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0725 Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1
Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.1 / Page 725 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000213
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CI-I. XLII SCENE FROM BUDDHA STORY   471

is meant for a Buddha. Whether Gautama or some earlier Enlightened One ' it is impossible to decide. The right

hand is raised in the pose or ` Mudra ' technically known to Buddhist iconography as that of ` Abhaya ' or protection ; the left held low in front probably supported drapery. Behind the teacher and to his left we see six Arhats, or Buddhist saints, ranged in two rows and wearing robes in a variety of bright colours. The shaven heads mark them

as leading the life of monks. One on the left end of the upper row carries a white fan, probably meant for a yak-tail or Chauri, the traditional emblem of sovereign power. M. Foucher points out to me that this figure would be Ananda, the favourite disciple of Gautama Buddha, if the latter is intended by the haloed figure. To the left again of the saints, who manifestly appear here as Buddha's disciples, there rises an elliptical mass, probably part of a tree, studded with red and white flowers and poppy-like leaves on dark greyish-green ground. Against this background is seen an upraised right arm grasping a handful of white buds or flowers, apparently in the act of throwing them. This background and a corresponding one with well-drawn leaves and flowers behind Buddha's right hand clearly indicate that the scene is laid in a garden or grove, as in so many legends of Buddha's life story.

Not enough is left of the frieze to determine which particular legend this portion was intended to illustrate. However, it is the artistic treatment in composition, design, and colouring, not the iconographic purport, which gives to this fresco fragment its great value and interest. Strictly Buddhist as the subject is, all the details in its presentation point to adaptation from classical models. The head of Buddha is of a type unmistakably Hellenistic, in spite of a slight Semitic touch in the nose and of compliance with Indian Buddhist convention in regard to the top-knot and long-lobed pierced ears. The large straight eyes of the teacher and disciples alike have nothing of that elongated, slanting look which all painted figures, as yet known in Central Asia and the Far East, invariably display as a particular point of beauty. If we could possibly doubt whence the artist derived those big eyes with their frank

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