60. The Bodhisativa in the women's apartments. Gopa comforted after an evil dream

Now king Cuddhodana gave this command in the women's apartment: "Let music never cease; let all kinds of play and amusement be provided simultaneously. Let the women use all their powers of attraction and bewitch the prince so that his spirit is dimmed by pleasure and he will not go away to wander as a monk".

Now while Gopa lay on the same couch with the prince, at night, when the night was half spent, she saw this dream: this whole earth trembled, the mountains with their tops, the trees were ravaged by the wind and fell to the ground torn and uprooted; and the sun and moon with all their star-ornaments fell down from the heavens. She saw her hair cut off by her right hand and her diadem drop to pieces etc.

Then when he heard this, he spoke with the voice of the kalavingka-bird, like that of a kettle drum, the voice of a god, a melodious voice, unto Gopa, saying: "Rejoice; no evil shall befall thee. Those only dream these dreams whose former existence has been virtuous .... Be comforted, and have no care; fear not, but be full of joy. Soon shall joy and happiness be given unto thee. Sleep, Gopa, these tokens are favorable to thee." (192: 22; 194: 7; 195: 5; 196: g).

It looks to me rather doubtful if this relief depicts Gopa being comforted by her husband, as the sequence of events in the text requires. The Bodhisattva appears in the middle of a pavilion on a seat with his right leg in the sling; women are sitting on both sides, the front one of both groups seems to hold a utpala; possibly on the left it is a fly-whisk. None of the women are in any way distinguished from the others so as to be identified as Gopa, and if the sculptor intended to illustrate the above conversation between husband and wife, he has taken no trouble to make it plain to the looker-on that anything more is intended than just the Bodhisattva among his wives, in the same style as on No. 521) Next to the pavilion, on both sides, is a partition, made up of boxes, trays and dishes; then, again on both sides in the background, a small building, in front of which a few men are sitting. Among those on the left some are armed, so they may be the ordinary palace-guard; on the right, only the last has a sword and the three others have the high headress of eminent people, so they may be Cakya's or gods who come and take an interest in the proceedings.