Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s35.3

v3.c12.s35.3

In this plate (LIX), commencing from the top of the left side, the scene of Sujātā offering food to the Buddha is first noticed. The Master is shown standing, and he holds a bowl in his hand. The figures of four hermits can also be traced around him. In front of the Buddha is a lady holding a round vessel in her hand, which is apparently the vase of water mentioned in the legend.¹ Behind this lady is another sitting near the fire-place, and stirring the contents of a pot with a ladle. She is evidently Sujātā of the story cooking the milk-rice for an offering to the tree-deity. Her cows, whose number in the legend is reduced from one thousand to eight with a view to enriching their milk, are shown as four only in the fresco. They are to be noticed behind Sujātā. The four hermits, who are seen around the Buddha, may be the four guardian angels of the story, who mixed vital sap in the rice-milk to increase the nourishing quality of the dish. These hermits may also be identified with those monks who accompanied the Buddha during the six years of his austerities, and whom he had promised to initiate into the Doctrine after his enlightenment. As these figures have become somewhat faint, it is difficult to study their artistic features, but the identification of the story with the offering of Sujātā is clear enough and there remains no doubt about it.