Last Existence: Predication

Part of a frieze with two separate scenes from the Predication. The scenes are separated by a pillar of the Gandharan-Corinthian type with a buddha against the shaft. The figure is sitting in padmāsana and dhyānamudrā on an open lotus and is wrapped in the overrobe, covering hands and feet. The same dividing element is carved on the left side. The base of the relief is moulded and plain and shows vertical drawing lines in correspondence of the pillars. The cornice is decorated with a row of saw-teeth. The top face features the remains of a rectangular socket. Diagonal tool marks are seen on the back face. The left scene preserves only a female figure standing in the right three-quarter view. Her legs are crossed, and her right hand is on the waist. She is dressed in a sāṛī with a shawl around the shoulders. The figure has earrings, a long necklace, and anklets of the basic type. The original scene possibly depicted the Story of Sūjātā. The bodhisattva was in Uruvilvā performing austerities, eventually he decided to eat again and the young villager Sujātā fed him with milk porridge and honey. The bodhisattva, during this meal, realized his physical strength had come back to him, and he was ready to attain awakening. The right scene depicts the Offering of the Four Bowls. When the two merchants Trapuṣa and Bhallika 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. The Buddha, in the centre of the scene, is sitting on a low moulded seat in padmāsana and holding a bowl in both hands. He has a flat, separate uṣṇīṣa tied at its base by a string and a plain nimbus. Above him is the canopy of an indistinct tree covering his head. On both his sides are two lokapālas standing in a three-quarter view. They are all carrying a bowl in both hands. The figures wear a paridhāna and an uttarīya, a skull-cap turban with fantail and earrings.