Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s44: The Story of the Furious Elephant Nālāgiri

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s44

Language: English

The Story of the Furious Elephant Nālāgiri

The story is painted above the two windows to the right of the main door on the back wall of the veranda of Cave XVII. The first scene, showing the palace and royal stables, is reproduced in monochrome (LXXIII), and the next scene, representing the Buddha in the street, in colour (LXXIV).

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IN the *Vinaya Piṭaka* the story is given in considerable detail, and the main incidents of it agree with those delineated in this fresco.¹ Beginning from the left side of Plate LXXIII, there is a palace which has two stories. In the upper story a king is sitting with a monk on an elaborately carved throne. The king has been identified with Ajātaśatru, and the person dressed like a monk with Devadatta. The latter is suggesting certain plans to the king and has raised two fingers of his right hand to enforce his argument, a gesture still common in India. The king, who is a short corpulent figure, has made another characteristic Indian gesture with his right hand indicating uncertainty. The head of Devadatta is damaged in the fresco, but that of the king is comparatively better preserved, and the features represent a mixed racial type: the nose is sharp, the mouth narrow but with thick lips, and the eyes almond-shaped and fairly large. In the jewellery pearl-strings are prominent; they may be noticed in the ear-rings also. Behind the king’s throne there are three ladies. The hair of these ladies has been dressed and decorated in different styles. The lady in the middle is of short stature, and she is wearing a jacket with full sleeves. To the left of the throne is a maid who is looking at the king with considerable astonishment.

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¹ A summary of the story based on Rhys Davids and Oldenberg’s translation is given here: Devadatta, the envious and wicked cousin of Gautama, possessed certain influence over Ajātaśatru, the king of Rājagriha. With the help of the latter Devadatta made several attempts to kill the Buddha, but they all proved unsuccessful. In one of these attempts he asked the elephant-keepers of the royal stables to let loose the furious elephant Nālāgiri when the Buddha passed with his disciples through the streets of Rājagriha. As Devadatta held out promises of high promotion in their ranks, the elephant-keepers agreed to unchain Nālāgiri at the time of the Buddha’s visit. On the following day when the Master entered the city, his disciples noticed the furious elephant rushing towards them, and being seized with fright they entreated the Buddha to quit the city. The Great Being, however, retained his calm, and when Nālāgiri, after having caused great panic in the street, approached him, he exercised such an influence on the animal that instead of doing any harm it prostrated itself before the Master. The latter stroked its head kindly and admonished it to behave in such a manner as to attain eternal bliss. *Vinaya Texts, Sacred Books of the East*, vol. xx, pp. 247–50.

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Below the royal apartments in the upper story there are two rooms on the ground floor in which the inmates of the palace are shown in pairs. In the apartment to the left of the door

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PLATES LXXIII-LXXIV

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a young noble, prince or minister, is talking to a princess. The gesture, a loop made by his thumb and forefinger, suggests that his mind is in a puzzled state. The lady who is listening to the talk of the chieftain has an expression of anxiety on her face, which is confirmed by the way in which she has placed the forefinger of her left hand on her chin. The drawing of these two figures shows imagination as well as highly developed technical skill. The headgear of the lady is similar to that of the flying figure in the previous subject (Plate LXXII). In the other apartment, on the left, two ladies may be noticed talking together. Their faces bear an expression of sorrow, apparently due to their having heard of the plan which Devadatta has suggested to the king for murdering the Buddha. The curls of the hair of the lady standing close to the pillar are very effective.

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From the doorway of the palace a *bhikshu* is passing to the outer court, in the upper part of which are the royal stables. The head of the *bhikshu* is damaged; but the way in which his right hand is stretched out is very characteristic, and he holds something in his palm. In the lower part of the court are some figures, representing apparently the royal guards and the keepers of the stables. As the fresco is badly damaged at this place, only the torsos of these figures can be traced. They are looking towards the stables, and their backs only are visible. One of them is armed with a short curved sword; another has a large curvilinear shield with a check-pattern on its face. From the openings of the stables the heads of three horses may be seen. At the extreme left end the head of an elephant may also be made out. The left ear, the two eyes, and portions of the forehead and trunk are intact, but the rest of the drawing has completely perished. At the right end of the court the outer gate of the palace is seen. It has massive doors of timber, and is further strengthened by cross-bands of iron. Doors of this type are still in vogue in India.

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Passing on to Plate LXXIV and starting from the top left corner, we notice that the outer gate of the palace opens on a street which has a row of shops on one side. The shops have awnings of cloth or bamboo matting in front of them, such as are seen in the bazars of India today for protection against sun and rain. They are fixed to the wall above the openings of the shops by nails with square heads. The outer ends of the awnings are supported on wooden poles, which are kept at various angles according to the exigencies of weather. Above the shops is a row of balconies, behind which are apparently the dwelling apartments, occupied by shopkeepers or other people of the city. The awning of the first shop was probably dislodged by the furious elephant, which is seen in front of it. The shopkeeper is setting the awning in position. To the right of the shopkeeper another man is looking at the elephant with an expression of fright on his face. Behind the elephant is a dark person riding on a grey horse, who has raised his arm by way of alarm. The horse has a complete head-stall like that used at the present time. In front of this rider there was another with a brown complexion whose bust and the hand in which he holds the reins are quite clear. Behind the elephant, on the opposite side of the street, there is another rider with long dishevelled hair who has also raised his hand to warn the people. The neck and head of his horse are visible, and they show that the animal is of a bay colour. Behind the latter rider there is another wearing a peaked cap of Persian design. Only the grey neck of his horse is visible, the head being concealed by another subject painted in the lower part of the fresco. The elephant has caused considerable havoc in the street, for a man is held up between his tusks and the neck of a grey horse is encircled by the lower part of his trunk. The horse seems to be in a state of great agony, for it has opened its mouth and exposed the teeth as if to cry. The elephant is of gigantic size, and the painter, further to show that he belongs to the royal stables, has decorated him with pearl ornaments, placing them round his trunk, forehead, and neck. Among other adornments are bunches of yak's hair attached to his ears and ribbons and flags tied round his body. The animal is of a light grey colour.

