Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s39: A Rājā Distributing Alms: Not Identified

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s39

Language: English

A Rājā Distributing Alms: Not Identified

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*The subject is painted in Cave XVII on the back wall of the veranda near its left end, above the small door. As the colours of the fresco have faded it is reproduced in monochrome only.*

ALMSGIVING being the first of the Ten Perfections of the Buddhist faith, the quality of charity is emphasized in a large number of stories connected with the previous lives of the Buddha, as a human being, as an animal, or even as a reptile. The story represented in this fresco shows a large crowd of ascetics and mendicants to whom food and other gifts are being offered, the latter including a necklace of jewels and two horses. These two presents may tempt one to identify the story with some episodes of the *Viśvantara* (*Vessantara*) *Jātaka*, in which the young prince Viśvantara, when he was four or five years old, gave away to his nurses a costly necklace which King Sanjaya, his father, had had made for him at a cost of a hundred thousand pieces of money.¹ Viśvantara also gave the horses of his chariot to four Brahmans, who had been unable to be present at the gift of the Seven Hundreds, and who followed him when they heard that King Sanjaya had banished him from his realm on account of the prince having given to some Brahmans a miraculous white elephant which could cause rainfall at the time of a drought.² The riderless horses and the necklace are clear in the fresco, and among the persons desirous of receiving the latter gift are a one-eyed monk, a Parthian or Scythian soldier, and a woman with a young child on her waist. Griffiths has reproduced a reconstruction of the figure of this lady in order to show the manner in which women carry their children in India.³

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¹ The *Jātaka* further states that when the king was informed of the gift he had another necklace made for Viśvantara. The prince, although a child, gave away the latter necklace also to his nurses, and repeated the gift nine times over, for Sanjaya continued to have the necklaces made for his son to develop his generous mind. *Jātaka*, vi, 251.

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² Ibid., 252 and 265.

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³ *Paintings of Ajanta*, i, 34, fig. 71.

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To begin with the description of the scene: On the left side of the fresco there is a king sitting with his wife on a throne, placed near an areca-nut tree. A young girl and a child are bringing trays of offerings to the royal pair. The hair of the girl and of the child is beautifully bedecked with flowers and ribbons. The features of the girl are like those of the aborigines of the Deccan at the present day. The drawing of the head of the queen has been damaged, but such parts as are intact show her to be beautiful, the features being fine. The features of the king on the contrary are coarse, and he has raised his right hand in the *abhaya mudrā*, as if he were assuring the Brahman who stands in front of him that his various demands will be fulfilled. The attitude of the latter shows him to be both covetous and impatient, for he is holding the tips of the fingers of his left hand with those of his right, thus indicating that he is enumerating his demands. To show his greedy look, the painter has placed high lights on his face.

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Behind the Brahman there are two guards, one of whom is wearing a long coat while the other holds a whip. There was another guard who held a long staff in his hand, but his figure has perished owing to the decay of the fresco. The upper part of the staff can, however, be seen clearly. The torso of a *chaurī*-bearer can also be traced, between the throne and the covetous Brahman. The guards are controlling the entry of the ascetics, who seem to be eager to present themselves before the king. To the right of the guard holding the whip is an ascetic who has stretched his hand forward, probably to indicate that he wants to beg something from the king. His features are regular, but the general expression of the face betrays a cunning heart. Behind the ascetic there are two more, accompanied by two children with long unkempt hair. The latter two ascetics have long, demure faces, and they resemble, in regard to both their attire and general looks, the *sādhus* of the present day. The children have some importance attached to them, for both of them have umbrellas over their heads, these being emblems of sovereignty. Will it be stretching the imagination too much to identify the children with Jāli and Kaṇhājinā, the son and daughter respectively of Viśvantara, whom he had given away as an act of charity to the avaricious Brahman Jūjaka? The Brahman, although planning to get a handsome reward from King Sanjaya, the grandfather of the children, by restoring them to him, maltreated the children on the way, tying them up with osiers and leaving them on the ground every evening while he himself rested on the top of a tree from fear of wild animals. The *Jātaka* adds that gods watched over the children and offered them food and comfort befitting their dignity.¹ The two demure *sādhus* who accompany the children may be gods in disguise, while the shrewd Brahman, to the right of the guard with the whip, may be Jūjaka. Behind the ascetic conducting the younger child there is another ascetic who is holding an umbrella over the child. Both the umbrellas are square in shape, apparently made of wood and covered with leaves of trees or with matting.

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¹ *Jātaka*, vi, 270-300.

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To the right of the last scene are the two riderless horses with two men between, and farther to the right two more male figures, representing wayfarers, to whom a royal servant is offering food or drink from a round vessel. Below the two wayfarers there is the head of a boy or a dwarf, but farther down nothing can be traced, for the fresco at that place has completely perished. The two male figures between the horses and the two wayfarers, taken together, may be the four Brahmans to whom Viśvantara made the gift of the horses of his chariot.²

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² *Supra*, p. 71.

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Higher up is a servant taking a jewel-necklace out of a box. It has been mentioned above that three persons are eager to obtain the gift, a one-eyed *sādhu*, who has pushed close to the servant holding the necklace, a Parthian soldier, and a young lady with a baby on her waist. The young lady has raised her forefinger as a warning that none deserves the gift better than herself. The elaborate *jaṭā* and the vivid features of the *sādhu* exhibit a highly developed art. The head of the Parthian has been damaged in the picture, thus the expression of his face cannot be studied, but the eyes of the young lady indicate considerable eagerness to possess the ornament. She is wearing a half-sleeved jacket of a material with floral design. The Parthian wears a conical cap, which is divided by longitudinal ribs into four facets.

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In the middle of the picture at the top there is a canopy, below which five monks are sitting. They are apparently the holy men of the place who command the respect of the king. They are seated on square stools with circular lathe-turned feet. The canopy appears to be of cloth, and like the *shāmiyāna* of modern times it is set up on bamboo-poles, the knots of which are visible. The triangular design of the fringe of the *shāmiyāna* is also interesting, for such fringes are in use even to-day. Two ladies are serving meals to the holy personages and a servant is bringing water in metal or earthen pitchers, which are hung by means of slings from the ends of a curved stick held on his back and shoulder. Another servant is distributing food to four more ascetics, one of whom is blind. Such an assemblage of *sādhus* and mendicants on ceremonial occasions is a common sight in Indian cities even now. The servant who is distributing food is dressed in a striped *dhoti*. At the right end of the scene, near the door, is an amazon holding a sword in her right hand and a long curvilinear shield in her left. She has a strip of cloth as breast-band, otherwise the upper part of her body is nude. At the extreme right end of the picture is a doorway in which a guard, who holds a long stick, is standing.¹

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¹ Below this scene to the left of the small door, in the middle of the wall, is an inscription painted in red. It consists of two lines. According to Dr. Chakravarti the writing is of the 5-6th century A.D. Appendix, p. 87.