Last Existence: Birth Cycle

Part of of the drum of a little stūpa depicting scenes from the Buddha's Birth Cycle. The base consists of a plain fillet and the cornice has brackets with a vertical groove. On the top face there are remnants of a socket at the right end. The scenes are separated by encased semi-columns of Gandharan-Persepolitan type, the first of which appears at the right end of the relief, before the first scene depicting Māyā’s Dream. Māyā, the queen consort of Śuddhodana, dreams of a white elephant entering her womb through her right side. As soon as she wakes up, she finds out to be pregnant. Māyā is reclining on a bed on her left side, her head is looking back and laying on a high pillow, the right hand resting on her raised knee. A drape hangs on the front of the bed with turned legs, and a small footstool stays in front of it. Above the figure, a small elephant in a nimbus descends toward the sleeping queen. On both sides of the bed are two mirroring female guardians holding a spear in one hand, while the other is on the hip. In the background, behind Māyā’s head, there is a lamp. The next scene represents the Interpretation of Māyā’s dream. After dreaming of an elephant entering her side, Māyā and Śuddodhana ask the astrologer about the meaning of this dream. The wise man says that the queen has been chosen as the mother of a great being. In the centre of the scene, King Śuddhodana sits on a two-seats throne with high back covered with a drape and turned legs. The head and bust are tilted to his right, the left hand holds an unidentified object hanging between his legs, while the right hand is raised, probably in a gesture of conversation/question. He wears a paridhāna and an uttarīya. To the left of the king, Māyā is sitting on the same large throne. She wears a long garment with a rolled girdle. She has a large wreath on the head with a loop of hair on the back, and large earrings. Her right hand was originally raised, the left arm rests on the thigh probably holding an unidentified object. Next to the couple, on the left, Asita is sitting on a stool. The right hand is raised up, the left is holding a kamaṇḍalu. He wears a loincloth. His hair is pulled up in a coil. The last scene on the left represents the Departure of Māyā from Kapilavastu. Māyā leaves Kapilavastu to give birth at her parents’, but birth time comes on the way at the Lumbinī Grove. A canopied cart, with the wheel in the shape of a five petaled rosette, emerges in profile from the right. Queen Māyā sits on the cart. She wears a large wreath in her hair, her right hand is kept to the face. The cart is pulled by two harnessed horses with a plume on top of the head.