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| 0223 |
On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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clean-shaven and richly adorned with jewellery (Fig. 57). An
unmistakable expression of softness conveyed by the features
and dreamy-looking eyes, quite as much as by the peculiar
peaked head-dress, vividly recalled the well-known type
which in the Graeco-Buddhist sculpture is used for the
representation of Prince Gautama before he became the
Buddha.
The utter desolation around greatly heightened the effect
of this bright cycle of figures. They looked to me as if meant
to symbolize the varied pleasures of life. How strangely
contrasted with the discomforts and cares of the protracted
labours we were carrying on in dreary wastes holding
nothing but traces of a dead past! With that cycle of youth-
ful figures before me I might well have felt tempted to
believe myself rather among the ruins of some villa in
Syria or some other Eastern province of the Roman Empire
than among those of a Buddhist sanctuary on the very
confines of China.
Yet a look at the painted frieze, about eighteen feet long,
which survived on the south-eastern wall segment, sufficed
to dispel any doubt. There on a field of true Pompeian red
was to be seen a procession representing the Jataka legend
of Prince Vessantara, well known among the stories of the
Buddha's previous births. Starting from the left of the en-
trance is shown the pious prince riding out of the palace
gate, banished by his royal father for undue prodigality in
charitable gifts. Before him a classical quadriga carries his
equally pious wife and his two sons. Then the scene shifts
to the forest where the prince, now seen on foot, presents
his miraculous wish-granting white elephant (Fig. 57) to
four Brahman mendicants who meet him asking for alms.
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537
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550
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561
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571
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578
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