Figure SSA-ind-050. The nimbate Buddha Shakyamuni holding his right hand in vitarkamudra and blessing the freshly converted anthropomorphic water-dwelling nagaraja Apalala, holding his hands in bandhamudra, his nagini queen consort, and the retinue, all sporting the polycephalic cobra hoods and emerging from the waters of the Suvastu (Swat) River in the general attitude of submission, respect and veneration; the anthropomorphic, ophiocaude (serpent-tailed) nagas (morphologically similar to the Hellenistic-Roman tritons or ichthyocentaurs) among the group of devotees worshipping the Buddha Shakyamuni sitting under the protective foliated canopy (the middle register, not shown) and the Empty Throne (the upper register, possibly the Buddha's symbolic (aniconic) representation (?), not shown); the Hercules-style divine serpent-tamer and future bodhisattva Vajrapani (Vajrasattva) holding the vajra; the chief Buddha's attendant, senior "archivist", crypto-feminist, and future arhat Ananda (the foremost in memory, the Guardian of the Dharma) and another serpent-tamer Mahakasyapa (the foremost in ascetic practice), or possibly (?): the chief disciples and future arhats Sariputta (Shariputra, the foremost in wisdom) and Maudgalyayana (the foremost in psychic powers); other dignitaries standing beside and witnessing the event, referred to in the Mulasarvastivada Vinaya of the Vinaya Pitaka of the Tipitaka.
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