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The panic caused by the letting loose of the elephant can be judged by a running figure whose legs are visible on the shops-side of the street. The gestures of the ladies watching the scene from the first two balconies from the left also express anxiety and concern. Of the two ladies in the first balcony, the fair one has placed her hand on her breast, and the other, who is of a dark complexion, has turned the fingers of her hands emotionally on one side to express feelings of uncertainty regarding the safety of the life of the Buddha. In the second balcony also are two ladies, and the fair one has placed her hand on her head, another characteristic gesture indicating dismay. In this balcony the other lady is in a pensive mood, as is shown by the manner in which her chin rests on her hand, and also by the gesture of her right hand.

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A little farther on, in the same street, the elephant is seen again. He has prostrated himself before the Buddha, who is stroking the head of the animal with feelings of love. This agrees with the version given in the *Vinaya Texts*.¹ Close to the Buddha, on his right, is a monk who is looking at the Master with surprise. He may be identified with Sāriputta, for his name is mentioned in the *Vinaya Texts* where the various evil plans of Devadatta to murder the Buddha and to establish himself in the Master's place are described.² The Buddha is shown standing on a lotus, and he as well as Sāriputta hold begging-bowls in their left hands, which shows that they had entered the city to collect alms. Behind the Buddha are two men, whose positions in the fresco indicate that at first through fright they ran away from the street, but on seeing that the furious elephant has placed his head and rolled trunk at the feet of the Great Being they turn their necks and look at the Master with surprise. The inmates of the shops also have been impressed by the miracle, and they are adoring the Buddha. They have joined their hands and stretched them towards the Buddha in the usual Indian style. The pose of the figure nearest the Buddha is the most devotional: his head and back are bent in the act of worship. The smartly dressed ladies watching the scene from the balconies hold flowers and garlands in their hands to shower them on the elephant and on the Buddha.

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¹ *Sacred Books of the East*, xx, 249.

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² *Ibid.*, pp. 240 ff.

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The heads of some figures may be traced behind the elephant and also on the other side of the street facing the shops. In drawing the figures of the ladies sitting in the balconies, the artist has exhibited both imagination and technical skill, but the composition of the entire subject would appeal more to a lover of the legend than to the lover of art, for the two large representations of the elephant have covered almost the entire space, and the figures of the Buddha and his chief disciple show little spontaneity or freedom of expression, qualities which are essential to art of a high class.

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In the lower part of the fresco another subject was painted, a portion of which, to the left of the window in the veranda, can be made out. It represents a building with a pillared hall in front and a walled apartment behind, the door of which opens on the hall. Above the pillars is a sloping *chhajjā*, and higher up a triangular ornamental frieze, which in the middle has pillars and an opening in the style of the window of the *chaitya* cave 10 (Viśvakarmā) at Ellora. In the sides of the frieze figures of geese with ornamented tails may be seen, while above the window is drawn the head of a tiger or lion which is more ornamental than realistic.

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In the hall a lady of high position is shown leaning on a bolster. There is another lady sitting quite close to her. Two maids can be made out behind the bolster and two more in front, who are standing near the pillars. A male figure is shown in the doorway leading to the inner apartment. He may be a servant. There was another figure, probably representing a maid, whose bust is broken, but the lower part of the body can be traced. The drawing has become very faint, and it is difficult to identify the subject or to study its artistic merits, except for the coiffures of the ladies, which exhibit considerable decorative skill.

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the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Constantine are thus represented as the immediate consequences of his conversion. But the historian, who must be content with the evidence of the times, will not be easily persuaded that the zeal of Constantine was not stimulated by the hope of political advantage, or that the conversion of the empire was not the result of a long and gradual process of change.

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The conversion of Constantine is a subject which has been discussed with great warmth by the historians of the church, and it is not surprising that their opinions should be divided. The panegyrists of the emperor, who were eager to celebrate his piety and his zeal, have represented his conversion as a miraculous event, which was confirmed by the appearance of a cross in the sky, and by the victory which he obtained over his rival Maxentius. The critics, on the other hand, who are less disposed to believe in the supernatural, have sought to explain the conversion of Constantine by the influence of his mother Helena, or by the political necessity of securing the support of the Christians, who were already a powerful and influential body in the empire.

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It is probable that the truth lies between these two extremes, and that the conversion of Constantine was the result of a combination of motives, in which the influence of his mother, the political advantages of the Christian religion, and the genuine conviction of his own mind, all played a part. The character of Constantine was complex and contradictory, and it is not easy to determine the precise nature of his religious beliefs. He was a man of great ambition and of great ability, and he was always ready to adapt his conduct to the circumstances of the time.

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The conversion of Constantine was a turning point in the history of the Roman empire, and it had a profound influence on the development of the Christian church. The emperor, who had once been the persecutor of the Christians, became their protector and their patron, and he used his power to promote the interests of the church and to suppress the pagan religion. The conversion of Constantine was the beginning of a new era in the history of the world, and it is a subject which will continue to be discussed by historians for many years to come.