107. The Buddha agrees to reveal the Law
Towards the end of the night the great Brahma with hair hightwisted, caused on all sides of the foot of the tarayana a divine radiance to shine with matchless colors and going to the place where the Tathagata was, did homage at his feet with his head, and after throwing his upper-garment over one shoulder and placing his right knee on the ground he bowed to the Tathagata with hands in sembah and spoke these verses unto him: "In former lives didst thou resolve: "When I myself have passed to the other side, then will I be a helper to others." Now without doubt thou hast passed to the other side, therefore fulfil thy promise, o hero of the truth."
Being then conscious of his own complete knowledge and yielding to the request of the great Brahm] with high-twisted hair, the Tathagata spoke these verses: " The doors of immortality are open for those who strive ever earnestly after the highest, they enter who are faithful, with no evil in their minds, they hear the Law, the beings of Magadha". And when the great Brahma with hightwisted hair was aware that the Tathagata agreed, he did homage to his feet and went away satisfied, cheerful, gay, delighted, full of joy and gladness (398: 9, 11; 399: 17; 400: 15).
As this relief also depicts a conversation of the Buddha with the gods, among whom no one can be selected as Brahma, nor is anyone in a kneeling posture such as the text describes for him, we could easily believe that this scene does not represent the above-quoted conversation with Brahma at all, but for instance the visit of $akra and Brahma together, quoted at No. 106, while No. 106 itself would be the first unsuccessful effort of Brahma alone. In support of this argument we might add, that the text does not mention the fact that Brahma on his last visit to the tarayana was accompanied by other gods. There is really something to be said for this and I shall not ignore the possibility of its being correct. But I consider it more reasonable, in spite of the disagreement in various details, to think that when two scenes are allowed for the visit of the gods, we are more likely to find first the unsuccessful attempt and then the successful one, rather than only the two attempts that failed, whereas the most important, where the repeated request is at last successful, should be considered not worth depicting.
The tree has now quite disappeared and is replaced by an umbrella with waving ribbons above the head of the Buddha, who sits on a throne with makara-ornement in vitarka-mudra. On the right is a large stand, with wreaths or what looks like them, the relief being rather damaged. Left, a vase with lotus-flowers. Then on both sides, again with a background of trees, the figures of the gods; the front one right making a sembah, in the left group one or two with flower bowls. On each side of the Buddha two heavenly ones 1) come flying and flowers are falling down.
It may be useful to compare the representations of the request of the gods found elsewhere, for it appears that it is not always thought necessary to distinguish Brahma and Qakra; see for instance the relief of old Indian art at Mahabodhi 1), nor does one of the Gandhara representations known to us
2) indicate the two gods; though another one shows them plainly. The two Gandhara reliefs are also remarkable in another way: on one, the Buddha sits with the same gesture of the hand as on our No. 107 and the tree is omitted as well; on the other, he has the attitude of dhyana-mudra and the tree is there, just ason Not 106.Whether this is mere chance, or if a certain tradition required both phases of this episode to be distinguished in this way, or that perhaps, as Foucher suggests, the Javan sculptors have taken two traditional forms of the same episode, with the idea of making two separate incidents, this I should not venture to decide. It is quite likely that an accepted tradition will have existed in sculpture as well, concerning such an important moment that was depicted already in the oldest Indian art.