Mathura: Railing pillar showing jataka of worst evil

A highly refined and unified style of carving is displayed on the railings decorated by Mathuran artists, There are two types of railing clearly distinguishable at Mathura: one, represented by the example in our slide, made use of a profusion of lotus designs in medallions and is the earlier of the two railing types, The second made greater use of human figures, and all carved decoration was in very high relief, The first style is executed in low relief, which is near to wooden prototypes and thus attests to an early dating around the 1st century A.D. It is evident from the types of motifs chosen to decorate the railing: and, subsequently, the stupa it surrounded: that the early sculptors were inclined to more aesthetic arrangements, and less emphasis was thus placed on large narrative scenes even though they had a huge repertoire of lively narratives to select from, The pillar decoration in our detail shows the Alambusa-jataka according to which the Bodhisattva in one of his former existences was living as an ascetic in the wilderness when a doe fell in love with him, The animal bore the ascetic a son after accidentally eating some moist grass on which some of his semen had fallen, When the boy grew to manhood, he was renown[ed] for his virtue and thus presented competition to the gods themselves, Indra, king of the gods, sought to prevent this earthly hero from gaining all glory and sent one of his heavenly courtesans, Alambusa, to seduce the mortal, She managed to succeed in this and stayed with Isi-singa: for so the ascetic's son was called because he had one horn in the middle of his forehead: for three years before disclosing her true identity and returning to Indra's realm, -- From Gosua, Mathura, about 1st Century A.D. Mathura, Curzon Museum