Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c17.48

v4.c17.48

⁷ The word *kīrti* in the present context means ‘temple’, ‘monument’, or the like. See an essay entitled ‘Kīrti: Its Connotation’, in the *Siddha-Bhāratī* (Dr. Siddheshwar Varma Presentation Volume), Hoshiarpur, 1950, Pt. I, pp. 38–42. ⁸ This *āryā* is rather terse and may be elucidated further. In verse 6 we are informed that the venerable monk Achala caused a rock-temple to be excavated in honour of the Buddha, which evidently means that he provided the money needed for the work. This is a meritorious act which ordinarily a lay worshipper performs if he desires happiness in this world and liberation hereafter. Verse 7, the present *āryā*, justifies a monk’s performing such an act. Achala is here alluded to as a Bodhisattva. The expression *prāg eva* is an idiom peculiar to Buddhist Sanskrit literature and answers to English ‘far rather’. The implication of the statement in the verse seems to be this, that it is far more desirable that monks possessing wealth should spend it for charitable purposes than even that worldly wealthy people should do so. The adjuncts *bhava-sukha-kāma* and *mokṣha-kāma* are common to Bodhisattvas and *saṃvidya-māna-vibhavas* (‘wealthy people’), but these are to be interpreted slightly differently in each case, as has been done in the translation.