The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c15.29

c15.29

The third example (fig. 102) presents an unusual scene. In the centre, the Bodhisattva, who has the attributes of Maitreya, the future Buddha, is seated cross-legged on his throne under an elaborate baldachin. His right hand is raised in the *abhaya-mudrā*, his left holds a flask. The roof of the baldachin is supported on tall pillars, to the upper halves of which winged Erotes or *yakshas* are clinging. To the right and left of the throne is a haloed deity seated, European fashion, on a chair, and standing behind them are other figures, now much mutilated but one at least of whom can be recognized by his halo as a celestial. The scene has been interpreted as the *saṃcodana* or Entreaty, when the gods besought the Bodhisattva to leave his princely home and family in Kapilavastu in order to become the Buddha and save mankind, but it seems more likely to represent that other occasion in the Tushita heaven when the gods entreated the future Buddha to return to earth. I make this suggestion because, if the scene was laid at Kapilavastu, we should have expected the Bodhisattva to be shown in his usual princely attire. On the other hand, if it was in the Tushita heaven, it was natural that he should be represented as Maitreya. The two seated deities may be Indra and Brahmā, but they are too mutilated to allow of certain identification. It is in these two seated deities in particular, with their well-proportioned build, tapering legs and small feet, that we recognize the close connexion with the two preceding reliefs.