6 and 7 refer to the horoscope of the future _tyakravartin_ or suzerain
of the world, and the astrologer’s reward.
On 8 the young prince bids his father farewell in order to travel about
the country.
On 9 he is informed of his father’s death, and his succession to the
throne.
10. Between the young prince and two risyis floating in the air,
recognisable by their large tuft of hair and their rosaries, we
see some broken winged birds sitting on the ground. The curse of
one of the 500 risyis, living in a neighbouring wood, broke their
wings.
The king, indignant at such cruelty, denies the risyis every right for
staying on his territory.
11. On his further journey Mândhâtar forms a plan to cause a rain of
corn so as not to oblige his people to work any longer.
12. Cotton shall be cultivated no more, neither spinned nor weaved, and
now ready clothes are falling down out of the clouds.
13. Taking offence at the fact they ascribe the merit of all these
wonders to themselves, the king now produces a seven days’ rain of
gold which fell within the walls of his palace, and with the
exception of the king himself and his ministers we only see women
gather the treasures falling down out of vases hidden in the
clouds.
14. Mândhâtar marches out to conquer the world. The feet of none stir
the earth.
15. A _yaksha_ shows the king the way as how to make new conquests. The
sculptor represented this yaksha as a brahmin-minister.
16. The guide brings the king to his pinnacle of glory. Two kings having
a striking resemblance to each other, throne in a palace on seats
which are equally high.
One of them is Syakra, the Indra of deities, and on Mândhâtar’s
unuttered wishes he ceded to him half his territory. Only by his
non-blinking the god is to be distinguished from the man-king, and it
goes without saying that the sculptor was not able to show this.
17. Deities fighting _asuras_ (devils). With the assistance of their
human ally the deities gain the victory over them.
18, 19, and 20 don’t exactly correspond to the text which teaches us
that Mândhâtar asked his ministers who got the day.
“The king” they replied upon which the creezy one tried to dethrone
Indra in order to rule himself. Scarcely did he entertain this, when
he saw himself flung down from heaven to earth, and dying he bewails
his blind impertinence.
20 may bear upon his cremation, and upon the entombing of his ashes into
a _stûpa_.
Out of the 10 _relievoes_ in front (south) of the western staircase, the
_sixth_ explains itself.
A pigeon was caught by a falcon, and the _Bodhisattva_ buys the poor
animal’s liberty by offering the bird of prey a proportional part of his
own flesh. This is the so-called _Syébi-jataka_.
Out of the 30 _relievoes_ belonging to the lower series of the
_north-west_ corner, some 22 or 25 may refer to the _Rudrâyanavadana_.
Passing the first 3 sculptures north of the western staircase we shall
see on:
4. Rudrâyana, king of _Roruka_, consulting _Râyagriha_ merchants about
the merits of their prince, Bimbisâra.
5. A king receives from a courtier a square sheet of paper or gives him
this. It is Rudrâyana’s letter addressed to _Magadha_’s king. So
the principal personage should be one of these two, but who knows
which? It doesn’t appear after all.
6. A reception at the court of one of them in order to lend an ear to
the bearers of the letter or to take their leaves. All round about
a large dish, likely full of rice, we see some 20 smaller plates
full of other eatables.