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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. VIXL 



vaia the power of the allurements of passion ; on the right, 

 Mara is sitting disconsolate at his failure. " Above are his 

 " demon forces attacking the great ascetic sitting under the 

 " Bodhi tree with his right-hand pointing to the earth, 

 i( and the left in his lap, while the drum of the Devas is 

 "being beaten above him." Mara himself rides his war- 

 elephant confident of victory, already shouted forth by his 

 attendant hosts, when Buddha puts forth his hand, and 

 the great earth cries out with overwhelming voice in 

 testimony of the all-providing charity of Buddha. The 

 elephant falls down and worships, and the discomfited 

 host of Mara hurries away on the right, and the heavenly 

 hosts cry, " The tempter is overcome ; Siddhattha, the 

 prince, has prevailed." (In Cave Temples of India, p. 345.) 

 A magnificent fresco of this scene is to be found in Cave 

 No. 1 at Ajanta (see Rajendra Lala's Buddha Gaya, plate II.) 

 This is probably of the sixth century. With it may be com- 

 pared the vigorous and powerful fresco of the same subject, 

 which covers the whole vault of the great rock temple at 

 Dambulla. For sculptures supposed to represent the temp- 

 tations of the daughters of Mara, reference may be further 

 made to the Amravati sculptures, plate LIX., centre of 

 the right-hand pillar, and plate LXIIL, fig. 1. Leaving these 

 legends, we come to the history of the dedication of the first 

 Buddhist monastery. The story of the purchase of the 

 land is told in the bas-reliefs, of which a drawing enlarged 

 from General Cunningham's photograph is before you. 

 The Buddhist story tells how the wealthy merchant, Anatha- 

 pindika, purchased for 18 kotis of gold coins the garden 

 of the Prince Jeta, who at first refused to sell it unless it 

 was covered with coins. The sculpture tells well the chief 

 points of the story : the large sums of money which had to 

 be brought in a cart, the coins covering the ground, the 

 dedication by pouring water from a golden vessel (as the 

 book says) over the hands of Buddha ; but Buddha is not 

 represented in the sculpture, and in the grounds are the 

 two temples labelled Gondha kuti and Kosamba kuti, and 

 the mango tree surrounded by a Buddhist rail. The inscrip- 

 tion below the sculpture is almost in the very words of the 

 existing text. It runs : Jetavana Anddhapediko deti koti 

 santkatena keta : ( Anathapindako presents Jetavana having 



