The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

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)
Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
Overall: 5.4 x 32.1 cm (2 1/8 x 12 5/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1971.126.a
Location: Not on view

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.
  • Sanghavina Padano Bhandar, Patan, India
    ?–1971
    (Sander L. Feldman, Washington, DC, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1971–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, with contributions by Shridhar Andhare and others. The Peaceful Liberators: Jain Art from India. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1994. Reproduced: cat. no. 80, p. 93, 200-201.
    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. Mentioned: p. 120
    Nawab, Sarabhai Manilal. Jain Paintings: Paintings on Palm-Leaves and Wooden Bookcovers Only. vol. I. Ahmedabad: Messrs Sarabhai Manilal Nawab, 1980. p. 20, see especially note 19, figs. 71 and 72
    Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. Mentioned: p. 7, cat. no. 1vii.
    "March at the CMA.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 1 (2023): 24. Reproduced: P. 24.
  • 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).
    Indian Gallery 242 Rotation – April-November 2018. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 2-November 18, 2018).
    The Peaceful Conquerors: Jain Art from India. New Orleans Museum of Art (June 29-September 17, 1995); Victoria and Albert Museum (November 22, 1995-February 18, 1996).
  • {{cite web|title=Two nuns teaching lay women, colophon page of folio 167 (recto) from a Kalpa-sutra and Story of Kalakacharya|url=false|author=|year=1278|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.126.a