Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s33: The Nigrodhamiga Jātaka, or the Story of the Sacred Deer Who Offered Himself as a Substitute to Save the Life of a Doe

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s33

Language: English

The Nigrodhamiga Jātaka, or the Story of the Sacred Deer Who Offered Himself as a Substitute to Save the Life of a Doe

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*The jātaka is painted on the wall of the front corridor, between the door and the second window on the right, in Cave XVII.*

THE painting represents five episodes, all mentioned in the Jātaka version (i, 39-42),³ but as the fresco is badly damaged in its lower part previous scholars have not been able to identify certain scenes. Beginning from the door side and proceeding towards the first window, a scene may be noticed in which a herd of thirteen deer is represented.

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³ The story given in the Jātaka (i, 39-42) may be summarized as follows: Once the Bodhisattva was born as a deer and dwelt in the forest, attended by five hundred other deer. He was called the King Banyan Deer. In the vicinity lived another deer who had an equally large attendant herd, and he was styled the Branch Deer. The king of Benares at that time was passionately fond of hunting and had venison served to him at every meal. ‘Every day he mustered the whole

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two stags, one of great size, with a spotted hide; he may be the Banyan Deer of the story (Plate L b). The other stag, whose head is damaged, only the horns being visible, may be the first deer’s companion, the Branch Deer. There are several young fawns close to their mothers, who are sitting or standing in characteristic attitudes. The herd is shown in the midst of a forest, or ‘the king’s pleasaunce’, with belts of hills in the background. On a crag a lion (?) is perched. Among the trees the banyan and the teak can easily be identified by their leaves. There is a gap in the fresco owing to the peeling off of the painted layer from the rock-wall, but the scene seems to continue on the top and the figure of a rājā is clear in the painting. He is riding on a horse whose head is visible although his body is destroyed. The heads of two attendants can also be descried. The rājā is dressed in a full-sleeved coat (*aṅrakhā*) of silk brocade (*jāmiwār*), a fabric which is still manufactured in Aurangābād. On the hills shown in the background four monkeys may be seen, one of whom is frowning at the other three. One of the latter, through fright, has taken shelter under the neck and breast of one of his companions. On the right side two peafowl with long tail-feathers and gorgeous plumes may be seen sitting on crags of conventionally represented hills. A little higher is a tree with rich foliage shown in bloom. At the back of the tree is a gate with a barrel-shaped roof. As the rājā shown lower in the scene has probably emerged from the gate, and as the royal chamber to be described presently is shown in the painting immediately above this scene, the subject may safely be identified as ‘the pleasaunce’ of the king, which must have been in the close vicinity of the palace and to which the rājā, according to the Jātaka, often resorted to shoot deer.¹

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¹ Jātaka, i, 39.

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Above, the painter has delineated several buildings of the palace, among which the one immediately above the last scene is the royal chamber (Plate LXX b). It is a pillared room, richly decked with tassels and curtains, which may be seen on the walls and also below the ceiling. The rājā is shown sitting on a throne with his consort, who is on his right hand. There is a lady standing behind the rānī and another sitting on the ground near the feet of the rājā and looking attentively at the royal pair. The poses of both ladies are very graceful, but as the fresco has become very black they cannot be discerned in the reproduction. In of his subjects, to the detriment of their business, and went hunting.’ His people thought that as their work suffered on account of their daily excursions with the king they had better manage so with the king they king’s own pleasaunce and that they themselves should drive into it a sufficient number of deer from the forest so that the king might have his daily meal of venison from them. The subjects and their king accordingly made this arrangement, and the deer driven to the pleasaunce included the King Banyan Deer and the Branch Deer. The king, when he resorted to his pleasaunce, noticed the Banyan Deer and the Branch Deer, both of whom were of a golden hue, and considering them too beautiful to be shot he told his servants not to kill them. Afterwards the king himself went regularly to the pleasaunce and shot a deer, or else his cook went and shot one. But in these attempts several deer were wounded and afterwards died. To avoid this disaster the Banyan Deer and the Branch Deer decided that lots should be cast to select a daily victim. Once the lot fell on a pregnant doe, and when the Banyan Deer heard of this he offered himself as a substitute and went to the place of slaughter and laid down his head on the block. The cook recognized the golden deer to whom immunity had been granted by the king and informed the latter of the incident. The king was much impressed by the spirit of ‘charity, love, and pity’ shown by the Banyan Deer, and he not only spared the life of the Banyan Deer but also granted immunity to the lives of all creatures. The Banyan Deer afterwards ‘established the king in the Five Commandments’. Cf. Mahāvastu, i, 359, and Sutrālaṅkāra, No. 70.

