The Predictions of the Brahmins

The Predictions of the Brahmins

The Birth of Siddhartha

This image is a painting on a large folding scroll depicting the story of the birth of Siddhartha. It is of Burmese origin and was created around 1853-1885. There are three space cells within the image, each containing a different part of the story. The first cell depicts the birth of Siddhartha, with 108 Brahmins gathered around to witness the birth and to predict the future of the baby. Viewing the image, you can clearly see the king and queen with the newborn Siddhartha in a separate room discussing his future with some of the Brahmins, while the others wait with what seems to be gifts in another room.
The second cell shows one of the Brahmins telling the king about what he predicted. This prediction would be that Siddhartha would become the Buddha, and by means of seeing the four sights. We know from the story of Siddhartha that his father, the king, wanted him to become a universal monarch. As the image in the second cell moves farther right, you can see the palace start to end and the outside begin, as if to transition into the last part of the image’s story.
This brings us to the last space cell in the image, which shows Siddhartha and one of his guards chasing away elderly men, presumably to keep Siddhartha from seeing the four sights and becoming enlightened. In the image, the fence creates a nice between the inside of the palace, and the outside world. It also represents the border between the inside world of the palace that was all that Siddhartha ever knew, and the outside world that would be so entirely different and change his life.

Keeley Eames

Fae. "The Predictions of the Brahmins." Digital Image. Wikicommons. 11 Oct. 2014. Web. 3 Dec. 2015. JPG <http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/12/a5/574e79cb8c1c3eff54d35b32c271.jpg>.

Buddhism: REL 222, Arts of Asia: ART 276

Dec. 9 - Dec. 10

Keeley Eames, Aafreen Vohra, William Rathjen, Jessica Davis

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

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English, Burmese

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