Ramnagar: Life of the Buddha

INDIA, Uttar Pradesh, Ramnagar

Four phases of the Buddha’s life are depicted on this narrative panel. The narration runs in a continuous direction from left to right, covering the Buddha’s birth, his defeat of Mara, the first teaching, and finally his passing into parinirvana.
The sections follow each other with little spatial transition and the figures are placed to adapt to the next scene. Natural motifs arching over the events mark their division.
The episode of Prince Siddhartha’s birth shows Sakra holding the baby prince, while Queen Maya grasps a tree branch and is supported by her sister, Mahaprajapati. This section is succeeded without transition by Mara’s attack on the meditating prince, who is unmoved by the demon host. The demons are represented by two warriors on either side of Mara’s lasciviously posturing daughters. The result of this victory follows closely in the episode where the first turning of the Dharma wheel takes place in Deer Park at Sarnath. A pair of deer on the lion throne symbolizes the location, in which the Buddha’s five former disciples during his ascetic practice surround him attentively. Next to it, the Buddha lies on his deathbed with mourning monks behind.