Relief fragment showing fire and human figure

This broken horizontal relief section seems to have come from part of a stupa. This piece seems to be an episode from Buddha’s previous life which has been woven into the nodes of a flowering vine. Here, bunches of beads, pearls and other types of woven necklaces hang from the vine. The relief has a continuous row of bells and leaf-shaped tassels hung from a beaded diamond-shaped lattice. The intact portion shows a human figure in a knee-length garment dancing around a bonfire. The triumph of nature depicted on all the early monuments suggests the pre-eminence of nature over all.

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