After the Bodhisattva had bathed in the river Nairanjana and had renewed his strength of body with food, he set forth to the land of sixteen forms, to the foot of the great king of trees, the Tree of Wisdom. And from the river Nairanjana to Bodhimanda, there between, was all cleared by the gods sons of wind and clouds and sprinkled with perfume and strewn with flowers by the gods sons of the rainclouds.... From the river Nairanjana to Bodhimand.a, there between, the road was decorated after one model for the distance of a prom by the Kamavacara gods sons. On the left and on the right side of this road an altar of seven kinds of precious stones was made to appear, seven tale's high, and adorned above with jeweled gauze and heavenly umbrellas, banners and pennons etc. Then the Bodhisattva thought: "On what did the fortunes Tathagata’s 1) who attained the highest and most perfect Wisdom seat themselves" ? And he remembered: "On grass that was spread". Then the Bodhisattva saw on the right side of the road the grass-cutter Svastika, who was cutting grass, green, soft, young? pleasant grass, growing in tufts, bent to the right, like the necks of peacocks, agreeable to the touch as kacilindi-stuff, sweet-smelling, bright and making glad the heart. And when he saw that, the Bodhisattva stepped off the road, went to the place where Svastika was and spake to him with a sweet voice: "Quick, Svastika, give me grass, to-day I am greatly in need thereof; when I have overcome the Evil One with his army, I shall attain the perfect rest-giving Wisdom".... And when he heard the gentle and sweet words of the Leader, Svastika rejoiced and was cheerful, full of joy and gladness, he took up a handful of grass, pleasant to the touch, soft, fine and bright, he stood before the Bodhisattva and spoke to him glad of heart. (272: 8; 273:9,16;285:17;286:3;287:3,13).

The first part of this quotation accounts for the presence of the great number of gods on this relief: they are the gods who prepare and adorn the route. We can’t suppose them to be anything else, though this scene does not show them hard at work and there is no sign of the altars with umbrellas etc. spoken of in the text; the further description of the road decoration does not in the least correspond either, so that I have not quoted the whole of the elaborate passage. We do not see any result of the divine labor until the following relief. The important episode for the moment is the conversation between the Bodhisattva and Svastika. This passage occurs in the text after the homage by Brahmaand Kalika given on the following relief. Arbitrary alteration seems of course improbable; the sculptor has evidently had a text before him with another sequence, the more likely as we know of another text with the same alteration i.e. the Chinese translation of the Mahabhiniskramanasutra I). Nor is the inclusion of the gods in this incident anything original; it is found as well on the Gandhara-reliefs 2), where the Bodhisattva, accompanied by Vajrapani, stands opposite the grasscutter with his bundle. At Pagan we see, first the Bodhisattva on the road between two gods with banners, and then the offering of the grass by the grass-cutter on the left, but no witnesses 3). On the Barabudur scene we have, on the left, the field shaded by trees and Svastika on his knees; with his right hand he plucks a bundle of grass, the left has a sort of stick, to the end of which the Bodhisattva stretches out his right hand (that is broken off, while he stands holding the tip of his garment with the left hand, on the lotus cushion, in the road that is indicated by a bit of rock with a bush on each side of the cushion. The text is thus deviated from by the Bodhisattva here not leaving the road for the conversation; that Svastika kneels instead of standing as on the Gandhara-reliefs need not be a divergence but may merely be the result of Svastika not having yet risen from his knees to give his answer. The meaning of the object in his left hand is not clear; it does not look like the bamboo that is used by the natives to beat the grass. The roundshaped little object in the lefthand bottom corner is probably a bird's nest in the grass from which the birds hovering above have flown; by looking carefully another little bird can be seen inside it. The scene between the Bodhisattva and Svastika does not occupy more than a third of the relief; the remaining two thirds is all gods with a background of trees, in four groups: one standing, one kneeling, another standing and then one kneeling. Some carry flowers. There are no attributes to distinguish one sort from another.