The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c7.28

c7.28

*The Legendary Scenes.* — Kindly bethink yourselves that in fact the Acquisition of Omniscience, the First Sermon and the Final Decease are, with the Nativity or the Vocation, the four chief episodes of the Buddhist legend. Now it is scarcely necessary to say that all the scenes at Sânchî are dedicated solely to the illustration of this legend. In their chronological order they will be divided naturally into three categories, according as their subject is borrowed from the previous lives, from the last life, or from times subsequent to the definitive death of the Blessed One.