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The story of the next-to-last life of the Buddha (Vessantara Jataka; detail), 1900–1960. Thailand. Colors on cloth. Gift from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Southeast Asian Art Collection, 2006.27.84.
The telling of stories seems to be a trait common to all cultures, providing social groups with cohesion and definition. Telling Tales collects several narrative works from the museum’s collections that illustrate the common elements that cross cultures.
The story of the next-to-last life of the Buddha
According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived through hundreds of previous existences before achieving buddhahood. In his next-to-last existence he was a prince named Vessantara who perfected the virtue of charity through boundless generosity. In northeastern Thailand a
festival is held each spring to celebrate the life of the Buddha as Vessantara. His story is told in temples, and it is also preserved in visual form in cloth paintings such as this one. The more than four-meter-long scroll is carried in procession to the recitation hall of the village temple, where it remains on display throughout the festival. The scroll makes visible the Vessantara story and provides a reference for commentary on it. When scrolls become worn out from use they are ritually destroyed and replaced with new versions. As a result, older versions are rare.
This one, together with three at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, may be the only examples in museums outside Thailand.
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