Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s8: The Shaḍ-Danta (Chhadanta) Jātaka, or the Story of the Six-Tusked Elephant

Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c16.s8

Language: English

The Shaḍ-Danta (Chhadanta) Jātaka, or the Story of the Six-Tusked Elephant

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*The Jātaka is painted on the outer wall of the front corridor, inside Cave XVII, to the left of the main entrance.*

THIS story is also painted with much vigour and grace on the wall of the right corridor of Cave X, and is described in considerable detail in Part III of this book.¹ Here, although a large portion of the fresco has peeled off and the upper part of it has been obliterated by the droppings of bats, the artistic progress made in the course of a couple of centuries, since the previous painting was executed, is apparent from the subtle charm of the designs, the perfection of form, and the exquisite style of delineation to be noticed in the surviving fragments of the fresco. The story is presented in four episodes: (i) the bedroom scene in which the rānī plans her revenge; (ii) the lotus-lake in which the *Shaḍ-danta* elephant is bathing and enjoying himself with his herd; (iii) the hunters, who have been sent by the rānī, see the Six-tusked Elephant resting under a tree, close to a range of hills, and wound him with an arrow; (iv) the hunters bring the tusks of the *Shaḍ-danta* elephant to the royal court, and the rānī faints on seeing them.

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¹ *Ajanta*, iii, 33-37, Plates XXX-XXXIV; also *Jātaka*, v, 20-31.

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To begin with the first episode, which is painted at the top left-side corner, a rānī is seen reclining on a couch placed in a pillared room. The openings of this room are richly hung with festoons. Griffiths writes that the rānī is reclining on the rājā, sitting behind him on the couch;¹ but as the painting has been blackened by the indiscriminate use of copal varnish by Griffiths’ party, who laid it on the fresco to brighten its detail without removing the layer of smoke and dirt which had gathered on it, the figure of the rājā is no longer visible in the painting, and other figures are also very indistinct. A maid with a plump face may, however, be noticed, who is looking at the rānī with anxiety. Two kneeling figures may also be remarked, who are probably hunters and are receiving instructions from the rānī regarding the abode of the Six-tusked Elephant. At the right end of the room is a male servant, who, to show respect, has crossed his arms on his chest. He is dressed in a white shirt, the sides of which are slit, and the attendant’s *dhotī* is visible from below the shirt. There is a white vessel with a conical lid, and close by a casket placed on a stand in the room. The scene represents the *Jātaka* episode in which Subhaddā feigns illness and tells her husband that until the tusks of the king elephant whom she had seen in a dream are brought to her she will not recover. The rājā has sent for the hunters, and Subhaddā is telling them where to find the Six-tusked Elephant.²

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¹ *Paintings of Ajanta*, i, 36-37, Plate LXIII. ² *Ajanta*, iii, 32, and *Jātaka*, v, 24-25. ³ *Ibid.*, 20-21. ⁴ The aboriginal tribes dwelling in the forests of Central India still have bows and arrows as their chief weapons for defence and hunt. They are excellent marksmen.

