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This dream being interpreted by the Brahmins learned in the Rig-Veda, was considered as announcing the incarnation of him who was to be in future the deliverer of mankind from pain and sorrow.* = It is, in fact, the form which the Annunciation took in Buddhist legends. It does not, so far as our illustrations go, appear again at Sanchi, but it occurs frequently, as we shall presently see, at Amravati, and is repeated in almost every Buddhist book which alludes to the birth of the great ascetic. a In the lowest compartments of the bas-relief we have the accomplishment’ of this prophecy. The Prince Siddhartha, at the age of twenty-nine, at the foot of the. Bodhi-druma, or tree of knowledge, at Buddh Gya, in presence of his five disciples, lays aside his robes of ‘state, and prepares to assume the garb of an ascetic, and commence that mission which he accomplished only after fifty-one years of self negation and of missionary labour.t Of the two intermediate scenes, the upper occurs within the city. of Kapilavastu, his father’s capital, and does not appear to have any special medning. Two men on horseback meet two others on elephants,.and behind the latter are two loose horses attended apparently by a groom. In the centre is the standard, with the usual Trisul ~ emblem. All this seems to represent a night scene in the city, with the guards going their rounds. _ In the central compartment, the Pringe Siddhartha’ in his, chariot issues front, the city gate attended by bowmen and. elephants. In front of the chatiot walks a boy: with a curly head, but with no apparent occupation. Before him march ‘seven other ' te tr * Lalita-Vistara, p. 61, et seq. + If this is a correct description of the bas-relief, the legend i in the first century of the Christian era differed from that related in the XVIIth and XIXth. chapters of the Lalita-Vistara in the eighth or ninth century. According to that authority, Sakya. Muni, after leaving his home, prepared himself for his mission by six years of the austerest penance—so severe that his: five disciples could not support ‘it, and left him.) When nearly at death’s door he recovers, eats what the village maidens, bring him, bathes in the river Nairanjana, and then attains Buddhahcod while seated under the Bodhi-druma, or tree of knowledge at Buddh Gya. RQ bo 18 THE TOPE AT -SANCHI. boys, two playing on fifes* and two_on drums; two blow into a musical instrument formed of a shell, which is” found %requentty repeated in these bas-reliefs, though never at Amravati, and one has a smaller class of drum or tambourine. The city walls and the windows of the houses are crowded with men and women looking at the procession, and all in the costume we have called“ Hindu.” This extends even to drummer boys, whose curly locks. give them an aspect so unlike what is usually met with in India. Was it an artificial fashion, or were they foreigners ? These questions have been before alluded to, for if we could answer them we might be able to say whence Buddha acquired the curly hair with which he is always represented in modern times. Except in the bas-relief (Plate XXVIT. Fig. 1.), men are seldom so represented in the Sanchi sculptures, and then only persons in the condition of servants,.who sometimes have curly heads, but boys are generally represented with hair in this form. There is no representation of Buddha at Sanchi after he had assumed the garb of an ascetic, but at Amravati, in the most modern sculptures, there are several, and in all these he has the short curly locks he always afterwards retained. I cannot help an impression that he aéquired the peculiarity in Afghanistan, though still at a loss to account for the presence of a woolly-haired race in that province. : co The trees here are of the usual character, except one above the Bo-tree, which looks like a vine. The architecture is identical with what is found in all these sculptures at Sanchi, and is no doubt a faithful representation of the style of the period. . . * The fifes we have met with before, and shall frequently have occasion to notice them again in the sequel. Yet, so far as we can learn, the “flauto travers’ or flute breathed into at the side without a mouth-piece, was not known in Europe before the thirteenth ce ry. Is it an Indian invention? PLATE XXXIV, <@) = 3D tems 5 t i Koi ae Hat 2) 7 fF t -- — A 7 \\ 7 SSS PORRAOSYO & , 2) Y) SS ese sso \ m ay) ee Tah < 4 TERN Th ToT N () AN NN Cs ) Bn SURO i Ne S\h Jf ‘2 Jf) \ " 4 YY EEEEERER rr PUI 3 Se RRR TE BX DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 133 PLATE XXXIV. Tar two. processional scenes represented in this Plate are both from the left- hand pillar of the Northern Gateway, one in front, the other on the inside (Plates XI. and XII.). There is nothing at first sight to distinguish these scenes from those on the last slab, -but they are