Bharhut: Erapatra Paying Respect to the Buddha

INDIA, Madhya Pradesh, Bharhut

An inscription describing this scene is found on the riverbank in the center. It reads, “Naga King Erapatra pays respect to the Buddha” and refers to an incident in the Buddha’s previous life. As a monk in his former life, Erapatra had broken the precepts and was therefore reborn as a naga with a loathsome disease. Taking human form, he eventually came to pay homage to the Buddha. The scene appears as the middle compartment of a corner pillar and another inscription identifies the donor as the monk Isadina of Bhanaka.
The entire story is told compositely. At the top stands the erring monk and, directly below, his rebirth as the five-headed naga king in a jungle landscape. In the bottom right-hand corner, Erapatra and his consorts (or his queen and daughter), rise from the water of the Ganges, where he has awaited this opportunity. Though transformed into human form, they retain a clue to their actual status in the five-hooded crest on the naga king’s headdress and the single hood on those of the women accompanying him. Finally, in the left-hand corner, the naga king is shown kneeling before a diamond throne on which is mounted a double-garlanded Bodhi tree.