Last Existence: Visit of the Ascetics

Fragment of a relief possibly representing the Visiting of the Ascetics. The Brahman teacher Bāvari sends his sixteen brahmin students to the Buddha to answer questions about the goal of his teachings and how to attain the same. Each of the sixteen ascetics pays the Buddha a visit in Śrāvastī and astounded by his teachings, they eventually convert to Buddhism. The base was plain. The back face shows vertical tool marks. In the foreground, an elderly ascetic is standing in the right profile in a hunched posture. His right hand is on his forehead. He has a long beard and hair with a coil. He wears a loincloth. In the background is another elderly ascetic. The figure is standing in the right three-quarter view. His right hand was raised (possibly in a gesture of salutation). The right hand of a third ascetic, holding a kamaṇḍalu and wearing a mantle, is seen on the left.