59.
The king. and the yaksa by the altar of fireThe altar is seen flaming on a square pedestal in the middle of the relief. On the left, with some trees in the background, sits the yaksa, his left leg in the sling; he has the usual appearance of these beings, wild eyes and heavy eyebrows, thick beard and moustache, a great mass of erect curling hair and round earrings. Behind him are two men of the same sort as we have seen on the last relief, with flat headdress, moustache and beard and rolled-up flat earrings. Their presence seems to connect this relief with the last one. The king stands on the other side of the altar with a halo as Bodhisattva and royal robes; he has a lotus in his left hand, that as noticed already on p. 244 might be accepted as an indication of the miracle of the lotus-pool, not represented, but nevertheless important to the tale. A round object with a little circle in the middle can be seen under his left arm; perhaps this is a lotus leaf (unfinished), if not I am unable to account for it. The royal retinue is seated more to the right with umbrella and featherfan fixed up in the background.