Last Existence: Predication

A relief preserving two separate scenes from the Buddha's Predication. The base consists of a plain fillet, the cornice consists of a plain fillet topped by a row of saw-teeth and two more superimposed plain fillets. Both the base and the cornice run on the sides of the frieze. Two vertical sockets are carved on the sides of the back face. The scene on the right represents the Offering of the two merchants. After the seven weeks of meditation and fasting that followed the Enlightenment, a trade caravan became stuck in the vicinity of the Buddha. While strong men try to make the bullocks move, the two merchants Trapuṣa and Bhallika were told by a deity/genius about the Buddha and decide to pay him a visit and bring offerings becoming the first lay followers of the Buddha. A covered bullock cart emerges in profile from the right of the relief, with only half of the wheel visible. The charioteer is seated, with the right hand raised in an unidentified gesture, and the left on the knee. He wears a paridhāna, an uttarīya, globular earrings, a long necklace, and a turban with fantail and diadem. On the foreground, a male figure wearing a short dhotī tries to free the stuck cart. In front of the bullocks, in profile, a man rides a horse with a plume on top of the head and two metal disks decorating the breechings. The rider wears a tunic and trousers, globular earrings and a turban with fantail and diadem. He holds the reins with his left hand, while his right is raised in a gesture of conversation. In front of him, at the extreme left of this scene a small figure, a tree deity, emerges between two branches – one going upward, the other downward – of a thin tree. In the upper part of the relief two more figures emerge from the background above the bullocks; the one on the right is represented as in dialogue with the charioteer, he wears a tunic, globular earrings and a turban with fantail and diadem. The other figure wears a tunic, globular earrings and has short wavy hair pulled back. The next scene represents the Offering of the four Bowls. When the two merchants had seen the Buddha meditating under a tree, they offered him food and the lokapālas of the four directions each provided a bowl for the Buddha to collect the offering. To avoid offending anyone by refusing their gift, the Buddha merged the four bowls into one In the center of the scene sits the Buddha. He has half closed eyes and a broad nose, his hair is parted in the middle with horizontal broken waves and separate uṣṇīṣa. On either side of his head hangs a branch with foliage. Six male figures – three on each side – bring offers to the Buddha, only the figures on the left and the top figure on the right still have a visible bowl in their hands. The extant figures all wear turbans and jewels. The two figures besides the Buddha wear long garments, probably paridhāna and uttarīya, while the figures next to them wear a short tunic with trousers. The two scenes are separated by a pilaster of the Gandharan-Corinthian type with a Buddha on the shaft. The Buddha is sitting in dhyānamudrā and padmāsana over an open lotus with reverse petals. He is wrapped in the saṃghāti with covered hands and feet. On both sides of the relief there are similar corner pilaster bearing the same Buddha image on both sides (front and side).