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Coping
Fragment (Period III)
The sculpture
represents the story of the prince Mahapaduma, the virtuous (Mahapaduma Jataka).
King Brahmadatta of Benares had a son named Padumakumara
who was handsome and righteous too. The King's second wife, failing in her attempt to make the
prince yield to her lust and so, wishing to wreak vengeance on the prince misrepresented the
case to the king. The king, believing her version to be true ordered that the prince should be
hurled down from the mountain top. The protests of his subjects were of no avail. But the
prince escaped death through the help of a Naga King. Later on, learning the truth
that his wife was in the wrong, the king punished her and entreated his son to return to the
kingdom. The prince, having already renounced the world, did not wish to return home. In the
end his benefactor, the Naga king himself, adored the prince.
On the left is shown the Naga couple looking up to rescue
the prince. The central panel shows the Naga king and his queen adoring the prince.
Behind them are hermitages. The panel on the right shows a lake full of lotuses.
The roofs of the huts and the head-dress of the prince are
noteworthy.
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Buddhist
Sculptures
