King Sibi Jataka

PAKISTAN

This Gandharan relief depicts the future Buddha’s rebirth as the benevolent King Sibi, a popular story related in several scriptures in which he sacrifices his flesh to save a dove from a hawk.
On the far left, the king is enthroned beneath a canopy. He is supported by a female attendant, while another attendant cuts the flesh from his left leg with a knife. A figure in the center measures the weight of the flesh against the dove, using a scale. The shape of the hawk, depicted as hovering above the figures, has been damaged, but the dove hiding at the foot of King Sibi’s throne remains visible. Standing to the far right, the deities Visvakarman and Sakra look on in their bid to test Sibi’s benevolence. They are distinguished by nimbuses and wear aristocratic robes that leave their jeweled torsos largely bare. One gestures with an upheld hand and the other carries a scepter of office. The sculpture divides naturally into two parts with the seated king on one side, with servants bending towards him, and on the other side the standing figures and hovering hawk focused on the work of weighing.