Martin Goodson
Frieze fragment of figures beside a chakra (wheel)
Images of Truth
A fragment relief from Southeast India, accompanied by an excerpt from Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma
Chakra frieze
John Eskenazi
Southeast India, Andhra Pradesh, probably Amaravati
1st century BCE to early 2nd century CE
Limestone
Height 33cm
…
And when the Wheel of the Dhamma had been set in motion by the Blessed One, the earth devas raised a cry: "At Baranasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any recluse or brahmin or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world." Having heard the cry of the earth devas, the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings raised a cry: "At Baranasi ... this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped ... by anyone in the world." Having heard the cry of the devas of the realm of the Four Great Kings, the Tavatimsa devas ... the Yama devas ... the Tusita devas ... the Nimmanarati devas ... the Paranimmitavasavatti devas ... the devas of Brahma's company raised a cry: "At Baranasi, in the Deer Park at Isipatana, this unsurpassed Wheel of the Dhamma has been set in motion by the Blessed One, which cannot be stopped by any recluse or brahmin or deva or Mara or Brahma or by anyone in the world."
(Setting in Motion the Wheel of the Dhamma: Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi)
