国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

to walk   p

upon. In spite of this press of traffic he survived, and when the Dipankara

reached the spot and beheld the pious act of Sumedhu he stopped and prophesied

that at four asankhyeyas and one hundred thousand cycles from that time, he,

Sumedhu, would become a Buddha named Gautama. To us this would seem a

rather excessive period to await the fulfilment of an ambition, but it satisfied

Sumedhu and confirmed his belief in himself as to his destiny. Then Dipankara,

having praised Sumedhu, made him an offering of eight handfuls of flowers, and

departed.

The evidence for the identification of this picture with the legend may not, at

first, be apparent. It will be seen that just below the feet of the Buddha is a snake-

like object. This is Sumedhu's hair. In the prostrate position necessary to bring the

hair here, Sumedhu would have his head on the ground and would support himself

on both hands. This would bring his elbows, crooked, near his head, and at the

extreme edge of the picture his right elbow does, actually, appear. The legend tells

of offerings of flowers and garlands made to Dipankara, and that he wore the

garlands is shown by the loop and tassels seen hanging against his red robe and at

his sides. So, it may be assumed that such temporary ornaments, bestowed by

adoring worshippers as symbols of love and devotion, are permissible and do not

infringe the principle of renunciation of personal decorative gewgaws.

The figure on the left dressed as a devatá, in the act of strewing flowers, is finely

designed although rather short in stature, and shows clearly all details of the

elaborate garments and jewellery of these celestial beings found in constant

attendance. A devatá with wig-like hair is above. At the top, left, is perhaps a Vajra-

páni but without the vajra. His highly decorative right shoe and most of his

garments closely resemble those worn by the princely figure in Bez. iii. W—Y in

this plate.

There is in this, as in most of the Bezeklik pictures, recognizable Chinese

influence, especially marked in the drawing and colour treatment of the flowers.

In the repeating floral design of the border on the left, the scrolling of the forms

and a gentle swaying or drifting impression expressed, like the movement of a

flame, is a treatment characteristically Chinese. The manner of disposal of the

colours in flowers or other ornament is precisely that of Chinese silk embroidery,

that is, in definite masses or bands of unbroken colour, with proper understanding

of the value of juxtaposition of hues and of the use of thin lines in contouring and

blending without degrading the colours. In these greatly reduced reproductions it

64