44. Devadatta hills the elephant

 

Now on this occasion prince Devadatta set forth first from the city. And there was being brought into the town a white elephant of great size, intended for the Bodhisattva. Then prince Devadatta, beside himself with jealousy and proud of his Cakya strength, laid hold of the elephant by the trunk with his left hand and killed it with one blow of his right. (144: 10).

 

The elephant advances on the left, and his kornak with the angku,ca in his hand is kneeling behind it; then follow a number of men, probably those who conduct the animal, perhaps only spectators. Devadatta, to be known for a Cakya-prince by his lofty headdress, comes from the right, followed by several servants, part of them armed with swords, or bow and arrows. The prince is on the point of giving the death-blow, the right hand raised and open; his left arm is broken off, but enough is left to shew that it was stretched towards the animal's trunk. Both hands are thus in agreement with the text; what is not mentionedthere is the position of the left leg, which is lifted pressed against the elephant's tusk. Also on the rather damaged Gandhara-relief with this episode I), Devadatta stands opposite the elephant, his right hand raised, and seizes the animal by the trunk with his left. The elephant there appears half out of the gateway and there are no onlookers.