Leaf from a Kalpa Sutra (Jain Book of Rituals)
15th century
Medium
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Dimensions
(Average size .1–.71): 4 1/2 x 11 3/8 in. (11.4 x 28.9 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture
India (Gujarat)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Cora Timken Burnett, 1956
Accession Number
57.51.38.7
Art Historical Context
This exquisite leaf from a *Kalpa Sutra*, a sacred Jain text outlining monastic rituals, vows, biographies of revered spiritual teachers called Tirthankaras, hails from 15th-century Gujarat,. Created by the artist-monk Bhadrabahu, it exemplifies the Western Indian Jain manuscript tradition, lay patrons commissioned opulent volumes to earn merit and display devotion. Produced during a golden age of Jain scholarship in Gujarat, such manuscripts were chanted aloud during festivals like Paryushan, blending scripture with visual splendor to inspire ethical living and non-violence. Rendered in ink,...
About the Artist
Bhadrabahu
Ācārya Bhadrabāhu (c. 367–c. 298 BCE) was one of the most consequential figures in the intellectual and institutional history of Jainism, a scholar-monk traditionally revered as the last Shruta Kevalin — that is, the final ascetic to possess complete, unmediated knowledge of the entire body of Jain scripture as transmitted from Mahavira, the religion's founding teacher. Born in Pundravardhana, a r...