The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c16.23

c16.23

The next relief (fig. 128) which also comes from Swāt¹ and is now in the Calcutta Museum, is of a very different style. The principle underlying its composition is much the same as that of figs. 127 and 129, but here the decorative element has been accentuated by increasing the number of figures and so arranging them that they produce a tapestry-like pattern of light and dark such as we are familiar with in reliefs of the Sāñchī gateways (cf. figs. 7 and 10*b*, above), though in the earlier work the effect is more natural and spontaneous. That fig. 128 dates from the Later Maturity Period there can be no question. It is patent in every detail: in the border of sea monsters ridden by Amorini; in the line of floating ‘angels’ above the assemblage; in the smooth girlish faces of the celestials showering down their flowers and glorifying the Blessed One; in the statue-like figure on the couch, and in the exquisitely fine carving of the figures—carving such as we have already remarked on the canopies of figs. 125 and 126 and that we shall meet again in many of the contemporary images and architectural members (e.g. figs. 137-9 and 145-7). Such miniature-like carving is more suited to ivory than to stone and it was in all probability imitated from ivory work of the period. As to the actors in this scene, note the unusual appearance and position of the bearded Vajrapāṇi seated beside Subhadra, the Buddha's last convert, in front of the couch, and note the tall monk holding a fly-whisk at the Buddha's head, whom Foucher identifies with Upavāna. The monk holding a staff on the extreme left is no doubt Mahākāśyapa, and the nude figure beside him the Ājivika who had given him the news of the Buddha's death. The monk who has fallen on his knees at the foot of the couch is presumably Ānanda, and the one raising him from the ground Anuruddha. The tall princely-looking couple on the extreme right must, I think, be Indra and his consort, not Malla nobles as Foucher was inclined to think. This I infer from the *vajra* carried by the male figure in his left hand, a detail which Foucher's photograph probably failed to disclose.