Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s18: The Śyāma (Sāma) Jātaka

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s18

Language: English

The Śyāma (Sāma) Jātaka

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The story is painted in four episodes on the right wall of Cave X, behind pillars 11 to 15.

THE principal events shown in this fresco tally in considerable detail with the version given in the Jātaka.² Commencing from the left side, we notice the Rājā of Benares, Piliyakkha, shooting an arrow. He is accompanied by five fully dressed attendants, whose headgear is like his own, and by five other retainers who are scantily dressed, wearing only a loin-cloth. They are, however, armed with spears and bows like the other attendants, who are fully dressed. Three of these soldiers are further armed with shields of rhinoceros-skin, the wrinkles of which have been shown by the painter in a conventional manner. The shape of the shield is somewhat unusual, being round at one end and gradually increasing in width lengthwise. The horse of the rājā, from which he has alighted to take aim, is seen behind him. It is a stout animal, fully harnessed, except for stirrups which are not found even in the later frescoes of Ajanta.¹ The legs of the horse are rather clumsily drawn, and as the portrayal of horses is always poor at Ajanta, it appears that this animal was not a favourite subject with the artists of that place. In contrast to it the figure of the rājā shows much skill and a close acquaintance of the artist with archery. In drawing the string of the bow the right hand almost touches the ear, while the left arm is stretched at full length. The rājā, further to exert himself to the full, has bent his left knee and stretched the right leg behind. The tension of the muscles can be seen in the original fresco indicated by brush-lines near the joints of the elbow. The rājā is wearing a long coat with short sleeves and has a girdle round his waist. There are two banana trees in front of the rājā towards the right side of the painting, and from the top of one of them a male figure, apparently a forest-spirit,² is making a sign to the rājā not to shoot the arrow. But the warning evidently came too late, for in the next episode, painted between the two banana trees, we see the young Śyāma holding a pitcher of water on his left shoulder, while the poisoned arrow shot by the rājā has wounded him in the right side and its point has come out from the left, having pierced his heart. The rājā is seen close to him repenting his folly and taking a vow to serve the blind parents of Śyāma with all the devotion of the latter during the rest of their lives. The figure of Śyāma has been drawn with all the grace of youth.

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² No. 540 (Cowell and Rouse, vi. pp. 38-52). The story may be summarized as follows: Once the Bodhisattva was born in a miraculous way as the son, named Suvaṇṇa-Sāma (Śyāma), of a hunter and his wife, who had renounced the world and were living the life of anchorites. It so happened that for a sin committed in former times the parents lost both their eyes, and they became entirely dependent upon their young son. From that time Śyāma supplied all their wants and took the utmost care of his helpless parents. Once when Śyāma went to the river to fetch water, the king of Benares, who was out hunting in the forest, came to the river from which Śyāma had just filled his water-jar, and through mere curiosity to find out what kind of being the latter was, let fly a poisoned arrow and fatally hit the Bodhisattva. Hearing that the Great Being was lamenting the fate of his blind parents now deprived of his care, the king promised to take his place and take care of them. Fortunately in the end, by the intervention of a goddess, not only was Śyāma restored to life, but the blind parents regained their sight.

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¹ The various parts of the harness are almost the same as those shown on the horses painted in the Mahā-janaka Jātaka, Cave I, and Vidhura-paṇḍita Jātaka, Cave II. The frescoes of the latter two caves, however, belong to the fifth century A.D. Ajanta, i. 19 (f.n. 3), and ii. 40.

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² According to the Jātaka, Bahusodari, a daughter of the gods, who dwelt in the Gandamādana mountain, loved Śyāma like a son. She was grieved to see him wounded, and ultimately by her solemn asseveration succeeded in overpowering the poison of the arrow in Śyāma's body and in restoring him to life (Cowell, vi. 47). But here the figure represented on the tree is male and not female as in the Jātaka.

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In the third episode we notice the blind parents feeling the wounded body of Śyāma before making the solemn asseveration in concert with Bahusodarī, the goddess, whose miraculous power restored not only Śyāma to life but the eyesight of his blind parents. Śyāma thus restored to life is seen addressing the rājā, who is astonished by the miracle. This state of mind has been indicated by the stoop of the rājā's body and the lowering of his arms. Close to the rājā is another figure, which may be that of the spirit who warned the rājā against injuring Śyāma.³

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³ Below the figures of the blind parents of Śyāma the head of a Buddha with two attendants may be seen. The latter figures have been much damaged by the effect of moisture; but they are, however, of a much later date, probably of the sixth century A.D.

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According to the Jātaka, during Śyāma's residence in the forest deer became much attached to him, and they followed him when he went out to gather fruit or fetch water for his blind parents. In the fresco they have been shown running towards the cottage of Śyāma, when he was wounded by the arrow shot by the rājā, as if to inform his blind parents of the mishap. The galloping of the deer has been shown in a very faithful manner, and although the colours are somewhat faint, the outlines can be made out (XXIX b). The reconstruction of a pair of these deer, as reproduced by Griffiths (i, Fig. 24, p. 13), gives a fair idea of the skill of the artists of Ajanta in painting the denizens of the forest, particularly those which are associated with the life of the Buddha in his previous births.

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In the fourth or last episode we see Śyāma sitting on a deer-skin in front of his cottage and teaching ‘the ten duties of a king and the five precepts’ to the rājā, who is listening to the sermon of the Bodhisattva with attention.¹ In front of Śyāma are also a buck and a doe gazing at him with meek affection.

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¹ The painter has shown a quiver full of arrows on the back of the rājā as a part of his accoutrement.

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The design of the cottage may interest the student of early Indian architecture. It has a circular base with a vaulted roof of the same shape. The wall of the base comprises a framework of upright wooden posts with circular bands of cane or bamboo round the posts in the middle as well as at the top, whence the vault of the roof springs. The panels formed by the vertical positions of the posts and the horizontal courses of the curvilinear bands have been covered with leaves of trees. The door has a curvilinear lintel in the style of the architraves of the toraṇas of the religious buildings of those days. The cottage is built at the edge of a pond, in which ducks and lotus-plants may be seen.

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The story in the Jātaka, besides the charm of narration, has certain dramatic qualities, which the artist has admirably reproduced in the fresco. For instance, the foolish whim of the rājā to ascertain the nature of Śyāma—‘Is he a god or a nāga?’—the fortitude of the latter, the wailing of Śyāma’s parents, the nimble movement of the deer, and above all the note of affection and love which unites even animals with human beings. The figure of Śyāma carrying the pitcher of water has all the grace which Greek sculptors gave to their statues of gods; while the head of the father of Śyāma indicates the ‘pathos’ which we find in the Italian paintings of the renaissance period, notably in the portraits of Jesus Christ. The figures of deer are a fine example of animal study. The fresco has no inscription; but the story represents a period of Buddhist mythological literature which for its rich imagery and highly conventionalized form of religious precepts cannot be placed earlier than the Christian era. Like the Ṣaḍ-Danta Jātaka fresco painted on the rock-wall next to it, this fresco may belong to the third or the fourth century A.D.