I liked “Moral Tales from Kshemendra’s Collection”. Actually, I’m amazed by all “story paintings”: while usual paintings show just one scene, those show us the whole story.

Anyway, this particular picture appealed to me because it had 3 stories within it while it wasn’t overfilled with the details. It looks even empty.

The first story tells about king Madhata, who hadn’t enjoyed giving in his previous life as a merchant, and so was punished by loosing everything.

The second story tells about king Chandraprabha, who was so selfless and generous that he gave away even his head.

The third story tells about seafarer, who gave all his jewels to the robbers to save merchants’ lives. The goddess then appeared to him saying where he could get a germ that will help him to fulfill everyone’s wishes. When a king died the seafarer was called by a wise man to become a new king. After a while, the seafarer used his germs and all people got their wishes fulfilled.

All three stories are united by the motive of selflessness, showing how people who care about others and, what’s more, enjoy these acts, they will be rewarded. But if you’re not – you’ll be punished for this.