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front of the throne are, as usual, two dwarfs wearing rich ornaments. The head of one of them is turned half-way towards the front, while the other shows only his back and is facing the rājā and rānī. The sage of the court (the brahman minister) may be seen sitting on a low chair at one side of the throne. On the steps leading into the room a servant or cook is reporting something to a maid who is standing between the two pillars on the right side of the royal chamber. The servant has knelt down reverentially while addressing the royal maid. He may be the cook come to report about the charitable action of the golden stag whose life the king had declared to be immune.

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To the left of the royal chamber is a shāmiyānah under which a stag is shown sitting on a throne. But before describing this scene it will be best to narrate the events which the artist has represented in the kitchen-scene painted at the extreme left side of the fresco (Plate LXX a). The kitchen is a thatched building supported by wooden pillars. The roof slopes on both sides and rests on a framework of timber. Connected with the kitchen is a pillared apartment, which may either be the porch or a small dining-room attached to the kitchen. A stag can be seen standing in this apartment near the steps to which the king has gone after hearing the report of the cook (?). The king is accompanied by the sage of the court, the gesture of whose fingers indicates that he is saying something to the king. The two dwarfs of the court have also come with the king, and one of them, who is a female, has a small basket slung on her back. Close to this female dwarf there is a little girl who has brought flowers as an offering to the sacred deer. Behind her is the stalwart figure of a male attendant, who is holding the royal umbrella over the king.

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The pose of the king indicates dignity combined with solicitude. It may be of interest to quote here the portion of the Jātaka regarding the conversation which took place between the king and the Banyan Deer:

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King: ‘My friend the king of the deer, did I not promise you your life? How comes it that you are lying here?’
Banyan Deer: ‘Sire, there came to me a doe big with young, who prayed me to let her turn fall on another; and, as I could not pass the doom of one to another, I, laying down my life for her and taking her doom on myself, have laid me down here.’

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The stag in the kitchen-building is shown as if he has laid himself down and placed his neck on the block for slaughter. The figure of the stag has been painted with realistic effect. In front of the stag is the cook sitting on a low stool. He is surprised by the spirit of sacrifice shown by the sacred deer and sends a man to report the matter to the king, as has been mentioned already. Behind the cook is a servant who is placing sticks in an oven. There are several sets of pots arranged one above the other, and also big jars with lids above them. On one of these jars a tray is placed which contains bananas, probably raw, beans (or chilis), and karelas (Momordica charantia). Below, a bunch of three mūlis (radishes) with green leaves may also be seen. Pots are also hung in slings from the beams of the building. The design and the rope-work of the slings are of interest. In the kitchen behind the cook there is a maid, and close to her a male servant who has not realized the spirit of sacrifice of the Banyan Deer and holds his hands close to the horns of the deer lest he should attempt to run away.

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The kitchen-building and its equipment are extremely plain and show a great contrast to the pomp and grandeur to be noticed in the rich ornaments and costumes, the brilliant royal processions, and the impressive military expeditions.

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Between the royal chamber and the kitchen-building, a *shāmiyānā* can be seen under which a stag (the Banyan Deer) is sitting on a throne and probably teaching the king and queen the Five Commandments. The king and queen, full of respect for the Bodhisattva, are sitting on the ground and listening with great attention to his sermon. Among the audience are also two maids of the court, shown standing behind, and a male servant who is sitting on the ground near the feet of the king. He appears to be an aboriginal, and his features and the way in which he has decorated the hair of his head with flowers are noteworthy.

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The last scene of the story is painted in the upper part of the wall above the first window to the right of the door (Plate LXIX *c*). It shows a forest with a *stūpa* at its left end, and a large number of birds and four-footed animals, including deer, assembled before the *stūpa* to acknowledge their gratitude to the Bodhisattva through whose intercession the king of Benares had granted immunity to the lives of all creatures.¹ Through the heat and smoke of the fires of the *yogīs* who lived in the cave up to comparatively recent times the fresco has become very black and all the colours have been burnt out, but the figures of the deer, a *chītal*,² and a large variety of birds, chiefly aquatic, can be made out. The deer are shown running, the *chītal* is in a state of fright, and the birds take up different characteristic poses which exhibit the artist's careful study of the habits and movements of birds, and also his skill in painting them faithfully. The flock of storks, cranes, and ducks in the middle of the painting is particularly worth notice. Among the trees the *palāśa* (‘flame of the forest’), the teak, and the *samālū* (*Vitex trifolia*) can easily be recognized by their leaves.

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¹ *Jātaka*, i, 40.

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² A spotted deer, larger in size than the ordinary species and having a long neck.

Cites (3)

Jātakatthavaṇṇanā — Pāli
Mahāvastu — Sanskrit
Jātaka — Pāli