Buddhist Art in Java
PLATE XXXVII
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Plate XXXVII Cf pp. 233-234
Plates XXXVII-XL are consecrated to the story of Rudrayana. I. - Cf. pp. 233-4. Judging by their head-dresses, these are Brahmans who have been charged by Rudrayana to bring the precious cuirass, which is about to pass from their hands into those of Bimbisara's courtiers. And it is clearly a cuirass, without sleeves and closing, it seems, in front.
II. - Upper scene. On the left the Bodhisattva (already under the aspect of a Buddha) is seated on a throne covered with a lotus, and in conversation with his master Arada. The latter exhibits all the characteristic marks of the Brahmanic ascetic, as do also his other disciples, who, in the midst of a conventional landscape of trees and rocks, which represents their hermitage, occupy the rest of the picture, meditating or praying, their rosaries round their necks or in their hands.
Lower scene. It is the ever-recurring court picture that here again appears. We have remarked (p. 234) that the throne of the teaching monk is higher than that of the king, his disciple. It might be interesting to refer the reader to a rule to this effect, explicitly stated in the Pratimojisha of the Sarvastivadins, v, 92 (Journal Asiatique, nov.-dec. 1913 p. 535; ed- Finot and trans. Huber). But, in fact, this is the general custom in India : it is by an exception, only explained by the prestige of Buddha among later generations, that in the scene above the sculptor has assigned to him a seat higher than that of his master.
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