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The second incident of the story, depicting the natural beauty of the lake in which the Six-tusked Elephant bathed with his herd, is shown in the lower part of the fresco. A large portion of the painting has been destroyed, yet the charm of the white lotus-flowers springing from the banks of the lake, the elephants of the herd plucking flowers in order to decorate their lord, the Six-tusked Elephant, the pairs of white ducks in mirthful mood, the belts of hills and over them the denizens of the forest, the wolves, the apes, and also the tribesmen of the jungle, and behind them lovely trees in blossom, and also ferns and creepers with leaves of exquisite shape and delicacy sprouting from the joints of the hillside—all present a panorama richer in detail and more vivid in effect than can be visualized from the text of the *Jātaka* alone.³ To show the benevolent and gentle nature of the Six-tusked Elephant, the painter has placed one of the pair of wolves on the rump of the benign animal, who is not annoyed by the temerity of the beast. The incident is being watched from above the hill by a human pair, representing the tribesmen of the forest. The male figure holds a bow and a sheaf of arrows,⁴ and has a dagger in his belt; the woman has an ornament round her arms and three strings of beads round her waist. The lower part of her body is scantily covered with leaves. The figures of the wolves, although dim in the reproduction, are very realistic and clear in the original painting. Still more realistic and graceful in form is the representation of the monkeys (*langūrs*), sitting on a ledge, to the right of the human pair. Above, the beauty of the *palāśa* tree (*Butea frondosa*) may be admired; it has burst into blossom, and the scarlet tint of its flowers contrasts attractively with the dark green of the calyx. As lac-insects feed on this tree, the artist has been so faithful in its representation that he has painted a row of black insects climbing up its trunk. No less remarkable is the skill of the painter in delineating another tree, which is shown growing to the left of the *palāśa* tree. The lilies, ferns, and thickets referred to in the legend are all represented in the fresco, and show the artist’s delight in natural beauty. As an example of his refined taste may be noted the creeper to the right of the *palāśa* tree near the end of the fresco.

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The upper part of the fresco, in which the third episode is painted, has become quite black now, and the rich foliage and the vast magnitude of the stately banyan tree which was the favourite resort of the Six-tusked Elephant can no longer be admired.¹ The keen eye of an artist may, however, discover the figure of the hunter Sonuttara, who has stretched his bow to its utmost capacity and is shooting an arrow at the lordly elephant (Plate X). Lower down a white elephant of colossal size is represented,² who has apparently been wounded by the arrow shot by the hunter. The benign animal has discerned the evil motive of the hunter in wounding him, and though he is in great agony on account of the pain caused by the arrow, he is pulling out his tusks with his own trunk in order to present them to the hunter. The latter is struck with remorse at his cruel act, and to beg forgiveness of the animal has prostrated himself before him (Plate X).

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¹ *Jātaka*, v, 24.

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² ‘Once the Bodhisattva came to life as the son of the chief elephant. He was pure white, with red feet and face. By and by, when grown up, he was eighty-eight cubits high and one hundred and twenty cubits long.’ *Ibid.*, 20.

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The Six-tusked Elephant in this scene is accompanied by a large number of elephants, who form his herd. One of these animals is quite young; he is of a white colour. To the left of the hunter who has prostrated himself, two of his companions are carrying the tusks of the benevolent elephant in slings, suspended from bamboos which the hunters have placed across their shoulders. On the right side, above the belts of hills, a hermit with a begging-bowl in his hand is shown seated—he may be the Buddha, because in front of him is the white elephant (the Bodhisattva), who has raised his trunk as if to salute the Great Being. The subject evidently refers to the appearance of the benign elephant before the Buddha in heaven, after his death caused by hunters in this world. The incident is not mentioned in the *Jātaka* and appears to be a later addition to the story.

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The fourth episode is the court-scene in which the *rānī* faints at the sight of the tusks of the benevolent elephant, who was her husband in his previous birth. She is shown stretched on a couch, supported from behind by the rājā. Two round pillows with circular designs at their ends may be seen at the head of the couch, behind the rājā. The couch has short carved feet of a plain type, but its frame has a creeper design. There are several maids in attendance: one of them is rubbing the soles of her mistress’s feet, another is preparing sandal-paste, another is fanning, another is using the *chaurī* (whisk), and another holds the hand of the *rānī* in hers, and is speaking words to revive her. There are also three male attendants, two of whom have long sticks in their hands. The features of the maid who holds the *rānī*’s hand, and of the male servant in the middle, are contorted with grief. The hunter is shown with the tusks placed on a large platter. As the colours of the painting have faded considerably and the outline is also dim, it is not possible to study fully the artistic detail. The ensemble of the figures, however, clearly conveys pathos.

Linked texts (1)

Jātaka — Pāli