2-999-850 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Vessantara Jataka, Chapter 9 (Maddi), c1920-1940. Collecting food in the forest is one of Maddi's daily activities during the family's exile. On the day that Vessantara gives the children to Jujaka, she is away in the forest. To prevent her from hearing the cries of her children and returning home, divine beings in the forms of a lion, a tiger, and a leopard appear and block her path. Whereas the tiger and leopard are depicted realistically, lions in Thai art are usually represented as stylized, mythical beasts.