Many of the figures on the topmost torana  seem purely decorative (birds and flowers), but the center shows a female figure over which two elephants are raising their trunks.  This a reference to the Buddha's birth, after which streams of water fell from the sky to cool and clean his mother.   The Buddha's birth is one of the four great events in his life (along with his enlightenment, first teaching, and parinirvana), and so the traditional descriptions of these events were marked with appropriately supernatural events.  

According to Mitra (1965: 39), the middle torana depicts King Ashoka's visit to the Ramagrama stupa.  Ashoka had opened up seven of the eight original stupas housing the Buddha's relics in order to distribute the relics to other stupas he had built, but at Ramagrama his attempt to take the relics was stymied by the guardian naga deities. Here Ashoka and his retinue are on the right side of the stupa, and the naga king and his retinue on the left (the naga king's halo of snakes is visible at right center, marked by a red line circle).  

The images on the lowest torana seem to be purely decorative.  It is also clearly missing a piece, and this flaw--one of the few visible places where the monument has not been completely reconstructed--leaves me in awe of the job the ASI has done.  According to reports, when reconstruction began all the gateways had completely fallen down, and yet they have been put back together as if they have always been that way. 

On to the next Page-South Gate, Interior

Introduction

East Gate:  Exterior / Interior    West Gate: Exterior / Interior

South Gate: Exterior / Interior   North Gate: Exterior / Interior

Final Shots