1891.] Mr. 0. H. T^Lwney—Mahdha^ijdtaJca. 121 



plunder the tree. The king woke up and saw them. He then stationed 

 archers all round the tree with their arrows ready on the string, and 

 told them to let none of the monkeys escape, asserting his intention of 

 breakfasting the next morning off monkey-flesh and mangoes. The 

 monkeys, being terrified, came trembling to the Bodhisattva their king. 

 He told them not to be afraid, as he would save their lives. He then 

 sprang across the Ganges, alighted in a thicket, picked out a creeper, 

 made it smooth, and fastened it to his body. Unfortunately he miscal- 

 culated the length of the creeper, not allowing for the portion, that was 

 to pass round his own body. He then made one end of the creeper fast 

 to a tree, and sprang towards the other bank, where he had left his sub- 

 jects terrified on the mango-tree. Owing to his having miscalculated the 

 required length, he had to catch hold of the mango-tree with his arms. 

 In this position he made a sign to the monkeys to pass over his body, and 

 escape to the other bank. They did so, but Devadatta, who was among 

 the monkeys, and saw an opportunity of injuring his enemy, climbed up 

 to a lofty branch, and sprang with all his force on to the Bodhisattva's 

 back, thus injuring his heart, which is said to have been " split." 



It appears to me that so much of the story is clearly represented in 

 the Bharhut Sculpture. The king of the monkeys is seen holding on to 

 the mango-tree. A monkey has just crossed his body, and is crossing 

 the creeper. Another is descending the tree on the other bank. Be- 

 tween the two trees flows a river containing three fish and one tortoise. 

 Many monkeys are seen on the mango-tree. At the top of the mango- 

 tree is seen a monkey with his paws so placed as to make his spring on 

 to the back of the monkey-king as harmful as possible. 



This monkey I take to be Devadatta, and I think a comparison of 

 his face with the faces of the other monkeys will show that the artist 

 has succeeded in imparting a particularly malignant expression to it. 



The latter part of the story is not clearly represented in the pic- 

 ture. According to the Jataka, the king, after taking most tender care 

 of the monkey-king, made him lie down, and sitting himself on a low 

 seat, listened to his sermon on the duty of a good king. But in General 

 Cunningham's photograph, the monkey- king appears to be sitting on a 

 stool a little higher than that of the human king. I take it, that the 

 artist has followed a slightly different version of the tale. The king 

 appears to be expressing his admiration for the courage and self-devotion 

 of the monkey-king. The rectangular object brought by two men is 

 supposed by General Cunningham to be a mat. It may be intended for 

 the monkey-king to lie down on. As soon as the monkey-king had 

 finished his sermon on the duty of a king, he died of the blow given by 

 the monkey Devadatta. 



