The Great Miracle at Cravasti

PLATE XXIII

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Plate XXIII
I. - PI. XXIII, i, which we believe to be unpublished, reproduces a photograph taken by us in January 1896 at the Calcutta museum from among the sculptures received after the completion of Mr. Anderson's catalogue. The original comes from Magadha and measures m. 0,70 in height. At the bottom, the two Naga-rajas, Nanda and Upananda, whose busts terminate curiously in the curling, and scaly tails of serpents (we may compare with them those on one of the frescoes of Ajanta, Griffiths, fig. 16 == J. Ind. Art. and Ind., no. 69, 1900, fig. 19), encircle, with their joined hands, the peduncle of a great lotus rising from waves, upon which a teaching Buddha is seated in the Indian manner. Behind each of these Nagas stands one attendant, and two others either crouch or kneel; the nimbus of the middle one on the left may be distinguished. Between the heads of the two outside attendants rise the stems of the lotus stools on which rest the feet of two other teaching Buddhas, seated in European manner and looking in opposite directions.

At the top, round the head of the central figure, may be distinguished, first, two little figures of seated Buddhas, then the two traditional worshipping divinities; finally, a Buddha lying crosswise above reflects completely the words of the texts concerning the four attitudes assumed by the emanations of the Master (cf. above, p. 159). Before the face of

each of the two largest attendant Buddhas (the head of the one on the left is broken) appear, in fact, two little standing Buddhas, one of whom must be supposed to be walking. Above, a stem with three branches supports at each side, on three lotuses, a group exactly analogous to the principal composition; a third group, between two flying genii, occupies the summit of the stele. (Cf. above, p. 167.)

II. - PI. XXIII, 2 is only a reproduction, for the convenience of the reader, of the middle part of plate 164 of Anc. Mon. and Temples of India, published by Dr. burgess (London, 1897). The original decorates the largest of the twenty-six caves ofKuda, in the district of Kulaba, to the south of Bombay (cf. Fergusson and Burgess, Cave-Temples of India, pp. 206 sqq.; Arch. Survey West. India, IV, pp. 12 sqq.) The two Naga-rajas, Nanda and Upananda, are with both hands supporting the stalk of a large lotus, on which a teaching Buddha is seated in the Indian manner. At either side, on two other padmas, stand two divine personages, both armed with fly-flappers. Considering the late date of the sculpture, we must apparently recognize in them two Bodhisattvas, and more especially in the one on the right, judging by the long sinuous stem of the pink lotus which he holds in his left hand, an Avalokitecvara Padmapani. Five kneeling worshippers at the bottom are, perhaps, the donors; in the top corners are two flying genii. (Cf. above, p. 168.)

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