Last Existence: Birth Cycle; female figures

Part of a frieze with two superimposed registers, the lower one preserving four separate scenes from the Last Existence, the upper one a row of female figures. The scenes in the lower register are separated by framed half-columns of the Gandharan-Corinthian type. The registers are separated by a balcony showing a railing-shaped parapet on the central part and a parapet with a chequered grid motif. Two drapes are hanging from the parapet. That on the right is plain, that on the left is decorated with separate vertical bands. The base of the relief consists of a plain fillet, the cornice of a raw of saw-teeth. A circular nail hole was drilled in the top left part of the upper register. The back face shows vertical tool marks. The first scene on the lower register displays 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 and seen from the back. The bed has turned legs, a drape hanging from the front, and a small footstool. Above the woman, a small elephant in a nimbus descends towards her. On both sides of the bed are two mirroring female guardians holding a spear in one hand, while the other is on the hip. 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. On the right, Śuddhodana and Māyā are sitting frontally and with the right hand raised up. Both are dressed in a long garment. Śuddhodana is wearing a skull-cap turban with zones, a fantail, and a diadem. On the left, Asita is sitting on a low seat in the right profile and with crossed legs. The right hand is raised up, the left is holding an ovoid plain kamaṇḍalu. He wears a loincloth. His hair is tied with a coil and a vertical knot. In the background are two standing female figures, one facing Māyā, the other facing Śuddhodana. They both have joined hands and wear a large wreath and earrings. The third scene displays the Buddha’s Birth. In the Lumbini Park, Māyā gives birth to Siddhārtha holding the branches of a sāla tree. The infant Siddhārtha emerges from the right side. Gods and supernatural beings witness the event. In the centre of the scene, the queen (partly defaced) was grasping a branch with her right hand while reaching towards the female attendant to her left with the other hand. The queen is wearing a dhotī and a sleeved bodice, and a large wreath. The female attendant is standing in the left profile and turning to Māyā, her left outstretched arm is resting on the queen’s belly. She is dressed in a dothī and a sleeved tunic. On the extreme right is Vajrapāṇi who is standing and holding the vajra in the palm of the left hand. He wears a long garment. To the right of Māyā, a haloed Indra welcomes Siddhārtha (not preserved) in a swaddling cloth. The deity wears an uttarīya and a paridhāna, earrings and a high headdress, probably a mukuta. On the extreme left is a standing male figure with the right hand extended upwards and holding a waving uttarīya, while the fingers of the left hand are placed at the mouth, a gesture expressing surprise and admiration. The four and last scene shows the Return to Kapilavastu. After his birth in Lumbini, the infant Siddhārtha is brought back to Kapilavastu on a chariot. A howdah drawn by an elephant is transporting Māyā and Siddhārtha (both not carved). Before them are two horsemen. The first one is shown turning to the elephant and raising the left hand upwards. The second one is seen from the back. Both the figures wear a short tunic and possibly trousers. The upper register shows a row of eight paired female figures carved in bust, and separated by the upper part of a semi-column of the Gandharan/Corinthian type. Each figure is turning to the other and they all have hair with a curly fringe, a knot, a coil of hair, and ornaments.