14. The gods do honnage to the Bodhisativa (?)
In the mother, when the entering of the womb has taken place, there appears directly on the right side a ratnavyuha-pavilion. And further, in that pavilion remains the Bodhisattva, descended from the Tusita, sitting with legs crossed. For the body of a Bodhisattva in his latest existence has not the nature of the fleshly substance of a foetus but he appears seated complete with au his limbs and parts of limbs and with all the (requisite) tokens.
When midday was past and the afternoon was come, then appeared Brahma Sahapati attended by some hundred thousands of Brahmakayika gods sons with the divine drop of essence and approached the place where the Bodhisattva was, to behold him, to adore him and serve him and hear the Law. When the Bodhisattva had seen that they were seated, he instructed them with a discourse on the Law, made it clear to them, encouraged them and filled them with joy (65: 19; 69: 15; 70: 3).
As after the conception, in the text follow the scenes given on the reliefs 15—21, without intermission, it becomes difficult to explain No. 14; it may only be looked for in the part of the text that follows on the scene depicted on No. 21, yet it remains doubtful whether in guessing what it represents we may have hit on the right incident.
On the relief, in the middle is seen in a pavilion, a god or Bodhisattva seated on a lotus cushion with the right hand in a sort of vitarkamudra of third finger and thumb. Right and left a similar figure standing, on the right with a lotus and left with a bowl. Next on each side a number of seated gods, the right with richly-adorned headdress, the left hand ones with a somewhat different hairdressing made up with plaits. On both sides two heavenly ones are hovering in the air; those on the right flying towards the pavilion, the left ones, away from it.
Pleyte (1.1. pag. 27) calls this relief: ,,Cakra und die Beherrscher der Windgegenden" and describes the text relating to it as follows: ,,In derselben Nacht begaben sich die vier Beherrscher der Windgegenden, acht und zwanzig Yakshaanfahrer und der Haiiptling der Guhyaka's, die Yaksharace watcher Vajrapani entstammte, zu gakra und nachdem sie Rath gepflogen batten, beschlossen sic alle zusammen die MayaDevi zu iiberwachen." Thus he considers the person in the middle to be Slakta, the flying figures as the Guardians of the winds, while misled by the drawing, he conjectures there is a vajraonthelotusofthe standing god, which would indicate him to be Vajrapani. But if we consult the text itself, it then appears that the translation used by Pleyte was not a very good one, for to begin with it is not there stated to have taken place on the night of the conception, nor do we find that the persons came to Cakra and there consulted, but only (66: 4), that Cakra, the Guardians of the world and the yaksa-leaders mentioned, were continually on guard over the Bodhisativa concealed in the mother's womb. There is thus no consultation, nor is any mention made of any special part played by Cakra on this occasion, and finally there is no explanation for the advancing and returning flight of the Guardians.
Following in the footsteps of Barth, I am led to seek the solution elsewhere, guided specially by the unusual shape of the pavilion which is really a sort of pavilion within another pavilion and this is just the building described in the text, the ratnavyuha-pavilion a), with this difference that there ought really to be a third pavilion enclosing it.
The central figure seated on the lotuscushion, can be no other than the Bodhisativa, as in the text, with legs crossed and expounding the Law to the gods visiting him. There are several groups of gods who come consecutively to do him reverence; the reason for my quoting the above passage about Brahma's visit is the possibility that the bowl held by the figure on the left may be intended as the same sort of bowl in the former relief, in which Brahma offers the essence and which according to the text he now has with him. Which visit of the gods is indicated, does not either matter very much; the flying figures are perhaps meant to shew the coming of one and the going away of another group of divine worshippers. The great difficulty, the great objection to my interpretation is of course that the Bodhisattva with the ratnavyuha and all, is supposed to be within the mother's womb. We must allow that it was utterly impossible for the sculptor to depict this, and being given the episode of the ratnavyuha for his subject, he was compelled to do it in some such sort of way as on No. 14.