Four Harmonious Friends

Containers:
Artifact 002
Extent:
1 items 1 roll
Scope and content:

This thankga, titled Four Harmonious Friends or The Delightful Tale of Honoring the Age, depicts the tale of the four harmonious animals, one of the widely preached Jataka tales, a significant part of Buddhist mythology. It depicts an elephant standing under a fruit tree carrying a monkey, a hare and a bird on top of each other. The story tells of four animals, all close friends: a partridge, a hare, a monkey, and an elephant. They lived beneath a large banyan tree. Out of curiosity, they wanted to figure out who was the oldest among them. To determine who was the eldest, they discuss their memories of the oldest tree and then order themself by age. The bird, recognized by the other animals as the oldest, sits on top. The four animals lived together in co-dependence and cooperation, helping each other to enjoy the fruits of the tree.

Language:
No linguistic content; Not applicable
Physical facet:
6.25 X 6.25 X 36 inches

Access and use

Location of collection:
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Parent restrictions:
This collection is minimally processed and available for use.
Parent terms of access:
This collection contains some in-copyright material. Visit our Permissions and Publishing page for more information about use of Special Collections materials. The library can provide copyright information upon request, but users are responsible for making their own determination about lawful use of collections materials.