Nemi's Omniscience and First Teaching (below) and Nemi in the Realm of Liberation (above), Folio 51 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra (c. 1475–1500): Art, History and Details

Nemi's Omniscience and First Teaching (below) and Nemi in the Realm of Liberation (above), Folio 51 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra (c. 1475–1500) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Nemi, who was the cousin of the Hindu god Krishna, lived in the ancient mythic past. Like every other Jina, after achieving enlightenment he gave a mystical teaching to all the gods and animals and appeared to the assembly simultaneously in all directions. This exposition of Jain teachings is depicted by the circular diagram with Nemi seated in the center. The crescent moon under the seated figure of Nemi at the top of the page reveals that he is depicted in the realm of liberation, above the world of birth and death, in eternal meditative bliss.

Object facts

• Title: Nemi's Omniscience and First Teaching (below) and Nemi in the Realm of Liberation (above), Folio 51 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra
• Date: c. 1475–1500
• Culture: Western India, Gujarat
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 12.5 x 25.7 cm (4 15/16 x 10 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1932.119.51.a

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.

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.