Last Existence: Visit of Indra; the Buddha’s Death

A frieze with two separate scenes from the Last Existence. 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, remnants of two sockets for cramps are visible at both ends of the top face running parallel to the shorter side, two rectangular tenons stand at both sides of the bottom face. The scene on the right represents the Visit of Indra. The Buddha is meditating in a cave when the god Indra approaches him with the gandharva Pañcasika. The gandharva plays the harp to draw the Buddha’s attention. The latter eventually answers Indra’s questions on the causes of suffering in living beings. Buddha sits in a cave in dhyānamudrā and padmāsana, wrapped in the saṃghāti with covered hands and feet. He’s slightly turned to his left, his left knee hidden behind the rock wall. He has a plain halo, and his hair is rendered by a stacked coil with not separate uṣṇīṣa. Outside the cave four figures walk toward the Buddha. The first one is the gandharva Pañcasika playing a horizontal arched harp. He wears a dhotī with uttarīya wrapped around the waist, a short flat band necklace and globular earrings. His hair is arranged in curls. Indra follows him, standing with hands joined in adoration. He wears an uttarīya and paridhāna, a short flat band necklace, bracelets, globular earrings and a turban with zones, fantail and diadem. Behind Indra there is a male figure with joined hands, wearing an uttarīya and paridhāna, a short flat band necklace, and globular earrings. A fourth figure emerges from the background on the top part of the relief in the space between Pañcasika and Indra. He wears globular earrings; other details are lost. In the top left corner of the scene there is tree crown with lanceolate leaves. The next scene represents the Buddha’s death. Despite being ill after receiving food offerings, the Buddha continues to travel to Kapilavastu until he is forced to stop at Kuśīnagara in a śala forest. Here he announces to his retinue that he will soon pass away. He delivers his last prescriptions to Ānanda and ordains his last convert, Subhadra. He then enters his final meditation and dies, achieving his final nirvāṇa. Gods, princes and monks gather to mourn the deceased Buddha. Mahākāśyapa arrives seven days later to pay his last homage. The Buddha is lying on his right side over a bed featuring turned legs and a drape. His left hand rests on his side, the right is under the head. The saṃghāti has a rounded neckline, the drapery folds are rendered in a pattern of curving lines. Subhadra is sitting back-turned in padmāsana on the ground before the bed. On the right, Mahākāśyapa, on his right knee, is touching the Buddha’s feet. Vajrapāṇi is kneeling in almost frontal view behind the bed, holding the vajra in his left. Behind the bed there are three figures: two males wearing a turban with their hands raised in a gesture of mourning, and between then a monk, of which only the head and part of the shoulders are visible. On both sides of the scene there is a tree with upright branches with lanceolate leaves. 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 pilasters bearing the same buddha image on both sides (front and side).