Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s37.3

v3.c12.s37.3

THIS scene was identified by Burgess and his colleague Bhau Daji as the bedroom of the Future Buddha's wife wherein he appeared to have a last look at her and his newly born son Rāhula before his renunciation. But there is no figure of the Buddha in this scene nor in the next one, painted towards the left, in which a rājā and a rānī are seen talking together. Foucher has identified the former scene with that of the Conception, in which Māyā saw in a dream a white elephant entering her body from the left side, and the second scene with that of her relating the dream to King Suddhodana in the royal chamber. The absence of the figure of the Buddha makes Foucher's identification more likely, although the fresco representing the first scene is so much damaged that nothing except the lower part of the leg of a lady reclining on a couch is discernible.³ A round pillow with a striped cover, on which the foot of the lady rests, is, however, prominent. The figures of two maids, who have apparently fallen asleep by the sides of the couch, are also visible. One of them has her face towards the bed; the other, whose face is towards the front, has beautiful features, and the artist's imagination can be admired in giving her a very realistic pose. Her head is inclined on one side and rests on