Last Existence: Parinirvāṇa Cycle

Part of a frieze relief with two superimposed registers, the upper one depicting a row of figures in arches, while the lower one representing episodes of the Last Existence of the Buddha. The dividing band is carved with a wavy line with pearls in the hollows. The base is a plain fillet, and the cornice is a row of upright ogival leaf-and-dart under a projecting plain fillet. Two nail holes are drilled in the relief mid-height of the upper register at the sides. Large irregular tool marks are visible on the back. The lower register depicts two episodes from the Last Existence separated by an encased semi-column of Gandharan-Corinthian type; the same dividing element is repeated to the left of the second scene. The first scene depicts the Buddha’s obsequies. After the Mahāparinirvāṇa, the body of the Buddha is put into a coffin; mourning and funerary rituals in preparation of the cremation are performed. The Buddha’s coffin is placed over a bed with a drape on the front. An incense burner is probably placed on the ground before the bed. Four mourning monks surround the coffin. The two figures on the side lean on the coffin while one of the figures at the back is raising his hands in a gesture of mourning. The fourth figure is barely visible. The next scene depicts the Cremation of the Buddha. The Malla kings conduct the ceremonies akin to that reserved to a Universal Monarch on the occasion of the Buddha’s passing. The funerary pyre appears in the middle of the scene. On each side in the foreground, two figures are kneeling toward the pyre. In the background, two other figures pour the content of a round pot tied to a long stick to extinguish the fire in order to obtain more relics. In the upper register there is a row of five female figures under voluted raised round arches with carinated extrados. A half arch is visible at both ends of the relief. In the background, in the hollows between the arches there are diverse motifs, from the left: two pipal leaves, a goose with open wings, a lotus flower, an acanthus tuft, and again two pipal leaves and a goose with open wings.