Scenes of donations are numerous, since deeds of Charity (dana) constitute the main emphasis of the text, and have faithfully been made manifest in the reliefs. It is quite true that these scenes seem repetitive, and are often referred to critically by many researchers as monotonous, redundant and even superfluous.

Repetition, first of all, has its own merit, besides being a traditional method for learning and memorizing facts. Moreover, one must not overlook a common practice among the Buddhists and Hindus, of repeating sacred words or syllables time and again to activate energy or to attain the one-pointedness state of mind. Likewise, we also know the practice of repeating and multiplying sacred forms or visions, such as those forming the themes of ‘Thousand Buddhas’, ‘Thousand lingas’ and ‘Thousand Vishnus’, upon which constant repetitions are considered to have similar evocative effects. Such repetitions of themes also impress the same message time and again on the mind, to subsequently activate it with energy or else bring it to absolute peace and concentration. One can imagine that such envisioning and contemplating on scenes of charity time and again, would keep the mind consistently focused on such special acts of merit.

Nevertheless, a closer observation of these seemingly repetitive scenes of donation and monotonous reward reveals that they actually contain variations, and probably have an additional message to communicate to observant on-lookers.

The donors and performers of meritorious actions obviously belonged to different social groups, so were the recipients of alms, of respect and offerings, as can been seen from their dresses and other associated details. The donors are shown as rich and poor, or in between, and as high and low in social rank, while the offerings they present differ according to their status and financial means. Recipients were also of a different variety, being monks, brahmins, other types of holy men, as well as mendicants, beggars and other needy or less fortunate human beings. In certain example, the donors seem to be well-to-do commoners, while the recipient is a Buddhist monk [ 1 ]. In other instances, the donors wear rich garments indicative of a high or royal status, and the recipients are a group of holy men who may or may not have been brahmin priests [ 2 ].

An important message which can be drawn from these seemingly repetitive scenes seems quite clear, that generosity or charity (dana) - the characteristic type of Buddhist merit emphasized by the Karmavibhanga and by this series of sculpture - is not confined to any class of beings, nor measured by the quantities or the material values of the gift. Large [ 3 ] or small [ 4 ], subsequent rewards of these and of all other good deeds are essentially the same, being expressed in terms of material gains and heaven as well as of spiritual merit that builds up the path to nirvana.