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The Fourteen Dreams of Queen Trishala, folio 14 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Accounts of the lives of liberated beings of the Jain religion are illuminated with special emphasis on the miraculous circumstances leading to the birth of its historical founder Mahavira (500s BCE). For Jains, liberated beings are not reborn after they die; they exist eternally in a blissful meditative state. After a divinity miraculously implanted the embryo of Mahavira into the womb of Queen Trishala, she dreamed of 14 good omens. Later in the manuscript is an intimate moment between the mother and her special newborn. The bold and costly palette lends the paintings an otherworldly quality.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Fourteen Dreams of Queen Trishala, folio 14 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra, c. 1475–1500. Western India, Gujarat. Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; overall: 11.3 x 26 cm (4 7/16 x 10 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund, 1932.119.14.a
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