The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c9.227

c9.227

Two of these, at the top, reproduce exactly the attendants of plate XXV, 2, including the arches which shelter them. Towards the middle of the stele two others, ensconced under two symmetrical edifices, seem to be copied from the top corners of plate XXVI, 1; these are, probably, Bodhisattvas, and perhaps it is the same with the two meditating persons placed obliquely in their frames on both sides of the head of the central Buddha. Among the other gods, two clasp their raised left knees in their arms, as in plate XXVI, 2; two others hold books, as in plate XXV, 2; others, full-face or in profile, hold flowers, take their chins in their palms, raise or join their hands; one of them, towards the top, to the left of the spectator, prepares to throw flowers, which an assistant, likewise with a halo, presents to him in a basket, etc. All of them, with their seats and their pavilions, when they have such, are supported in the air on lotuses.