The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c9.203

c9.203

Here the lotus which serves as a seat for the teaching Buddha is supported by the two *Nâga-râjas*, Nanda and Upananda, who are visible only as far as the waist. The one on the right (in relation to Buddha) is of a curious type of Brahmanic ascetic, with his beard and voluminous chignon; he holds in his right hand an object which reminds us very much of the dolphin similarly carried by certain of his congeners (*cf. Art g.-b. du Gandhâra*, fig. 126), but which, in fact, seems to be nothing but the head of a serpent coming out of his neck. As for the one on the left, no less strange with his moustache and his striped hair, we cannot say whether he holds in his left hand a bent paddle or a hooded serpent (*cf. Arch. Surv. Rep., 1903-1904*, pl. LXVIII, *b*). On either side of the *Nâgas* kneel a monk and a nun, perhaps Maudgalyâyana and Utpalavarṇâ (*cf. above*, p. 174).