Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v2.c8.s20.3

v2.c8.s20.3

As the sculpture is somewhat conventional in character, it may not appeal to an artist, but the figures of the two female attendants in it who are holding the *chaurī* are quite graceful. The features of the principal figures, Hāritī and Pāñcika, would not have been so rough when covered with fine plaster, as they originally were. The sculptor has apparently been guided by tradition in giving them pot-bellies and hippopotamus-like limbs, for their cult was associated with abundance of food, wealth, and progeny.² Hāritī holds a purse in her right hand, and a child is seated on her left knee, the purse being symbolical of wealth, and the child of fecundity. It is interesting to note that in the Gandhāra sculpture the money purse is often held by her consort, Pāñcika, although in the Buddhist texts this *Yaksha* is never referred to as ‘Bestower of Riches’.³ In this sculpture Pāñcika holds a fruit, which, being broken, is difficult to identify. It may be a pomegranate, the symbol of fecundity, which is generally associated with Hārītī.¹ He has also an attendant, who holds a flower in her right hand and a bird (parrot?) in her left.² The bird and a lance are the distinguishing marks of Pāñcika in other places, but here he has no lance. Below, we see the children arranged in two groups. Each group is of five, thus figuratively representing the five hundred children of these two deities. Of the first group, three children are seen writing on tablets, while the remaining two are engaged in a boxing match, and the teacher, who is seated at the extreme right end in the sculpture, is flourishing a thick stick because of their misbehaviour.