Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s8: The Birth of the Buddha
Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v3.c12.s8
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The Birth of the Buddha
v3.c12.s8.1
Plate XIb
v3.c12.s8.2
*The story is painted on the back wall of the veranda, to the right of the antechamber, in Cave VII.*
v3.c12.s8.3
THE story is portrayed in two episodes. In the first Mahā-Māyā is shown lying on her bed, with four maids—two near her head and two near the feet—sitting along two sides of the bed, two on each side. Māyā has just had the dream regarding her pregnancy, which according to the Buddhist legend was the descending of a small white elephant from heaven who struck Mahā-Māyā on the right side and entered her womb. The white elephant is not visible in the fresco, but Māyā is lying on her left side and is dressed in a *sārī* of striped silk. To show her surprise after having the dream, the artist has painted her head raised from the pillow, resting on her hand with the arm placed on the pillow. Māyā wants to tell the maids what she has seen in the dream, but they seem to have fallen into deep slumber, burying their faces in the bed. There are doors at each end of the room in which Māyā is resting, and at the door near her feet the figure of a guard is visible. The door near her head probably leads to King Śuddhodana’s chamber, and in it we see a rājā and rānī talking together. This is apparently the second scene of the story, and here the painter has shown Māyā speaking to her husband regarding the dream. By the pernicious effect of fires the colours of the fresco have almost perished, but the figures can be made out with certainty, and thus the two episodes of the birth-story of the Buddha have been identified.¹
v3.c12.s8.4
¹ For the various incidents of the birth of the Buddha pp. 16-17 (f.n. 1).