The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c9.78

c9.78

as the combined alternation of the two opposite wonders of water and fire : but it was not without reason that in 1880 Prof. Rhys Davids understood it to mean « making another appearance like unto himself ». In the Burmese narrative translated by Bigandet (¹) Buddha does, indeed, begin by making flames or streams gush forth alternately from the upper and lower parts of his body : but very soon he hastens to create a companion for his conversation and his walks, and sometimes it is his turn, and sometimes that of his double, to walk or to sit down, to question or to reply. It is curious to notice that the *Divyâvadâna* also makes the magically multiplied images of the Blessed One assume varied attitudes, and whilst some repeat afresh the marvels of water and fire, « others either ask questions or give answers to them ». It even goes so far as to introduce most unexpectedly, as an ending to the chapter, a dialogue between Buddha and another self, created expressly for this purpose (²). Thus it manifests at least a certain propensity to amalgamate the two successive moments which it at first endeavoured to distinguish, and to confuse the reduplication of the miracles with that of the images (³). But this is not all. In another passage of the same collection the reverend Piṇḍola Bhâradvâja relates to king Açoka this same miracle of Çrâvastî, of which he represents himself as an eye witness. Now he no longer even mentions the *yamaka-prâtihârya* : « And when, o! Great King, in order to triumph over the Tîrthyas, the great miracle was accomplished at Çrâvastî by the Blessed One, and there was created an array of Buddhas which mounted up to the heaven of the Akanishtha gods, at that time I was there, and I saw these sports of Buddha (¹) ». Here it is no longer a question of anything but the second miracle. Finally, we again find this latter, reduced to its most simple expression, in the *Buddhacarita* of Açvaghosha, whose descriptions are always so close to the figured monuments. According to him (so far as we can trust the English translation made by the Rev. S. Beal from the Chinese translation of the original Sanskrit) Buddha restricts himself to rising into the air and there remaining seated, and « diffusing his glory like the light of the sun, he shed abroad the brightness of his presence ». In this version — by a strange coincidence, but one which in our opinion it would be vain to seek to press further — the *mahâ-prâtihârya* quite assumes the characteristics of a Transfiguration : « His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white as the light (²) ».