Mogao Cave 17: Life of the Buddha

CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Tang dynasty

The three scenes on this 9th century banner portray events that took place after Prince Siddhartha renounced worldly life to pursue a spiritual path. After the prince left the palace to become an ascetic, his father, King Suddhodana, dispatched five messangers to look for him.
In the upper register, the messangers are shown encountering a severe storm in the mountains. A thunder deity plays drums to gather dark clouds from distant mountains. In the middle register, the emaciated prince meditates in a cave. The image in the lower register depicts the prince abandoning ascetic practice, having realized its inefficacy. He steps into the Nairanjana River to wash the dirt from his body, grasping the branches of a tree by the riverbank and watched over by a heavenly being above.