Queen Maya after bathing herself and anointing her body, her arms decorated with various ornaments and wearing splendid soft and fine garments, full of joy, contentment and happiness, with a company of ten thousand women, came into the presence of king Cuddhodana, who was seated pleasantly in his music room and advancing towards him, she seated herself at his right hand on the throne covered with jeweled gauze and spoke with smiling face, with unfrowning eyebrows and laughing mouth, the following verses to king Cuddhodana (41: 8).

Her request, that is too elaborate for literal quotation, is that the king will permit her to perform a vow of selfdenial and virtue, to which he agrees.

The king and queen are seated in a pavilion in the middle of the relief; there is no sign of this being his majesty's music room; on the contrary, according to the trees on both sides, it should be in a garden. The ten thousand women are represented by three sitting and two standing, all on the lefthand of the pavilion, thus behind the queen, who in agreement with the text is sitting at the king's right hand. One of those sitting holds a dish with a lid, one of the standing ones, a dish with a wreath. Right of the pavilion, near the king sits a bearded man, his hair dressed-up brahman-fashion, but wearing more ornements than becomes an ordinary brahunan; he seems by his gestures to be taking part in the conversation, and it is possible that, as Pleyte suggests (1.1. p. 17) it may be the court-chaplain, but it maybealso, as on no. 13, the officer of the guard. Behind him, just as quite on the left behind the women, is the armed guard with sword and shield; quite to the right is another servant with a large bowl, in the shape of the cuspidors that are still used.