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On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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dhist saints moving in dignified procession (Fig. 82). In
many of the smaller cellas the wall paintings showed
diapers of small Buddhas or Bodhisattvas just as I had seen
them on the walls of shrines at Dandan-oilik and elsewhere.
Combined with elaborate floral designs and tracery they
served also to adorn the ceilings of the large cellas. In these
the walls generally bore large panels of frescoes bordered
by floral scrolls of striking beauty. Painted dados, often
representing worshippers, in some cases Buddhist monks
or nuns, extended below these panels.
The panels were filled by elaborate compositions, con-
taining large numbers of figures. Those which showed
Buddhas surrounded by a multiplicity of Bodhisattvas,
saints and other divine attendants, were obviously repre-
sentations of Buddhist heavens. Other panels displayed
scenes, bewildering in their variety, which looked as if
taken from mundane life (Fig. 83). Short Chinese in-
scriptions inserted on cartouches, suggested that these
scenes were taken from sacred Buddhist legends. But only
after similar scenes among the silk paintings which I re-
covered from the 'Thousand Buddhas' had been submitted
to expert examination in London could I feel sure that these
mural paintings illustrated Jataka stories, legends from
previous births of the Buddha.
Throughout these legendary scenes with their freely
drawn landscape backgrounds, their Chinese architecture,
the bold movement and realism of their figures, a dis-
tinctly Chinese style prevailed. It was the same with the
graceful and often fantastic freedom of the cloud scrolls,
floral tracery and other decorative motifs. But all the
principal divine figures, just as those around them, multi-
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571
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