks (VI) of « generosity » ; and we know from a detached fragment that at Barhut also was seen the birth in which, under the name of Prince Viçvantara, he attained by the gift of his goods, his children and even his wife, the acme of « charity ». Thus we recognize on our bas-reliefs some of the most celebrated jâtakas ; and of the ten cardinal virtues only « patience », « benevolence » and « equanimity » are not represented by name. Further, we must not forget that the researches of Cunningham have collected scarcely more than a third of the railing : the rest had been carried away and destroyed by neighbouring villagers, and this vandalism justifies the precaution, taken by the English archæologist, of transporting all that had survived to the Museum at Calcutta. Inversely, it is only right that I should warn you that we are far from having identified all the bas-reliefs which have been exhumed. We might draw up another list, almost as long, of those which still await (the greater number, but not all, for want of an inscription) a satisfactory explanation. Some motifs are evidently taken from jâtakas not to be read in the Pâli collection : and this is a salutary warning to us that the latter, considerable though it may be, is far from being complete. Besides, we might have drawn attention in passing to a number of discordances in detail, as regards the treatment of subjects certainly identified, between the prose part of this collection and the bas-reliefs, whilst we have remarked the almost literal harmony between a lapidary inscription and the text of one of the versified refrains known under the popular title of gâthâ (¹). But these are remarks which are of interest chiefly to specialists. I would mention only one point, namely, that they authorize us to believe that the sculptors of Barhut worked not in accordance with a given text, as did those of Boro-Budur, but according to a living tradition, as it echoed in their memory or was transmitted among them.