Heart of Gold: A Jataka Tale

Abstract

Heart of Gold is in fact a human being who rejoices to give his immense wealth to those less fortunate. Shakra, one of the devas in heaven, declares that it is too easy for a rich man to be generous. Let him lose a little wealth, and we shall see if he doesn't become stingy! Soon he is stripped of everything except a rope, a sickle, and his nightshirt. Shakra offers one last, great temptation: Store up some wealth, so that you will have more to give in the future. Heart of Gold resists, saying especially that there is no time for what he suggests. The special feature of the art of this series during the late 1980's seems to lie in the golden lines used to outline the portions of a given picture. Perhaps the best of the images shows Heart of Gold's earthly possessions leaving him in a very literal sense near the middle of this unpaginated, oversized pamphlet.