The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c9.127.1

c9.127.1

(²) Cf. the procedure of distinction employed *ibid.*, figg. 152, 154-156, 164 *a* (cycle of the nativity), 197 (march to Vajrâsana), 212 (invitation to the preaching), 243 (preaching to the Trayastriṃças), 264 (descent from heaven), where we know that we have to deal at the same time with Çakra, the Indra of the Gods (cf. fig. 246), and with Brahmâ, the *Çikhin*. In the particular case with which we are concerned their positions are at times exchanged from one stele to another (cf. plate XXIV with plate XXV and p. 170, note 2), either because on this point the tradition was uncertain or It would take too long to enter further into the details of each variant; and besides on this point we may refer to the notices which accompany the plates : only, we should wish to be allowed to make three remarks of a general character. The first bears on the importance which already in the school of Gandhâra we have been led to attribute to the *lakshana*, or sign of recognition : it seems indeed that here we find a fresh proof of the antiquity and wide extension of this proceeding (¹). In this very case it is a lotus with a stem rising from the ground or from the waters, that serves as a distinctive mark for a whole series of monuments and has allowed us to follow the series for more than a thousand years, through the four corners of the peninsula.