50. Gopa defends herself against the reproach of going unveiled

 

At this same time the Cakya Danjapani gave his daughter the Cakya-maiden Gopa to the Bodhisattva and she was accepted by king Cuddhodana for his son.

 

The Cakya-daughter Gopa did not veil her face in the presence of anyone, not for her mother-in-law, nor for her father-in law nor for the people of the palace. And they condemned her for this and spoke their disapproval: "This young woman is surely not modest for she remains alwavs unveiled". Then when Gopa, the Cakya daughter, became aware of this, she stood before all the people of the palace and spoke these verses: "Though those whose mind knows no cover, who have no shame or decorum, who have no such virtues and do not speak the truth, should cover themselves in a thousand garments, yet do they walk the earth more naked than nakedness. While those who veil their minds, have always their senses under control, are satisfied with their spouse, having no thought for anyone else, whose unveiled countenance is as the sun and moon, why should they cover their faces" ?

 

King guddhodana, when he heard these verses of Gopa the Cakyadaughter and understood the discernment thereof, was pleased, cheerful, satisfied, delighted, happy and joyful in spirit and gave unto Gopa, the Cakya-daughter two pieces of wearing-apparel sewed with many jewels and worth a hundred thousand koli's, with a necklace of pearls and a golden wreath set with genuine red pearls. (157: 3, 10; 158: 19; 159: 10).

 

It is very strange that neither the wedding nor the bridal procession are pourtrayed; subjects elaborated elsewhere by the sculptors, and we are all at once plunged into an episode, that according to the text comes after the marriage. In addition to this the sequence of the Lalitavistara and the monument do not quite agree, as the text gives the scene following this, before the episode of the veil-wearing.

 

The king sits on his throne, right, under a canopy; on the left a pendapa adjoins it, beneath which Gopa is seated on a cushion on a dais, making a sembah towards the king. In the right hand corner of the relief sits a man with a moustache, his hair under a wreath, brushed smoothly back and twisted up, he has a flower in his hand. Two similar persons sit between Gopa and the king. They are rather like brahmans; if they represent the "people of the palace" (antarjana) on this relief, it is not easy to make out why they are so unlike the usual members of the royal household; probably the version has been followed that the plaintiffs were brahmans. Behind Gopa some handmaidens are sitting, the nearest one has a lotus flower, the next one a garment, another holds a wreath, evidently the gifts Gopa is to receive from her father-in-law. Quite on the left is another remarkable figure, a man whose face has been knocked off, and whose hairdressing is in the brahman style; he stands dipping a brush into a bowl held in his left hand. This figure makes us inquire, if our reading of this relief is correct and if this scene may have something to do with the wedding ceremony; then it might be the giving-away of the bride to her father-in-law (or perhaps to the unhaloed bridegroom) and the man with the brush would remind us of the sprinkling with holy water as part of the ceremony. Au the same it would be very queer if the sculptor in depicting the marriage, should omit the joining of hands and the walking round the fire and be satisfied with representing a ceremony of secondary importance. For this reason I have kept to the episode of the veil-wearing as title for this relief on account of the elaborate description in the text, while the actual marriage ceremony is treated of in a couple of lines. Finally, it is not impossible that this might have something to do with the passage quoted below i.e. the instaUation (abbiseka) as principal spouse.