The Buddha Sakyamuni seated on a lotus in a landscape containing scenes of his life and death. Distemper painting by a Tibetan painter.

In the centre is the Buddha, and around him are several scenes. At the top, a white figure in the cloud is a woman who saw a dog's tooth and believed it was the tooth relic of the Buddha. After she had worshipped it for some time it began to shine and she acquired the powers of Indra. Underneath the five robed figures adorning a stūpa (reliquary) are the five Hindu teachers of the Buddha who after his Enlightenment became his pupils and subsequently became Arhats (Saints). Below, a member of the Ājīvika sect is showing a mandārava flower to three disciples of the Buddha to tell them that the Buddha had died and that flowers had rained from the sky

Below, eight brahmins acting as intermediaries divide the Buddha's remains into eight parts, after which one part is buried at Kuśinagara. Riding on elephants, with banners and umbrellas, a detachment led by the Ājīvika holding the flower choose seven other burial places. Below, Nāgārjuna teaches the Mahāyāna, and nāgas (snake spirits) come out of the water. Four warriors in armour serve a king who is preparing for war, acting on the Buddha's prophecy that, if the Dharma (his teaching) is true, they will win their war. Nāgārjuna talks to an ascetic

Bottom right, a red-robed man with a white headdress falls from an elephant and, remembering the Buddha, asks for his help. The brahmin is trying to raise the king by his prayers but the king who by fighting had caused much suffering is not waking up. He is revived and cured by being put into seven troughs with churned cream and nine troughs in which milk, curds and butter are mixed with scorching hot water. Nearby, thankas are being stitched to frames on which they are stretched. The Buddha is being depicted on them. Above right, the king is offering 500 rolls of silk and, attaining Nirvāṇa he sees the Buddha

[Tibet]

1 painting : distemper on linen with embroidered silk border and silk curtain ; linen 95.5 x 57.5 cm

Marianne Winder, Catalogue of Tibetan manuscripts and xylographs, and catalogue of thankas, banners and other paintings and drawings in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, London 1989, pp. 72-73, thankas banners and paintings no. 3

Wellcome Collection 47112i