69. Bimbisara receives the cuirass

Here again the king sits on the right with the queen on a couch with a back, under a canopy supported by pillars; a waiting woman with a fly-whisk stands next to him and another with a bowl in her hand sits behind the queen. On the left we see again a group of courtiers behind whom the umbrella and peacockfeather-fan are fixed up; the same as on No. 67, the front one makes a sembah; his hands however have been knocked off so that we cannot see if he held something in them as he does on that relief. Not the very last, but the last but one it is here, who turns round with outstretched hands to receive the gift. On theleft under some trees sit the bringers of the present; here they are not accompanied by a group of followers or courtiers. They all wear moustaches and the curious wreath on their heads already mentioned on No. 67. The front one is just about to hand over the cuirass. This object has remained uninjured; its shape is not that of armour or coat of mail, but like a jacket without sleeves, with opening for head and arms, and worked up into thickness along the edge, probably as a way to indicate its jewelled ornamentation, not easy to represent in stone. As we here see it in the arms and hands of the person who presents it, it is far too small for any figure on the relief, but these sculptors everywhere do as they like with the proportions.