The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 18, 2024
Kammavacha: Buddhist Ordination Text
1800s
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The Pali text of this manuscript is written in Burmese square script, which is also known as "tamarind seed script."Description
In premodern Burma, lay people commissioned lavishly ornamented manuscripts for ceremonial occasions, when officiants would read aloud from the text. Written in black lacquer, the text is in the language of Pali written in a Burmese script. It contains ordination rites and procedures for monastic ceremonies.The second to last page is covered with intricately drawn, winged celestial beings (nats) in gestures of praise. They fly amid intertwining vegetation—denoting bounty—that grows from serpentine forms that refer to rain clouds. Lionlike forms inhabit the space with them. The top and bottom covers are equally ornamented with jeweled floral patterning.
- ?–1945(Grace M. Beaven [1889–1982], Cleveland Heights, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1945–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Text and Image in Southern Asia (Indian Painting and Himalayan rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26, 2022-March 5, 2023).
- {{cite web|title=Kammavacha: Buddhist Ordination Text|url=false|author=|year=1800s|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.172