The Sutra of the Ten Kings was probably not written until after the mid-eighth century. This scroll is incomplete, missing the frontispiece — which would have shown Kṣitigarbha — and the first 18 lines of the text. The ten kings are shown after the opening scenes of the messenger on horseback and the official checking the names of the dead. Each of the kings is accompanied by the Boys of Good and Evil. The tenth turns of wheel of rebirth to see whether the deceased is reborn as a god or human, animal, hungry ghost or into hell.
Ink and pigments on paper
The British Library,
Or.8210/S.3961