A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c10.s1.37

c10.s1.37

The statues and small groups represent Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, or saints on the way to become Buddhas, besides minor deities of the populous Buddhist pantheon. The stone pictures, like the later painted pictures at Ajaṇṭā, deal with the infinite variety of subjects presented by the scriptures, legends, and traditions of the developed system of Buddhism, known as the *Mahāyāna*, or 'Great Vehicle'. That system practically deified Gautama the Buddha, as well as other Buddhas, and surrounded them with a crowd of attendant deities, including Indra or Sakra, Brahmā, and other members of the Brahmanical heavenly host, besides a multitude of attendant sprites, male and female, of diverse kinds and varying rank, in addition to human worshippers.