GANDHARA, 2ND/3RD CENTURY

The present frieze likely depicts the Temptation of Isisanga, a jataka tale in which an ascetic, pictured at left, fathers a child with a doe bathing in the same river. The ascetic takes care of the child, naming him Isisanga. The boy is pictured below nursing from his mother, the doe. The female at far right is a harbinger of what happened later in Isisanga's life. When the boy reached adulthood he decided to undertake arduous penances in his asceticism, frightening the gods with his concentration. They sent their most beautiful celestial nymph, Alambusa, who successfully distracted him from his meditation, and he spent three years with her.