Kizil Cave 114: Jataka of the Queen Offering Her Breast

CHINA, Xinjiang, Aksu

This image is on the left side of the barrel-vaulted ceiling in the main chamber. The story is from the Bodhisattva Purva Carya Sutra. According to the jataka, the inhabitants of a kingdom suffered a famine. Queen Varman, who had inexhaustible compassion, was returning home after making an offering when she saw a malnourished woman about to consume her own child. In pity, she took a knife and removed her own breast, offering it to the mother and child to save them from death.
Queen Varman, depicted on the right side of the illustration, has a nimbus and wears a crown and a flowing stole. She holds her breast with her left hand, and prepares to cut it with her right. On the left of the painting crouches the famished woman who wears a light blue robe. She appears sorrowful and holds a child in her arms. An emaciated goat, emphasizing the dire state of the entire kingdom, is portrayed in the foreground.