After leaving the scene of the plough match, the Prince went to a secluded place for meditation
under a jambu tree. In the picture, the prince is shown sitting under the tree. The shadow of the
tree under which the Prince was sitting was still on him, while the shadows of the other trees
moved with the sun. King Suddhodana came to see his son. When he saw this scene, the king
bowed and knelt in front of his son. Here the King Suddhodana is seen in barbarian dress. This
rare panel of first meditation of the Prince is preserved in Peshawar Museum, Peshawar.
The Renunciation of Palace Life
When the King Suddhodana saw his son's meditative turn of mind, he married him at the age of
sixteen to a beautiful girl named Yasudhara. However, he preferred solitude and thoughtfulness
and paid little attention towards the luxury and entertainments which his royal father had
provided for him. The ravages of poverty, disease, and even old age were therefore unknown to
Siddhartha, who grew up surrounded by every comfort in a sumptuous palace. At the age of
twenty-nine, he made three successive chariot rides outside the palace grounds and saw an old
person, a sick person, and a corpse, all for the first time. On the fourth trip, he saw a wandering
holy man whose asceticism inspired Siddhartha to follow a similar path in search of freedom
from the suffering caused by the infinite cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. On his return to
palace, the thoughtful prince became all the more pensive and melancholy. The noblest of the
women waited with musical instruments on him. But these splendid instruments failed to delight
or thrill him; the one desire of the saintly Prince was to leave home in search of Truth.
Departure
At last the Prince decided to leave the palace. At this juncture, everyone in the palace including
the Princess Yasudhara and other dancing girls and female attendants were overpowered by
sound sleep which distorted the gestures of their limbs. Siddharta got up and cast the last glance
at his wife and went out. He awoke the groom, the swift-footed Chandaka, and said,
”Bringquickly the horse Kanthaka”. I desire to depart hence today to reach deathlessness. Then
the Yaksas bowed down their bodies and bore Kanthaka's hoofs off the ground with the tips of
their hands. The city gate houses, which were closed with gates furnished with heavy bars and
which could not easily have been forced even by elephants, opened noiselessly of their own
accord as the Prince passed along.
The Yaksas lifting up the hoofs of Kanthaka off the ground to avoid noise. It is said that all the
gates of the city which were closed with heavy bars and could not have been forced even by
elephants opened of their own accord on arrival of the prince to let him pass. Swat Museum,
Swat.
In the upper part of this panel, Prince Siddhartha and his wife are seen together watching
dances and listening music before his departure from the palace. In the lower part all the
dancers and musicians are seen exhausted and sleepy. Princess Yasodhara is also shown asleep,
while the Prince is apparently leaving his bed. This panel was found from Jamrud in Khyber
Agency and now house in the National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi.