Lot Essay
After his seven week trance food was offered to Buddha by two merchants, but he had no bowl of his own in which to put the food, so the four Heavenly guardians, lokapalas, each brought a golden bowl. This precious metal was unacceptable, so it was transformed by the Buddha into various other metals and then into one of stone; for other examples of this scene, see H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, 1957, cat. no. 67-69, p. 67f.