The middle of the relief is taken up by a (very much damaged) palace with a pendapa next to it, in which both the chief persons are placed, the one, sitting on a plain seat wearing the ordinary headdress, the other standing before him bare-headed, with the tiara in his hands. It seems that the text has not been followed literally, the Bodhisattva does not put the tiara straight on to the head of Maitreya, and we can not be sure which of the two is the Bodhisattva and which Maitreya. One might think that the person seated on a throne here, as elsewhere, must be the Bodhisattva, but the gesture of the hands of this figure is not that of some one who has offered something, but much more like some one who holds out his hands to receive something; the figure standing is thus evidently the Bodhisattva who has just removed his tiara and is on the point of giving it to Maitreya. The headdress of the latter does not shew the stupa that characterises Maitreya, and the tiara that is being handed over (what is left of that damaged object) has neither any sign of this emblem. Right and left are seated the Tusitagods with flowers and trays full of ornaments in their hands; quite on the right is one with a vase of lotuses; behind, two are standing, while on the left, in the background, is a tree. The objects on the trays do not resemble any of the offerings that constantly appear on so many reliefs, but are more like personal ornaments; observe what seem to be bracelets on the front tray. Possibly the sculptor was following a version of the story unknown to us in which other ornaments than the tiara are given or received.

No representation of Maitreya's investiture is known to us in the old Buddhist art; it does occur in the comparatively modern Tibetan painting, part of a series of pictures of the life-story of the Buddha, published by Hackin i). Naturally this series differs widely in its manner of delineation from Barabudur and it would be useless to quote from it every time; nevertheless I draw attention to its existence as it may furnish data for the evolution of Buddhist art in its post-Indian period. On this point of course the results of the researches in Turkestan are of special importance; a number of pictures from the life of (;akyamuni are, as will be seen, found by Stein.