22. The queen heals the sick

 

And all those in the splendid great city named Kapila, or in other countries, who were possessed by a god, naga, yaksa, gandharva, asura, garuda, or bhuta, women, men, boys or girls, when they saw the mother of the Bodhisattva, recovered their senses immediately and got back their memory, those who had lost their human shape, recovered it on the spot. And those beings suffering from various diseases, on them the mother of the Bodhisattva laid her right hand upon their heads and immediately on being touched the sickness disappeared and they returned to their homes. At last queen Maya took a handful of grass from the ground and gave it to the exhausted creatures and as soon as they took hold of it there was no trace of their disease left. (71: 17; 72: 4).

 

Beginning on the right, we see on this relief first, three of the guard, sitting under a tree, and then a small building with the roof of a temple, that we might consider to be a little chapel, but on other reliefs this kind of building is used for a gateway. A little further the queen is sitting on a throne with three attendants behind her; apparently in front of the gateway to the palace grounds and in the open air; observe the clouds above her and the trees further to the left. She raises her hand towards the person sitting in front of her, who is holding his right upper-arm with the left hand, maybe one of the sick who is to be cured by the laying on of hands; this is not certain for his dress is the same as the other attendants of the queen and not the ordinary costume of the desa-folk invalids depicted. The group which occupies the left side is not quite in keeping with the text as it seems more to represent a distribution of food and medecine by the attendants than any laying on of hands by the queen. One sits with a pot in front of him and a spoon in his hand; and another stands with a dish serving out something with a spoon. Among the sick, one is half lying on the ground and holds his hand to his head, two others sit and stand with hands upraised, then another is crouching, feeling a sore place on his shoulder and two more are leaning on a crutch. Thus it is quite plain that these are sick and helpless ones, not just only poor who receive alms from the queen.