CC0 · no rights reserved
Two nuns teaching lay women, colophon page of folio 167 (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Wearing white billowing monastic robes, the two nuns contrast with the beautifully adorned laywomen, who wear elaborately patterned textiles and jewelry. Jains commissioned illuminated manuscripts as a way to accrue religious merit, and they would have images of themselves at prayer inserted into the image cycles like this as signs of their patronage.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineTwo nuns teaching lay women, colophon page of folio 167 (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya, 1278. Western India, Gujarat, Palanpur (Prahladanapura). Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf; overall: 5.4 x 32.1 cm (2 1/8 x 12 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1971.126.a
Similar works
Folio 167, from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya: two nuns teaching lay women (recto); genealogical text (verso)
King Kumarapala Pays Reverence to Hemachandra: Folio 2 (recto), from a Great Poem about Twos (Dvyashraya Mahakavya) of Hemachandra with Commentary by Abhayatilaka
Monk Holding a Flower Venerated by a Lay Disciple: Folio 141 (verso), from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya
Monk Teaching Lay Disciple: Colophon page from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya of Devachandra
Folio (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya of Devachandra: Text
Brahmanshanti Yaksha: Folio (verso), from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalaka of Devachandra