Buddha Shakyamuni Meditating in the Indrashala Cave [top] and Buddha Dipankara [bottom]

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

The upper register of this narrative frieze depicts the historical Buddha Shakyamuni serenely seated in meditation in the Indrashala cave. When Indra, the king of the gods, visits him there, the Buddha delivers a sermon that converts him to Buddhism, while acolytes fold their hands in veneration. The lower panel portrays the story of Sumati from the Dipankara jataka , a tale of one of the Buddha’s former lives. Sumati, a wealthy Brahmin turned renunciant, lies face down spreading his matted hair out across a puddle so that the Buddha Dipankara would not have to soil his feet. Dipankara subsequently prophesies Sumati’s rebirth as the future Buddha Shakyamuni.

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