Artwork Page for Two nuns teaching lay women, colophon page of folio 167 (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya

Details / Information for Two nuns teaching lay women, colophon page of folio 167 (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya

Two nuns teaching lay women, colophon page of folio 167 (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya

1278

Western India, Gujarat, Palanpur

(Prahladanapura)
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Medium
Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
Measurements
Overall: 5.4 x 32.1 cm (2 1/8 x 12 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1971.126.a
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

Small captions give the names of the figures; the larger nun is identified as the female leader (mahattarā).

Description

Wearing white billowing monastic robes, the two nuns contrast with the beautifully adorned laywomen, who wear elaborately patterned textiles and jewelry. Jains commissioned illuminated manuscripts as a way to accrue religious merit, and they would have images of themselves at prayer inserted into the image cycles like this as signs of their patronage.
A vertically oriented ink and gouache composition depicts fragmented manuscript scenes. Swirling blotches of red and beige surround stacks of frenzied, black script. At the top, two figures sit on stools with raised hands. Below, amidst layered dashes and repetitive lines, two more figures in patterned robes face left with palms pressed together. A single circular hole interrupts the sequence, surrounded by a faint, streaking red wash.

Two nuns teaching lay women, colophon page of folio 167 (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya

1278

Western India, Gujarat, Palanpur (Prahladanapura)

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