48. Mandhatar claims to be the only victor

As mentioned above (p. 242) there is some doubt whether the three last reliefs belong to the story of Mandhatar; therefore I only keep to the identification given by Coucher, of which he himself is not certain, because I have no better to offer.

On no. 48 a king with a halo sits with a queen on a wide seat in a pavilion placed on the right; two female attendants crouch behind the queen, two more are standing outside the building on the right. On the left, opposite the king and conversing with him, sits abrahman with a beard and the usual appearance of such people; he is making a sembah towards the king. The rest of the space on the left, up to the edge of the relief, is planted with trees, under which, behind the brahman, sits a whole row of men in ordinary clothes, not actually servants (for they hold none of the objects always seen in the hands of servants) but more likely courtiers. The whole scene might be entitled: the king conversing with a brahman. According to the story of Mandhatar the king ought to be demanding, whose is the victory and to hear the reply: `'your majesty's". It is plainly to be seen that this relief might represent any other sort of discourse between any king and brahman.