Syama Jataka

PAKISTAN

This damaged panel, once part of a Gandharan building, depicts episodes from the Syama Jataka. Syama was the sole support of his blind parents, who lived as hermits in the Himalayas. After he was mortally wounded by the king of Varanasi during a hunt, the king confessed his guilt to the parents and amended his way of living.
The relief is divided into three episodes shown out of sequence. The right section shows Syama drawing water from a well underneath a tree, where the king shoots him by accident. The king brings the corpse to Syama’s parents in the left section. They are identified by their hunched backs and their grief is shown in the way they grasp their son’s body. The middle section depicts Sakra, identified by his nimbus, who has been touched by Syama’s filial piety and uses an elixir to revive him and restore his parents’ vision.