Standing Buddha flanked by two disciples; below: the encounter of Upagupta and Mara

The Buddha and two disciples stand on a platform supported by two demons and by Hanuman, the monkey hero of the Rama epic. What the demons and monkey are doing here is a mystery.

Beneath these figures part of the story of the struggle between the demon Mara and a powerful monk unfolds. The two characters are shown three times. At right the monk ties up Mara with the belt of his garment. At the bottom, having lashed the demon to a mountain, the monk watches him suspiciously from behind a tree. At upper left the demon, having repented (or seemed to repent-he is a trickster and cannot necessarily be trusted) sits respectfully at the feet of the monk.

This painting is executed with great imagination, evident, for example, in the amusing scene in the lower center of a goggle-eyed gecko staring at Mara. The painting's landscapes show familiarity with Western modes of representing deep space by overlapping mountain forms and trees that diminish progressively in size.