Last Existence: Story of the White Elephant; female figures

Part of a relief with two superimposed registers, the lower one showing two scenes from the Last Existence - that on the left is not preserved -, the upper one three female figures. The registers are separated by a chequered grid with alternating relief squares. The base consists of a plain fillet, the cornice of a projecting plain fillet and a row of saw-teeth. A circular nail hole is drilled in the lower left-proper part of the relief. The back face shows vertical tool marks. The lower register originally featured two scenes separated by a framed half-column. The scene on the right depicts the Story of the White Elephant. Devadatta, Siddhārtha’s cousin, kills the state white elephant at the city gate of Kapilavastu, blocking the passage. After Ānanda’s unsuccessful attempt to throw the animal away, the Bodhisattva manages to hurl it out the city’s wall thanks to his physical strength. Siddhārtha is standing frontal and is holding the elephant on his back ready to throw it over the city door on the left. He wears a paridhāna and an uttarīya. The scene on the left preserves only a standing male figure turning towards his right. The upper register shows two female couples (the one on the left preserving only a figure) carved in bust and turning to each other. The two couples are separated by the upper part of a Gandharan-Corinthian pillar. The figures are identical. They all wear a large wreath, ring-shaped earrings, and possibly a tunic.