榆林窟第10窟主室壁画的时代,学术界存在西夏与元两种观点,尤以西夏说为盛。西夏说的核心依据在于该窟的2件飞天乐伎所持乐器被指为西夏奚琴,然奚琴属于弹拨乐器,无弓,而壁画中的这2件乐器明显有弓。中原弓弦乐器的出现始于元代,由西亚传入。该窟壁画以蓝色为主色调,合于元代之尚蓝而悖于西夏之尚红;龙纹呈西亚龙纹凶猛风格,为元代所特有,与西夏具有温驯特点的中华龙风格迥异。该窟主室画框内有画师题记一则,记录了七位来自不同地方的画师于1341年在榆林窟绘制“秘画”,当即榆林窟第10窟之画,这些画后被铲除,应与画品中存在大量密教明王和明妃形象有关。各种迹象表明,榆林窟第10窟主室壁画应为元代之物。

In academia, there are two main views regarding the era of mural paintings from the main chamber of Cave 10 in the Yulin Grottoes. Most consider that it could be dated back to Xixia, but some believe that it might be the Yuan Dynasty. The core basis of the Xixia view lies in the fact that the two musical instruments held by the flying apsara musicians in the cave are thought to be Xiqin (奚琴) from Xixia, which is a kind of plucked instrument without a bow. But it's clear to see in the mural painting that the two musical instruments have bows. The bowed string instruments were introduced into China from the West Asia and began to be known in the central plains since the Yuan Dynasty. The murals in Cave 10 of Yulin Grottoes are predominated by blue, which was preferred in the Yuan Dynasty, rather than red that was the favorite color in Xixia. The pattern of Loong (龙) appears in the style of West Asian dragon featuring fierceness, which was special in the Yuan Dynasty and totally different from the Loong characterized by tameness in Xixia. On the south of the west wall in the main chamber of Cave 10, a framed inscription by painter records that seven painters from different places painted a “Tantric painting” at the Yulin Grottoes in 1341 (the seventh year of Zhiyuan Reign in the Yuan Dynasty), which is exactly the mural of Cave 10 in the Yulin Grottoes. It's said that the painting was chipped out of the wall afterwards probably for its large number of Tantric images regarding vidyaraja and vidyarajni. In conclusion, the mural of Cave 10 in Yulin Grottoes should be from the Yuan Dynasty.