# Shvetambara Jain Teacher Giving Instruction

- By: Sahib Ram (Indian, active 1745–1803)
- Date: c. 1750–60
- Medium: gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Overall: 20 x 27.9 cm (7 7/8 x 11 in.)
- Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Jaipur
- Credit line: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.171)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/2018.171/2018.171_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A manuscript lies on a low table in front of the preacher, who holds one hand up in the gesture of discourse, and the other holds a cloth to shield his mouth from insects. The audience of laypeople includes men gathered near the front of the composition, and women in a group toward the back.

The preacher and the white-clad figures behind him are Jain householder monks, permitted to grow hair and moustaches and to wear a colored shawl that indicates higher status. Householder monks in Rajasthan often served as scribes and maintained manuscript libraries.