Kizil Cave 17: Mahakapi Jataka

CHINA, Xinjiang, Aksu

Located on the right side of the barrel-vaulted ceiling in the main chamber, this painting is based on a story from the Sutra on the Collection of the Six Perfections. In this story, the Monkey King leads 500 monkeys into a human king’s garden to eat fruit from the trees. They become trapped by the king’s guards until the Monkey King quickly devises a plan. He spans his body between two trees, one on each side of a brook, and offers it as a bridge. The monkeys walk across their King’s back and escape to the other side. After the monkeys are safe, the Monkey King falls and dies.
The diamond-shaped painting has a green background and the brook flows across the bottom. A tree is on each side of the brook, and the white Monkey King’s hands and feet tightly grasp the trees to allow the body to function as a bridge. Two frightened monkeys walk across the Monkey King’s back to escape. The blue monkey in the front raises his right arm while his left holds the hand of the black monkey that follows behind. Atop the tree on the left sits a white monkey with open arms, appearing to urge the other two onward.