Yulin Cave 3: Fifty-One-Headed, Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara - Farming

CHINA, Gansu, Guazhou; Western Xia period

This scene is located on the left of the Fifty-One-Headed, Thousand-Armed Avalokitesvara. In the image, a farmer holds the handle of a straight moldboard plow with one hand and cracks a whip with the other. Two powerful oxen, one white and the other black, are harnessed to the plow, which they pull as it digs deep into the soil. The churned soil is illustrated as wavy lines. Objects held in Avalokitesvara’s hands surround these figures include a bound umbrella and musical instruments, such as the harp, fiddle, and pellet drum. A rooster and hen are found above these instruments.