Lord Buddha Returns to Kapilvastu

Lord Buddha Returns to Kapilvastu

Ajanta Caves, Gupta Period,5th Century CE

         The news has spread that Prince Siddharth as Buddha was returning to his native city, Kapilvastu. His wife, Yashodhara decided to take their son, Rahul  to the Buddha. She taught the child to ask for his inheritance. The Buddha says, "I have only my alms bowl which I can give to you as your inheritance. " Both the mother and child look at the Buddha. Yashodhara had decked up herself with the hope that she would be able to induce the Buddha to stay back and become a householder.  But all in vain. Buddha left Kapilvastu in order to preach the Dharma to the people.  

         Although greatly damaged, this fresco is considered one of the most poignant paintings of Ajanta Caves.  Siddharth 's family meets momentarily and parts ways. The dilemma is between the life of monkhood and of a householder.  Which is more appropriate.  The issue is between the right of a wife and a child to have the husband and the father back, and the right of a man to be free to preach his Dharma. Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism emphasised the life of a monk over the life of a householder. Perhaps this was one of the reason that Buddhism declined. If everyone becomes a monk,  how would the society survive? 

          Society is a mixture of the intellectuals and the labourers, of the aesetic and the householder, of the industrialist and the agriculturalist. It is a composite of different communities, different philosophies, different life - styles.  To impose one philosophy or brand of thinking is to tear the social fabric. The middle path of assimilation is the right path. Too many monks also spoil the stew!