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Jatakas and Other Stories

Many paintings illustrate Jataka tales, which are moralistic stories of the Buddha's previous lives. The Mahajanaka Jataka describes the future Buddha's birth as that prince. Mahajanaka's kingdom was usurped by his wicked uncle, and Mahajanaka became a merchant to gain the fortune to regain his kingdom, in the process having many adventures. After many years his uncle had died without sons, and his daughter Sivali could only marry a man who fulfilled certain conditions. Mahajanaka fulfilled these, and when they married he regained his kingdom.

This picture shows a palace scene in which Mahajanaka on his throne watches a dance performance arranged for his amusement by Sivali, who clearly has eyes only for him. Their high status is clearly shown by their rich jewelry and by the surrounding servants..

For awhile Mahajanaka enjoyed the pleasures of kingship, but as time went by he became increasingly disenchanted with worldly life, seeing them all as a mirage. Sivali was heartbroken, and made many attempts to change his mind, but was unable to do so. Mahajanaka eventually renounced his kingship to become a wandering ascetic, a life story that carries strong parallels with that of Siddhartha, the historical Buddha.

This picture shows Mahajanaka leaving the palace to take up life as a renunciant ascetic.

As part of his ascetic initiation, Prince Mahajanaka received a ritual bath that symbolically cleansed him from the elements of his past life, and marking the transition between householder and renunciant life. This picture shows Mahajanaka getting his bath, surrounded by his attendants.

All Jatakas describe past lives of the Buddha to recommend certain virtues in the hearers. This picture comes from the Vessantara Jataka, named after its Prince Vessantara, the Future Buddha's last human birth before being reborn as Siddhartha, and a paradigm for the virtue of generous giving. During a trial by the gods Vessantara gave away not only his his kingdom and his belongings, but also his wife and children. In the end his virtue was rewarded, everything was restored .

This picture, from Cave 17, shows Vessantara and his family (under the umbrella) leaving the palace to take up a life of hardship, so that Vessantara's fabled generosity would remain unblemished. This Jataka story is also shown in the sculptures at Sanchi.

This detail from the Vessantara Jataka shows Indra, the king of the gods, looking down on Vessantara as he departs his home. Although Buddhists do not worship deities, they have no doubt that the universe has a variety of non-human and super-human beings, some of which have the power to make people's lives harder or easier. The critical point to understand is that like all other created beings, gods such as Indra are also tied into the continuing cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

This picture in Cace 16, sometimes called the "Dying Princess," shows a scene from Ashvaghosha's Saundarananda ("Handsome Nanda"). The book tells the story of the Buddha's cousin Nanda, who starts out the story firmly embedded in the world, but through the Buddha's teaching eventually renounces householder life to become a Buddhist monk. This painting shows the reaction of Nanda's wife when she learns that he has become an ascetic.

This painting from Cave 17 shows a richly ornamented noble lady looking at her face in the mirror as her attendants help to make her up. This image is not clearly connected with any of the Jataka stories, and is an example of the way that Ajanta's painters depicted many of the details of contemporary upper-class life (this may clash with images of Buddhist monks).

This painting, from a frieze in Cave 17, shows a dark-skinned man and his lady friend enjoying a drink from a bowl. This man may be meant to represent a yaksha, a type of nature spirit, or he may represent one of the many types of people who became Buddhists. Unlike many religious communities at that time, Buddhists were both multi-racial and multi-ethnic.