IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Ruins of Desert Cathay : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
23o ART AT `THOUSAND BUDDHAS' CH. LXX
of the back wall, some twenty-seven feet long. The legend represented appears to have been a favourite subject in this region ; for I found it repeated both here and at the ` Caves of the Myriad Buddhas ' subsequently visited ; but I have not been able to trace its traditional interpretation.
The right-hand portion of the composition, seen in the photograph of Fig. 206, is remarkable for the vivid realistic way in which the effect of a powerful wind is depicted. In the centre we see a canopied tent-like structure in danger of being blown away. The curtains or tent-flies, along with the massive arrangement of tassels, are tossed up into the air in violent movement, while the richly dressed figure under the canopy, without a halo, and, perhaps, meant for a royal personage, bends forward as if to balance the threatened overthrow of the structure. Some bearded attendants, with their hair and clothes twisted by the wind, endeavour from a ladder to secure the canopy and its whirling curtains. Other groups of human figures seem to watch the scene in amazement, while in the corners, above and below, incidents are depicted which evidently form no part of the main story.
If we now turn to the opposite or left-hand end of the composition (Fig. 207), we find that wind-raised tumult balanced as it were by the calm, dignified presence of a Buddha or Bodhisattva, wearing apparently the patch-work robe of a monk and gently fanning himself with his right hand. An elaborately adorned canopy is steadily supported
above his head by cloud-scrolls. In front and below the divine figure there are shown in detached groups persons
undergoing painful operations : one has his head pressed
down, another his arms tied behind, while a lamenting female turns her hands towards the Buddha as if to implore
redress. Above a priestly figure seems about to strike a
bell which is carried through the air, and some other figure close by holds out his arm as if pointing towards the effect
produced at a distance. The middle portion of the fresco, which extended behind the screen of the central platform of the cella, and which in this confined position could not be photographed, likewise showed figures and objects violently tossed about by the wind.
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