Diagrams of the Universe: The Two-and-a-Half Continents, the Universe in the Shape of a Person, and the Seven Levels of Hell (1613): Art, History and Details

Diagrams of the Universe: The Two-and-a-Half Continents, the Universe in the Shape of a Person, and the Seven Levels of Hell (1613) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

According to Jain cosmology, the universe is envisioned in the shape of a man. Above the waist are seven levels of heavens; below the waist are seven levels of hell. His midsection is the earthly realm, here shown as a round diagram with mountains and rivers, expanded at the left. The hell scenes are elaborated at the right.

Object facts

• Title: Diagrams of the Universe: The Two-and-a-Half Continents, the Universe in the Shape of a Person, and the Seven Levels of Hell
• Date: 1613
• Culture: Western India, Gujarat
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on cloth
• Dimensions: 83.8 x 155 cm (33 x 61 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.201

A detail from the museum

The seven levels of hell depict various punishments as per Jain mythology.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Proser, Adriana G. Comparative Hell: Arts of Asian Underworlds. New York: Asia Society Museum; Milan: Officina Libraria, 2022.
• Ellcock, Stephen. The Cosmic Dance: Finding Patterns and Pathways in a Chaotic Universe. New York, New York : Thames & Hudson, 2022.
• "Arts of Asian Underworlds." Asian Art: the Newspaper for Collectors, Dealers, Museums and Galleries 26, i. 5 (May 2023): 10–11.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.