All the Jatakas describe past lives of the Buddha, but also aim to imbue certain virtues in the hearers. This picture comes from the Vessantara Jataka, named after its hero Prince Vessantara, who was the Future Buddha's last human birth before being reborn as Siddhartha, and who was a paradigm for the virtue of generous and disinterested giving.  During a trial by the gods, Vessantara not only gave away his kingdom and all his belongings, but his wife and children too.  In the end his virtue was rewarded, and all of his possessions were  restored to him.

This picture, from Cave 17, shows Vessantara and his family (under the umbrella) leaving the palace to take up a life of hardship, in order that Vessantara's fabled generosity may remain unblemished.  This Jataka story is also shown in the sculptures at Sanchi.

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This detail from the Vessantara Jataka shows Indra, the king of heaven, looking down on Vessantara as he departs his home.  Although Buddhists do not worship deities, they have no doubt that there are a variety of non-human and super-human beings, some of which have the power to make people's lives harder or easier.  The critical point to understand is that gods such as Indra are also tied into the continuing cycle of  birth, death, and rebirth, just like all other created beings. 

 
This picture, often called the "Dying Princess," shows a scene from Ashvaghosha's Saundarananda ("Handsome Nanda").  Nanda was the Buddha's cousin, who through the Buddha's teaching eventually renounced householder life and family to become a Buddhist monk.  This painting, which comes from Cave 16, shows the reaction of Nanda's wife when she has learned the news that he has become an ascetic. 

 
This picture from Cave 17 shows a richly ornamented noble lady looking at her face in the mirror as her attendants help to make her up.  This image is not clearly connected with any of the Jataka stories, and is an example of the way that the painters of Ajanta rendered many of the details of upper-class life at the time (this may clash with certain narrow images of Buddhist monks). 

 
This painting, from a frieze in Cave 17, shows a dark-skinned man and his lady friend enjoying a drink from a bowl.  This man may be meant to represent a yaksha, who were nature spirits, or he may represent the multitude of types of people who became Buddhists. Unlike many religious communities at the time, Buddhism was both multi-racial and multi-ethnic. 

 

 

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Last modified 28 December 2005