Prince Vessantara Jataka

THAILAND

This picture is taken from a copy of the Traiphum, a scripture from the early Ayutthaya Kingdom (circa 1350–1767) that includes descriptions of Buddhist cosmology and the three realms, stories from the Life of the Buddha, and Jataka tales.
This picture is a scene from the Prince Vessantara Jataka, Pali Jataka No. 547. In one of his previous lives, the Buddha was the generous Prince Vessantara. He gave away his treasured white elephant, all of his wealth, and eventually even his wife and children. Awed by his generosity, heavenly beings intervened to reunite the prince with his family at the end of the story. This picture portrays the prince’s reunion with his family. Within a large red mandorla in the center of the picture, the prince is on the left, holding his young son on his knees. His wife holds and breastfeeds their daughter, and his parents, the king and queen, kneel on the right. The characters hold their hands to their faces as if wiping away tears. The convention of using hand gestures to convey emotions is common in Thai paintings. Canopies, symbolic of royal status, hang above the figures. A palace is painted on the left, and several figures bow in reverence on the right.