Supported by The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
RU / EN
Supported by The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich

Main name
Священный дар
Author name
The Sacred Gift
1924
pastel and tinted charcoal on canvas
88.3×116.4 cm
28521 КП
6209 II
Location of the works
The State Museum of Oriental Art

Originally, the picture was part of the series “The Origin of Secrets”. In addition to the main title – “The Sacred Gift”, у N.K. Roerich used other variants – “The Holy Gift”, “The Holy Offering”.

Against the background of white snow peaks, four people with caskets in hands are facing a man whose face resembles that of Jesus Crist. He sits in a lotus position and holds a jug. A similar iconographic scene was developed in the Buddhist iconography of the Central Asia peoples, and even earlier in the art of Gandhara. The scene narrates about the distribution of the sacred ash – the sharil after the cremation of the Buddha.

According to Buddhist tradition, the body of the Buddha, who passed into nirvana, was committed to fire near the city of Kushinagar in Northern India. Other cities and tribes demanded that they be given their shares of the sacred ash, but were refused. Then their troops came to Kushinagar and besieged it. The battle was prevented, for Brahmin Drona, a disciple of the Buddha, convinced the Kushinagar people of the justice of the claims of other tribes. As a result, Drona himself divided the ash equally among all the claimants.

N.K. Roerich took as the basis an image from among the frescoes of the Turfan Oasis, but interpreted it in a new way. Instead of Drona, he painted the image of Christ who holds a jug with “water of life”, symbolizing the Teaching. “The Sacred Gift” was drawn in charcoal on a canvas covered with red ocher, to achieve a similarity with mural paintings. Four representatives of kingdoms with caskets, who are depicted in the painting, are associated with the Roerich family: Nikolay Konstantinovich, Elena Ivanovna and two sons. They bring gifts and receive sacred relics. The connection between Christ and the Buddha implies the unity of the world’s religious teachings.

“…In their mountain monasteries, Buddhists preserve the high image of Jesus, close to all nations. And it is not wonderful that the teachings of Christ and the Buddha brings all nations into one family, but it is wonderful that the bright idea of a community is expressed so easily and scientifically merges into the great Community of all worlds. The covenants of Jesus and the Buddha lie on the same shelf.”

(N.K. Roerich. Altai – Himalayas)