A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c14.s2.34

c14.s2.34

The subjects of the pictures, as distinguished from the purely decorative devices, are almost exclusively Buddhist. They include, of course, numerous figures of Buddha and representations of sacred objects and symbols. The more complex compositions for the most part deal with either the incidents of the life of Gautama Buddha or those related in the Jātaka stories, which narrates the events of his former births. In at least two cases the Jātaka story is indicated beyond dispute by a painted label, but the fragmentary condition of the pictures renders difficult the identification of most of the scenes. There is, however, no difficulty in recognizing in Cave X the tale of the six-tusked elephant, and a few other legends may be identified with more or less certainty.¹ Miscellaneous edifying Buddhist subjects, not taken from the Jātaka collection, include the Litany of Avalokitesvara; the Wheel of Life, formerly miscalled the Zodiac; and, supposing the identification to be correct, the Landing of Vijaya in Ceylon—all in Cave XVII. If, as seems to be highly probable, Fergusson was right in interpreting a famous scene in Cave I as the record of an embassy from Khusrū Parvīz, King of Persia to Pulakesin II, King of the Deccan, about a. d. 626, the subject of one large wall-picture is of a secular character. Certain smaller pictures on the ceiling of the same cave evidently must be connected with the embassy scene.