Last Existence: First Sermon

Part of a relief depicting the First Sermon. After attaining Enlightenment in Bodh Gayā, the Buddha travels to Sarnath. In the Deer Park, he teaches the dharma to the five ascetics with whom he had shared years of practice. There are parallel vertical chisel marks on the back and a small square socket on the right end of the top side. The base is a plain fillet, the cornice was also probably plain. The Buddha sits in padmāsana on a seat with two deers on the front, and a wheel on the proper right. The Buddha wears a robe with arm and right shoulder exposed and has a plain nimbus around the head. On both sides of the Buddha there are two monks seated on low seats slightly turned toward the centre of the scene. They all are wrapped in a saṃghāti. A fifth similar monk is visible to the proper left of the Buddha in the upper part of the relief. Next to it there are remnant of a standing figure. To the proper right of the Buddha in the upper part of the relief is depicted Vajrapaṇi, followed by two more figures, probably a male and a female. On the right of the scene there are remnant of a dividing element, arguably a pilaster of Gandharan-Corinthian type.