Folio 167, from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya: two nuns teaching lay women (recto); genealogical text (verso) (1278): Art, History and Details

Folio 167, from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya: two nuns teaching lay women (recto); genealogical text (verso) (1278) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This page is from the end of a manuscript, which contains two texts often paired together, the Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya. The latter tells a story about a Jain teacher who used magic to overthrow an evil king. The lay women who listen reverently to the nuns’ teaching may be the donors who paid for the creation of the manuscript.

Object facts

• Title: Folio 167, from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya: two nuns teaching lay women (recto); genealogical text (verso)
• Date: 1278
• Culture: Western India, Gujarat, Palanpur (Prahladanapura)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
• Dimensions: Overall: 5.4 x 32.1 cm (2 1/8 x 12 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1971.126

A detail from the museum

The year occurs in the fourth line, to the right of the nuns.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Pal, Pratapaditya, with contributions by Shridhar Andhare and others. The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1994.
• Brown, W. Norman. The Story of Kālaka: Texts, History, Legends, and Miniature Paintings of the Śvetāmbara Jain Hagiographical Work, the Kālakācāryakathā (with 15 Plates). Washington, DC: Lord Baltimore Press, 1933.
• Nawab, Sarabhai Manilal. Jain Paintings: Paintings on Palm-Leaves and Wooden Bookcovers Only. vol. I. Ahmedabad: Messrs Sarabhai Manilal Nawab, 1980.

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.