Kizil Cave 206: Life of the Buddha

CHINA, Xinjiang, Aksu

This mural was originally located on the left wall of the main chamber. It depicts the scene of Sakyamuni Buddha returning to Kapilavastu to teach the Dharma to his wife Yasodhara and 500 women of the Sakya clan. These women later became the first group of nuns to enter the Sangha.
In the painting, the Buddha wears a light brown monastic robe and is seated on a high throne. Yasodhara, who wears a triple-disc crown and a long blue stole, is in the lower left. She joins her palms before her chest and looks upward. A woman kneels before the Buddha on the lower right, holding a plate of flowers in offering. The figure wears a headdress and long blue garments. Several women conversing are depicted on either side of the Buddha, with expressions of joy upon hearing the Dharma. A dancer wearing a floral headdress raises her arms high in the upper right, and at the very top of the mural, three figures with nimbuses observe the scene.