Then Dandapani spake to the young Cakya's ana said: ~ "This is what we desired to know and we have seen it; come now and shew us the shooting with the bow". Then Ananda put up an iron drum at two kroc,a's as target and Devadatta at four kroc,a's, Sundarananda at six kroca's, Dandapani at two yojana's. The Bodhisattva set no an iron drum at ten kroca's, behind that, seven tala-trees and an iron boar on a pedestal. Then Anandahit the drum at two kro,ca's but could not get further, Devadatta the one at four, etc. But the Bodhisattva broke each bow that was handed to him. Then said the Bodhisattva: "Is there here in the city, o king, any other bow suited to my reach and power of body ?" And the king replied: "There is, my son". "Where is it, o king" ?, asked the prince. The king answered him: "Thy grandfather, my son, was named Simhahanu; his bow is preserved in a temple, honored with perfumes and garlands, but never has another man been able to bend the bow, let alone to draw it". The Bodhisattva said: "Let the bow be brought, o king, let us make trial of it". And the bow was brought immediately. Then the young gakya's, though they put forth their utmost strength, were none of them able to bend the bow, let alone draw it.... At last the bow was brought to the Bodhisattva; and he took it with his left hand, and without rising from his seat, or uncrossing his legs, he drew it with the point of one finger of his right hand.

On the right, the king still sits on a throne under an awning, watching the contests; a servant, here too, kneels before him and there are two attendants maids with fly-whisks. Quite on the icit are the seven talatrees in the rocky ground, the other objects used as targets are not shown I), while it is noticeable that on the corresponding Gandharareliefs, the targets figure prominently in the foreground. Between the king and the trees are the Cakya's, standing, nearly all armed with bow and arrows, with some kneeling and sitting servants holding more arrows. The Cak'ya furthest to the left is drawing a bow; in the foreground stands another one, perhaps the Bodhisattva, with the bow in his right hand and the left in the attitude of having just shot, and we can see the arrow speeding in the direction of the trees. It does not agree with the text, that one Cakya is just bending his bow and a second stands in the pose for shooting at the same time as the Bodhisattva; for it is written that he took his turn last of all. It is of course possible that the sculptor may have had a variation of the text for this scene, and still more probable that the Bodhisattva is not the figure actually shooting, described here above, but the one with an arrow in one hand and the bow in the other, who is waiting his turn more to the right, and over whose head an umbrella is being held. Yet it seems strange that the sculptor did not prefer to depict the Bodhisattva giving his decisive shot, rather than the archery trials in general. The Gandhara reliefs show only one person shooting, of course the Bodhisattva; while the old Chinese art of the rock-temples at Yun-Kang I) gives a version that resembles this of Barabudur: on the left, three men shooting at the same time, and right, three or more trees to which here the metal drums are attached. The scene at Ajanta, that is to represent the archery-trials, gives only one man bending the bow; the surroundings are not to be seen. The series of reliefs at Pagan shew too, only the Bodhisattva with bow and arrows in the midst of spectators, while another scene also depicted at Pagan from the Sarabhangga-jataka shews four more competitors s).