Kizil Cave 38: Jataka of the Lion King

CHINA, Xinjiang, Aksu

Located on the left side of the barrel-vaulted ceiling in the main chamber, this mural is based on a story described in the Mahasamnipata Sutra. In the story, two monkeys needed to leave the mountains to forage for food. Before leaving, they asked the Lion King to care for their two children. As the Lion King slept, the Eagle King flew by and snatched the two little monkeys. When the Lion King realized what had happened, he went to the Eagle King and offered to exchange his own life for those of the two young monkeys. The Eagle King was touched by the Lion King’s gesture and returned the little monkeys to him.
In the painting, a monkey talks to the Lion King beneath a tree with a green trunk. The Lion King raises his front paws before his chest as he looks up at a large blue Eagle King that clutches a monkey in its claws. A monkey who kneels on one knee is depicted at the bottom left of the painting. He looks upward at the Lion King with a gesture of pleading, as the Eagle King appears to fly out of the scene. The lines in this painting are simple and lucid.