Tuokuzisalai Hall B: Prince Sudana Jataka

CHINA, Xinjiang, Kashgar

The Buddha in one of his former lives was reborn as the generous Prince Sudana, according to the Sutra on the Collection of the Six Perfections. He was exiled for giving away a national treasure to a rival kingdom, and tested by the gods until he had given away his children to an ascetic and his wife to a brahmin. The rival kingdom, touched by his deeds eventually made up with his realm.
The fragments of a mural depicting this Jataka tale were discovered during Pelliot’s expedition from 1906 to 1909 and a photograph remains of it as it was found. It can be seen by the photograph that the central figure in the posture of ease has been repaired from fragments found later. It represents the royally dressed Prince Sudana, with his wife Maddi at his side and their children Jali and Kanha sitting at their feet. The mustached figures with unkempt hair on the left dressed with the sacred threads may be the brahmin and the ascetic. The prince’s face and hair are mold-produced and similar to others found at the Tuokuzisalai site.