Folio 1, from a Great Poem about Twos (Dvyashraya Mahakavya) of Hemachandra with Commentary by Abhayatilaka (1428): Art, History and Details

Folio 1, from a Great Poem about Twos (Dvyashraya Mahakavya) of Hemachandra with Commentary by Abhayatilaka (1428) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The first two folios of this manuscript commentary have adjoining paintings: the first is the green image of Parshva, a liberated being known as a Jina, and the second depicts the author of the text, Hemachandra (1088–1173), as a monk with his royal patron Kumarapala (reigned 1143–1172). The text of this manuscript illustrates grammatical points of both Sanskrit and Prakrit—a living language derived from Sanskrit—with examples of the wondrous deeds of his kings.

Object facts

• Title: Folio 1, from a Great Poem about Twos (Dvyashraya Mahakavya) of Hemachandra with Commentary by Abhayatilaka
• Date: 1428
• Culture: Western India, Gujarat, possibly Patan
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
• Dimensions: Part 2: 5.7 x 47 cm (2 1/4 x 18 1/2 in.); Part 1: 5.7 x 45.7 cm (2 1/4 x 18 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1971.130

A detail from the museum

Hemachandra was a celebrated poet, historian, grammarian, philosopher, and theologian of medieval India.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.