79.Drum panel with the Great Departure and Temptation of the Buddha scenes
- 1st half of the 3rd century
- Nagarjunakonda, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Among the many moments in the life of the historical Buddha told in the canonical biographies, two were especially favored for stūpa decoration: the Great Departure and the Temptation. Both narratives are depicted on this drum panel from Nagarjunakonda. Each epitomizes the negation of desire, represented below by Prince Siddhārtha's renunciation of privilege to become an ascetic seeker of knowledge and above by his resistance of the temptations offered by Māra, the force of darkness
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