80. The gods request the Bodhisativa to absorb nourishment through his

pores

The gods sons who felt compassion for the exhausted one and who with their minds had knowledge of my mind, came to the place where I was and said unto me: "Most noble being, thou needest not partake of such abundance of food; we will infuse the strength thereof through thy pores." Then I thought in my mind: "I can give myself the air of not taking food, and my neighbors, the people of the villages near by, would believe that the Ramada Gautama did not eat. And meanwhile the gods sons who have compassion with the exhausted one would infuse the strength of the nourishment through my pores. But it would be a very great lie to do so". Thereupon the Bodhisattva to avoid this lie, refused the offer of the gods sons and turned his thoughts to faking abundant food. (264: 4).

The fact that there are five equally-important persons all dressed in divine costume conversing with the Bodhisattva, is my reason for not agreeing with Pleyte's opinion who considers this to be the abovementioned conversation between Mara and the Bodhisattva (pag. 116). I think it can be nothing else but a collective appearance of gods and then only the above-quoted passage can be intended, which as immediately connected with the Bodhisativa's decision to stop his fast, in every case deserves to be represented in the sculptured text. The Bodhisattva still sits on the lotus-cushion in his niche in the rocks with the trees round it, on the left of the relief; he is in the vitarka-mudra pose. The five divine visitors are seated more to the right, and come into the middle of the picture with a tree behind them. The right hand side of the relief is taken up by the conventional rocky landscape we have had already several times: rocks and trees with squirrels and birds and other creatures. On the ground a couple of pigs, and some birds in the air. We must not think of reproaching the sculptor for placing us here among a mountain scenery, while the Bodhisattva is still, as in the preceding reliefs, on the banks of the NairaAjana or in its neighborhood. Let us rather praise him for the skill with which he did introduce variety into scenes that are so very much alike. The visit of the gods will also be found at Pagan, where the Bodhisattva shews distinct signs of emaciation 1)

As soon as the Bodhisattva declares his intention of breaking his fast, the five disciples are very much shocked; they lose faith in their master, take leave of him and retire to the deer-park at Benares.