Nalanda: Life of the Buddha - Birth of Prince Siddhartha

INDIA, Bihar

This relief may have once been part of a set of four or eight reliefs illustrating distinct events from the Buddha’s life. Queen Maya stands at the center, the right foot advanced and the left supporting the weight of the body. This causes the waist to sway to one side as the queen reaches up to clasp the branch of an asoka tree. Her hair is arranged high on her head and she wears many pieces of jewelry both on her upper body and hanging from the belt that supports her skirt. Though the skirt is essentially translucent, a delicately incised floral pattern runs across it.
Prince Siddhartha is seen leaping out from the queen’s right side. There is another image of him on the side, standing on a pedestal of lotuses that symbolize the flowers that grew from the seven steps he took straight after birth. Next to the prince is Sakra, who wears a high crown and holds a garland. An unidentified four-armed deity stands on the queen’s other side, and below that figure is the three-headed Brahma with a whisk in one hand and a vase in the other. A male and a female figure kneel on either side of the queen’s lotus pedestal at the very bottom.