During my recent visit to Ajanta caves in Maharashtra, I was fortunate to have befriended a Buddhist monk while trying to decipher a remarkable painting in cave number 1. He not only enlightened me on the painting but also led me to cave No. 26 and showed me a relief sculpture of the same theme.
Both the works of art visualise the moment when Siddhartha Gautama was about to attain enlightenment at the end of seven years of ‘Seeking’. Ever since he left the palace and taken to ascetic life, Mara the evil demon had been at his heels tempting him with earthly pleasures.
Gautama’s indifference enrages him and he threatens the former prince, “Whenever you have a bad thought I shall know”.
Thus for seven years Mara had shadowed Siddhartha and when it appeared that the supreme moment was near, Mara in alarm makes one last bid.
Three events pertaining to the ‘Temptations of Mara’ have been depicted both in the painting and in the relief. At the centre, Gautama is seated under Bodhi tree with his right hand in Bhoomisparsh mudra. The lower part shows Mara’s daughters — Rati (lust), Trishna (thirst), and Raga (delight) — dancing at the ascetic’s feet, hoping to break his meditation with their lustful advances. In the upper part, Mara, astride a large elephant and his forces are shown in full attack, trying to distract Gautama before he achieves enlightenment.
Also in the bottom right hand corner, his efforts having failed, a dejected and defeated Mara sits with his hand to his head.
The monk explained that Mara personifies the internal vices of the mind like human ego and prejudice standing in the pathway to enlightenment. As Mara challenges Gautama, the latter reaches out his right hand to touch the earth (Bhoomisparsh mudra) implying that mother earth is his witness for his detachment from ego-centric desires which is the source of all sufferings on earth.
The monk’s benevolent gaze fell on me as he said, “You are witnessing the moment when the Exalted One enters the realm which transcends time and space where ‘I’ the ego no longer exists; He achieves nirvana, the state of eternal bliss and cessation of desires”. I felt goosebumps all over.