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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
open-mouthed Makara, which-in five cases--a man teazes by taking hold of its tongue and upper jaw. The Makara, filling the corner of a row of figures, is common also on all Buddhist monuments." In the cornerpiece on the obverse (4) the chief group is placed on the left side and consists of a male with a peaked ornament on his head (a crest-jewel ?), holding a garland and four females in the attitude of worship; just below them appears a portion of an empty covered carriage. Further to the right stand five other smaller males (?), four in the attitude of worship, and carrying a large tray with offerings, the nature of which is not distinguishable. The extreme left is filled by five vessels of various shapes and sizes, from one of which rise the leaves of a plant. In the corresponding portion of the reverse (B) there is again in the back-ground a group consisting of one male with the peaked head-ornament and three or four females, one of whom holds a garland, further in front also a servant with offerings and a small male figure in the attitude of worship. Below the group appears likewise a portion of a carriage. The place, which on the other side is occupied by jars, is here filled up by a Stupa and by two platforms of stone (ptṭhiká), which in the centre seem to have borne representations of sacred marks (Pâdukâs ?), and at the upper ends are decorated, each with two lotuses. Two of the semi-circular rows of figures on the obverse, the first and the third, contain each two covered carts (shighram) very similar to that on plate II, C., which are apparently each occupied by several passengers and attended by servants. In front of the cart in the first row walk three dancing girls, who may be easily recognised by the manner in which they expose their persons. It is possible, but not certain, that two of them support with their left hands trays or dishes with offerings. In the third row we have in the place of the dancing girls portions. of a clothed male figure seated on a throne and attended by a female fan-bearer. The second row of the obverse shows running male figures with flying upper garments, holding bunches of flowers (lotuses ?) in their hands.
On the reverse only the second, or central, row contains the representation of an uncovered bullock or horse-cart, preceded by dancing girls. Behind this cart comes a male figure riding on a marine monster, and in front there is a mutilated male figure on a throne. The riders on sea-lions and Makaras reappear in the two other rows. In the first there is also a mutilated male figure on a throne, attended by a female fan-bearer, at whose dress a Hamsa nibbles. The back-ground behind the Hamsa is occupied by a monument, possibly a temple, enclosed by a wall. In the third row two male figures with upturned faces and uplifted hands are visible in front of the riders, as well as a piece of the garment of a third.
The general character of the scenes represented is, of course, not doubtful. They refer to the worship of one or several Jaina sanctuaries and to processions or pilgrimages undertaken for this purpose. Many of the details must be likewise familiar to every student of Indian archæology, and they agree in part at least with the descriptions of such scenes occurring in Jaina works. The jars of various shapes, even those with plants, appear frequently on the Buddhist Stúpas, and the Jaina descriptions of the pilgrimage of the deity Suriyabha to the Ambasálavana Chaitys mention them
On the Amaravati Stupa, Burgess, Arch. Rep. South India, vol. I, plate xxviii, 6, there is a similar scene in whic a female takes hold of a Makara's tongue.
