Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v2.c8.s21.16

v2.c8.s21.16

To the right of this scene is another, evidently enacted in an adjoining room of the palace, the ‘gaming hall’ of the *Jātaka*. In the latter scene Dhanañjaya is shown engaged in a game of dice with the *Yaksha* general Pūrṇaka. The dice-board is prominent in the middle. It has twenty-four divisions, in two rows. Three dice are lying in front of the king, and as his hand is stretched towards them, it appears that he has just thrown the dice. The upper part of the fresco being broken, the heads of the two kings who watched the game² are broken, and the features of Dhanañjaya himself are so faint that it is difficult to get an impression of his inner feelings from them. The delineation of his toes, which are contorted, however, shows the agitation of his mind at the defeat.