interesting as showing varieties of costume and of instruments which were not so distinctly depicted in the preceding Plates. The architecture of the palace is also here very clearly expressed. It is of wood, but so detailed that there would be little difficulty in restoring the building from its repre- sentation, The little square tower or pavilion, with its triangular battlements, which is introduced in the lower picture of the Plate, as well as in the last, though not exactly similar, is probably intended to identify the two as part of the same palace. The peacock which is seen in both may be introduced for the same purpose. Eating and drinking is going on at a great rate in the palace, and outside one boy, bears the large spouted vessel like a teapot, but which probably contained some ‘more exciting beverage than tea. The curly heads are here carefully distinguished from those with flowing hair. This is particularly remarkable in the case of the two ‘boys in front of the Raja on horseback, in the lower bas-relief, but even there is nothing the least negroid in the faces. So far as features are concerned, they seem — of the same: type, but the distinction as regards the hair is carefully marked. — In the two pictures of this Plate, the Prince, whether on horseback or in his chariot, is easily distinguished by the umbrella borne over his head, but in both he bears in his hand an emblem we have not met with before, nor do we meet with — it again. It consists of two balls joined together like a dumb-bell. So far as I know it is not found on coins, nor on any other sculptures, and I am, therefore, quite at a _ loss to suggest what it may be intended to represent. These processions. are more frequent at Amravati than even here, and as’ all: are nearly of the same type, one cannot help suspecting that they were intended to represent the most popular legend in Buddhist mythological history. In the fourteenth chapter of the Lalita-Vistara, and elsewhere, we are told that whilst the Prince Siddhartha was in the full enjoyment of all the pleasures of his rank, and of the most perfect domestic happiness with his wife, Gop& Devi, he one day, while driving in his chariot from the city to his pleasure gardens, met an old, decrepid, grey-haired man, feebly stumbling along the road. The sight made a deep impression on the Prince, and he reflected that even his rank could not protect him from decay. | Some time afterwards, while proceeding in the same manner, he met a poor man, ‘squalid with disease; and a third time, a corpse. Both these gave rise to similar reflections on the ills that flesh is heir.to. A fourth time he met a healthy, well- clad, and contented-looking man, wearing the robes of persons dedicated to religion; and, satisfied that this was the true career for man, he determined to sacrifice station, wife, family, everything, and devote himself henceforward to the redemption of mankind from the ills they had heretofore been subject to. 134 THE TOPE AT SANCHI. These four, which are called the “ predictive signs,” are singular favourites with the Buddhist legendary artists, and one cannot help suspecting that allusion to them is intended here; but if so, it is the play of Hamlet with the réle of the Prince omitted. In no instance can the man ‘suffering from age, disease, or death be detected. The initiated may, perhaps, recognize the scene by some mark, but neither at Sanchi nor Amravati is it disunemshable to the unassisted vision of the profane. aed These two bas-reliefs are also interesting in showing very distinctly the mode in _ which the horses were harnessed’ to the chariot, and the form of the bridles by. which they were guided. Arrian tells us that “the Indians have neither saddles ““ nor bridles, like those which the Greeks and Celts make use of, but instead of “ bridles they bind a piece of raw bullock’s hide round the lower part of the horse’s * jaws, to the inner part of which the common people fix spikes of brass or iron, “ not very sharp, but the richer ones have them of ivory. Within the horse’s mouth ** is a piece of iron like a dart to which the reins are fastened.”* If this was the mode employed by the Indians in Alexander’s time, they seem to have benefited by their intercourse with the west before the Sanchi sculptures were executed. If any one will compare the head stalls of the bridles represented in the Plate, with Figs. 6., 7., and 8. of Plate III., they will see how perfect the head gear of these horses had become; but the sculptures still leave it uncertain whether the horse was controlled by a bit in his mouth or by pressure on front of his face above his nostrils., An examination of the sculptures themselves might settle this point, though neither our drawings nor our photographs suffice for this purpose. ‘Astian: Indica, chap. XVI. SANCHI.. = . aN { Va f 1 \ Be 7 i ik B BSc) (ROR : a SE sea BIAS (0 ST TES Y HHS .