Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c5.s16: Buddha in Various Attitudes: Miracle of Śrāvastī(?)

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c5.s16

Language: English

Buddha in Various Attitudes: Miracle of Śrāvastī(?)

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*This subject covers the whole of the right wall of the antechamber; but as the fresco has decayed in several places only a portion of it is reproduced here in monochrome.*

THE artist has painted the figure of the Buddha in accordance with the religious canons, in different attitudes (*mudrās*).² The Great Being is dressed in robes of various colours, grey and green, and his right shoulder is in some figures covered and in some exposed. The treatment of the hair, the lobes of the ear, and the hands is conventional; the expressions of the face are stereotyped, while the bend given to the necks of some figures is rather inartistic. He is delineated both standing and seated, his head encircled by a halo, and cherubs are bringing offerings. The figures of the latter are delightful, but the really charming feature of the subject is the design of the lotus-stalks which entwine the Divine representations. The fancy and skill of the artist in depicting the different varieties of the lotus-flower in successive stages of bloom, with all the beauty of its delicate stems, are absolutely marvellous. In the enchantment of such an environment one can visualize the dream of the pious Buddhist, of a vision of the Master in a thousand forms in a heavenly orchard of lotuses of the purest colour and loveliest form.

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² The principal attitudes are (1) the *Dharmacakra* or Teaching, in which with the fingers of the right hand the tips of some of the fingers of the left hand are held. In the Viśvakarma cave at Ellora the figure of the Buddha is repeatedly carved in this attitude. He is holding the tip of the little finger of his left hand with those of his right, giving a chance to the uninitiated public to make the amusing remark that the god has cut his little finger and is holding it to relieve the pain. (2) *Dhyāna* or Meditative, in which both the hands are placed in the lap, one above the other, with the palms open. (3) *Abhaya* or Assurance, in which the right hand is raised with the elbow curved and palm exposed, and the left placed in the lap. And (4) *Bhūsparśa* or Earth-touching, in which the right hand hangs low with the palm exposed and the left is placed in the lap.

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The subject has been aptly identified by some scholars with the Great Miracle of Śrāvastī, in which the Master, to outwit the six wise heretics of Rājagriha, rose into the air and caused flames of fire and streams of water to issue forth alternately from his body. Afterwards, he appeared before the assembly seated in the attitude of meditation on a colossal lotus-flower, and made to spring from his body a multitude of Buddha figures in a variety of poses, sitting, standing, lying down, and walking.¹

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¹ *See Divyāvadāna*, XII, transl. by Burnouf, Introd., pp. 162 ff. and Rockhill's *The Life of the Buddha*, p. 79.

Cites (2)

Divyāvadāna — Sanskrit
Viswakarma Cave