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Text, Folio 57 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra

c. 1475–1500

Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: Overall: 12.5 x 25.7 cm (4 15/16 x 10 1/8 in.)
Culture: Western India, Gujarat
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Edward L. Whittemore Fund
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

About this work

The founder of Jainism, Mahavira, had 11 main disciples, all depicted as identical to one another. They all sit in a meditative posture, with the left hand in the lap, while the right hand is in the gesture of teaching. They each have shaven heads, elongated earlobes, and white robes, indicating that this manuscript was used by the Shvetambara (White Clad) sect.

In the upper central grid, decorated with flowers, is a stylized om-hrim, mystic syllables visually combined to invoke the essence of all Jain teaching.