Elephants carrying Buddha’s relics

Description

The Buddhist site of Bharhut in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh is known for fragments narrating various jataka stories and aniconic representation of Shakyamuni Buddha. The 8.7 feet long coping stone shows a processional scene of five elephants from left to right with caskets on their heads walking towards a group of female dancers. This narrative refers to the transportation of Buddha’s relics after his parinirvana. Mentioned in the ‘Mahaparinirvana Sutta’ of the Digha Nikaya, after Buddha’s passing away there ensued a fight among the seven kingdoms to divide his bodily remains to be enshrined in a stupa for worshipping his remains. The eight kingdoms enumerated in the text are- the Lichchavis of Vaishali, the Shakyas of Kapilavastu, the Koliyas of Ramagrama, the Mallas of Pawa, the Mallas of Kushinagar, Brahmanas of Vishnudwipa, Buliyas of Allakappa and Ajatshatru of Magadha.