“Kalinga Brahmins are Given the White Elephant”
For today, a piece of art from the Buddhist tradition.
“Kalinga Brahmins are Given the White Elephant” is a painting depicting a scene from the Vessantara Jātaka, chapter two. This piece dates to the late-nineteenth century and is pigment painted on wood. It was made by an unknown artist from Bangkok, Thailand in the Rattanakosin art style.
In Buddhist traditions, jātaka stories were used as a way to teach moral virtues and wisdom. Illustrating these stories helped to further reinforce these lessons. The Vessantara Jātaka is one of the most well-known stories of one of the Buddha’s past lives. As Vessantara, a prince, he showed extreme generosity, giving away everything that was his, including his children.
In this piece, Vessentara had a white elephant that was magical and had helped to bring rainfall to his kingdom. His neighbors, the Kalingas, were experiencing a horrible drought. In the character of this generous prince, he gave his neighbors his magic elephant. This kind act terrified his people, who feared a recurrence of the drought without the protection of the white elephant. It resulted in Vessentara giving his kingdom back to his father, Sañjaya, and began his life as a hermit.
This is a beautiful example of Thai Art done in the Rattanakosin style. This art style, which began in 1767, is traditionally highly stylized, with bright colors, featuring a flattened perspective, and almost always depicts a subject related to the Buddha. In Buddhism, white elephants are regarded as sacred and are a common feature of Buddhist art. In Thailand, white elephants are associated with monarchs, and most often serve the royalty.
“Kalinga Brahmins are Given the White Elephant” is currently in the collections of The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States. The museum houses several paintings from this version of the Vessantara Jātaka.
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