Object Details
Culture
Indian
Date
ca. 1500
Medium
Opaque watercolors and gold on paper
Credit Line
Museum Associates Purchase Fund
Object
Number
68.071
Two main religious texts serve the Svetambara (“white clad”) sect of Jainism: the Kalpasutra, which (…)
Two main religious texts serve the Svetambara (“white clad”) sect of Jainism: the Kalpasutra, which relates the biography of Mahavira, the twenty-fourth Jina; and the Kalakacharyakatha (Story of Kalaka). Donors would commission copies of Jain texts as an act of merit, to present to their spiritual teacher and to eventually be housed in the temple library. This page comes from a manuscript made in Western India, probably Gujarat. The Kalpasutra places Mahavira in the context of his twenty-three predecessors. This page depicts the twenty-third Jina Parsvanatha, identified by his serpent headdress, which represents the serpent king Dharanendra, who sheltered him with his hood.
