110. The meeting with a djivaka-monk

Between Gaya and Bodhimanda another ajIvaka-monk saw the Tathagata approaching from afar, and he came to the place where the Tathagata was and stood aside. Standing there the ajIvaka held pleasant converse with the Tathagata over various matters and spoke thus: "Thy senses have been wholly subdued to calmness, o worthyGautama.... By whom hast thou been brahman-scholar?" And when he had spoken, the Tathagata answered this aj~vaka in a verse: t`No teacher have I had, nor does any man exist equal to me; I am the one perfect wise being, calm by nature and free from all corruption", etc.

He said: "Whither goest thou, 0 worthy Gautama? " The Tathagata answered: "To Benares shall I go and when I am come to the city of the Knits, I shall set going the wheel of the Law, that never yet has revolved in the world." "That shalt thou do, Gautama." And having so spoken the aj~vaka setforthtotheSouthandtheTathagata to the North. (405: 3, 17; 406: 8, 14).

The meeting takes place on a space planted with trees; by putting several trees behind and above one another, the sculptor has given some idea of perspective. On the right a hind is couching under a tree with a pair of squirrels climbing in it, on the left we see a bird and two hares. The aj~vakal) is coming from the same side accompanied by two colleagues; the first and the third make a sEmbah, the middle one holds up a flower on his open hand. They are not naked, as might have been expected2), but wear a monk's frock reaching to the ankles, a girdle with a clasp in front, an upper-garment, rolled-up like a bandolier over the left shoulder and under the right arm, bangles on the upper arm and the hair brushed up smooth from the forehead and twisted up on top of the head with one lock hanging down. The Buddha, approaching from the right and walking on a lotus cushion, lifts his right hand towards them; he is followed by a god as umbrella-bearer. Notice the urea, distinctly worn by two of the aj~vaka's, probably meant as token of their sect.