Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s5.3

v4.c16.s5.3

THESE paintings until quite recently were concealed under a pall of smoke and dirt, but although the colours of the paintings are almost destroyed, the figures can be made out by the outlines of their drawings. On the left wall of the window the figure of the Buddha can easily be identified by his robe and the begging-bowl which he holds in his right hand (Plate VII *b*). In front of him is the figure of a woman with a child, who is looking at the Buddha with astonishment. The woman has been identified as Yaśodharā and the child as Rāhula, the wife and son of the Buddha. The painting refers to the visit of the Buddha to Kapilavastu after his ‘enlightenment’, when Yaśodharā led Rāhula to his father in the womanly hope that he would bring his father back to her.¹ The figures of the mother and child are not clear in the reproduction, but they can easily be made out in the original painting.