ANCIENT REGION OF GANDHARA, CIRCA 2ND-3RD CENTURY

This Gandharan frieze depicts the ascetic Asita, the bearded old man on the left, cradling Prince Siddharatha on his lap. The child Buddha has been presented to him by a female, possibly Queen Maya's sister, Mahaprajapati, holding a cloth draped over her forearm. Queen Maya raises her arm in a gesture referencing the Buddha's birth and King Suddhodana is seated on a throne. Having examined the child, Asita foretells that Siddhartha will either attain enlightenment and become the Buddha or rule the world as a cakravartin (universal monarch).

Three additional examples of this scene are preserved in the Lahore Museum; see Sun and He, Tushuo Jiantuoluo Wenming, Hong Kong, 2020, p. 164). Related representations are also held in the Peshawar Museum (PM_02734), the Rietberg Museum, Zurich (RVI 11), and The British Museum (1902,1002.30).