One of them is Syakra, the Indra of deities, and on Mândhâtar’s unuttered wishes he ceded to him half his territory. Only by his non-blinking the god is to be distinguished from the man-king, and it goes without saying that the sculptor was not able to show this.
17. Deities fighting asuras (devils). With the assistance of their human ally the deities gain the victory over them.
18, 19, and 20 don’t exactly correspond to the text which teaches us that Mândhâtar asked his ministers who got the day.
“The king” they replied upon which the creezy one tried to dethrone Indra in order to rule himself. Scarcely did he entertain this, when he saw himself flung down from heaven to earth, and dying he bewails his blind impertinence.
20 may bear upon his cremation, and upon the entombing of his ashes into a stûpa.
Out of the 10 relievoes in front (south) of the western staircase, the sixth explains itself.
A pigeon was caught by a falcon, and the Bodhisattva buys the poor animal’s liberty by offering the bird of prey a proportional part of his own flesh. This is the so-called Syébi-jataka.
Out of the 30 relievoes belonging to the lower series of the north-west corner, some 22 or 25 may refer to the Rudrâyanavadana. Passing the first 3 sculptures north of the western staircase we shall see on: