Detail from Sibi-Jātaka, copied in the Ajanta Caves by Christiana Jane Herringham (1852-1929) and Dorothy Larcher (1884-1952). 1909-11. Tempera. Source: Herringham, Plate IV (5). The episode illustrated here is from the "Sibi Rāja-Jātaka," No. 499:
Prince Sibi, the son of the King of Arishtapura, was the Great Being. He gave nmch in alms; but one day he desired to give something that was truly bimself — his heart, his flesh, or his eyes — or to work as a slave. Sakra, the god, resolved to try him, and he came as a blind beggar and asked for first one eye, then the other; and the prince gave them, suffering great agony, and surrounded by his weeping and wailing ministers and women. Having received both eyes, Sakra returned to the abode of the gods. The end of the story is mystic; for Sakra came again and gave the blind King the eyes of Truth, absolute and perfect, which were "neither natural nor divine." Yet we are left thinking that the King received both natural sight and spiritual. [Herringham 14]
The copies were on the same scale as the originals, and this allows many of the details in them to be excerpted and shown separately. Here, what stands out is the elaborate head-dress of one of the figures, the fine jewellery of the figure on the right, and, in general, the fluency of the lines, suggesting movement and interactions.
Of course, even as a detail, it is not complete. After the rediscovery of the work here, it deteriorated further. William Rothenstein tells us in his contribution to Ajanta Frescoes that it was in a "ruinous" condition ("The Import of the Ajanta paintings on the History of Art," 22). Fortunately, this has not prevented the variety, exuberance and high ornamentation of the scenes from coming across to us, even in the copies — for which the copyists themselves, working under unusually taxing conditions, deserve full credit.
Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned it and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Related Material
Bibliography
Herringham, Lady. Ajanta Frescoes. 1914-15. New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 1998. Internet Archive. Contributed by the Central Archaeological Library, New Delhi. Web. 9 November 2019.
Created 9 November 2019