Manuscript Illustrations Of Uttaradhyayana Sutra

Author(s): W Norman Brown
Publisher: American Oriental Society

Page 48

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CITRA AND SAMBHUTA while Brahmadatta endeavors to seduce Citra to these pleasures. In JM (fig. 44) the upper part of the painting shows Citra and Sambhūta in conversation, while the lower part shows a female dancer and a male drummer and a flutist, who typify the sensual life which Brahmadatta offers to the monk.
The JP manuscript has two paintings. The first (fig. 45) shows various existences of the two souls, although not in the story's chronological order. Starting at the upper left we have the birth as twin slave boys, who died from the bite of the same snake, which is shown at their heads. Just below is the birth as the two Cāņdālas Citra and Sambhūta, who are seated singing. Below that birth is that as two fawns, and below that is a swan beside a river-one swan representing the pair. At the top right are the two as monks, and below them are a man and woman seated in an architectural setting, who may be taken to be Sanatkumāra and his peerless queen. At the very bottom the monk Citra is expostulating with King Brahmadatta.
The second painting of JP (fig. 46) again shows, at the top, king Brahmadatta and the monk Citra in conversation. At the bottom is a forest scene, as is evident from the trees, located in mountainous country. A tank, with steps leading down on all four sides, occupies the main point of interest in the painting, and in the tank is an elephant. The subject is verse 30 of the text, which Citra speaks to Brahmadatta as an argument for the good life: "As an elephant sunk in a quagmire sees the firm ground but cannot reach the bank, so do we, greedy for pleasures of the senses, fail to follow the path of monks."