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A few of these hermits are somewhat less plainly dressed and wear a bracelet or a belt with ribbons. Those on
O 37
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Series O |
Plate V 37 |
696a.JPG |
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look handsomer too and on
IBa 3 4
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balustrade |
Series IBa |
Plate I 3 |
1574.JPG balustrade |
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balustrade |
Series IBa |
Plate I 4 |
1575.JPG balustrade |
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we see very richly worked girdles;
IBa 127
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balustrade |
Series IBa |
Plate XV 127 |
1710.JPG balustrade |
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and
II 86
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De Gandawyuha |
Series II |
Plate XLIII 86 |
3060.JPG De Gandawyuha |
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are much the same. Still better-dressed and onlyshewing their ascetic nature in the looped style of hair, are the figures on
IBa 82
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balustrade |
Series IBa |
Plate X 82 |
1663.JPG balustrade |
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—85, 108—109,
II 115
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De Gandawyuha |
Series II |
Plate LVIII 115 |
3089.JPG De Gandawyuha |
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and
O 75
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Series O |
Plate X 75 |
794b.JPG |
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; they wear full-dress decorations and the looped up coiffure stands up above a correct diadem band. Compared with the first these are real fashionable ascetics and we wonder if they are some other kind of people altogether; but fortunately these tales on the first balustrade have been identified so that we know for certain these men are only ascetics. Thus we can judge how well these renouncers of all worldly things were able to accommodate themselves to circumstances and at least on the reliefs, as is here shown, to appear in the royal presence in court attire. But the eminent person who wears the looped up hair of an ascetic above a diadem, with unkempt locks at the side of it,
IBa 152
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balustrade |
Series IBa |
Plate XVII 152 |
1733.JPG balustrade |
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balustrade |
Series IBa |
Plate XVII 152 |
1734.JPG balustrade |
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we are not able to identify; he is dressed like a person of distinction and exhibitions of wrestling and dancing are being performed for his benefit.
In one place in the life history of Cakyamuni,
Ia 70
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Life of Buddha |
Series Ia |
Plate XXXV 70 |
2590b.JPG Life of Buddha |
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we find female ascetics who are mentioned in the text as belonging to the brahman caste. Their hair and necklace is just the same as that of the men; the band over the left shoulder is sometimes as narrow as a string at the top, but under the right arm looks like the usual width of the supporting belt. These women also wear bracelets on the upper arm and the rest of their dress seems to be a sarong with a plain girdle. It is still unknown whether nunneries actually existed in Java such as those described in the Buddha story; though we know for certain that women also practised tapa and descriptions have been found of communities with male and female hermits like those frequently mentioned in Indian literature; therefore it must be left undecided if this relief represents what the sculptor was used to seeing in his own surroundings. Perhaps the girl who on
Ib 34
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main wall |
Series Ib |
Plate XVII 34 |
1173b.JPG main wall |
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brings a refreshing drink to a tired man with a wreath of flowers on her head, her hair tied with a band and hanging down at the back, as I remarked before '), may belong to a hermitage in the style of the idyllic Sagara whose praise is sung in the Nagarakrtagama.
Another class of persons, ascetics in a kind of way, but not to be identified as such, are the rsi's; they have a somewhat different aspect. The distinction is not very important because in the days of Barabudur there were no more living rsi's to be found either within or outside the community, so the sculptor either followed some imported tradition or was obliged to draw on his own invention for their appearance. Unfortunately the only scene where we are certain of having a rsi before our eyes, I a 31, where the great seer Asita is uttering his prophecy about the new-born Buddha, is not very distinct; the fsi whose nephew and companion is dressed as an ordinary hermit, seems only to differ from the ascetic type in his hairdressing, wearing instead of the looped-up style, a large round bunch of hair tied up on the top of his head, with hanging locks arranged on either side. Another very dilapidated figure on
Ia 29
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Life of Buddha |
Series Ia |
Plate XV 29 |
2570a.JPG Life of Buddha |
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with a mass of unkempt hanging hair, is possibly also a fsi although he is wearing a handsomer kind of belt. In the series on the chief wall of the second gallery, those on 24 and 29 may be the same kind of seers; they are not quite the same but both resemble Asita in their style of hair, fastened into a bunch on the top of the head, not in loops, with locks hanging down at the side, while they have further the appearance of an ascetic. They both waer a broad headband without ornament, the latter (no. 39), actually a parivrajaka, is sitting on a brahman stool, he is living in the wilderness with a disciple and a waterjug; a jar with a lid, a shell on a pedestal and a trident are beside him.
Before leaving the subject of costume and hairdressing, I must call attention to a couple of noteworthy scenes.
O 36
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Series O |
Plate V 36 |
693b.JPG |
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is very curious, we see curling locks of hair that hang from a chignon at the back of the head; horizontal stripes in the beard such as the brahmans wear on
IV B 56
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Maitreya |
Series IVB |
Plate XII 56 |
3741b.JPG Maitreya |
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we find again with some very simple folk on
O 35
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Series O |
Plate V 35 |
694b.JPG |
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and
IV B 11
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Maitreya |
Series IVB |
Plate III 11a & 11b |
3722b.JPG Maitreya |
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Maitreya |
Series IVB |
Plate III 11a & 11b |
3722b.JPG Maitreya |
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In contrast to this a couple of men on
O 148
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Series O |
Plate XIX 148 |
978b.JPG |
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havetheirbeardsdividedinvertical lines as if it were a row of imperials. Finally let us notice the widow, identified as such by her single plait, on
Ib 107
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main wall |
Series Ib |
Plate LIV 107 |
1211a.JPG main wall |
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and then the negro or Papuan slave with his woolly head on
IIB 33
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Awad-Jatakas |
Series IIB |
Plate VI 33 |
3544b.JPG Awad-Jatakas |
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He is proof positive of a custom known to us from the inscriptions, but being unique of his kind among all these reliefs, he shows that in the time of Barabudur the keeping of such slaves must have been very exceptional.