The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 22, 2023

Folio 5 from a Kalpa-sutra

c. 1475–1500

Western India, Gujarat

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Overall: 11.5 x 29.3 cm (4 1/2 x 11 9/16 in.)

Gift in memory of Herbert F. Leisy 1979.23

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The "further eye" extending beyond the bounds of the face is a characteristic of 15th-century painting.

Description

Manuscripts of the Kalpa-sutra are sacred embodiments of Jain doctrine. For this reason, they are worthy of beautification, adornment, and celebration by the inhabitants of heaven, such as the celestial dancers under cusped arches on this page.

The commissioning of a manuscript is believed to cleanse donors of the karmic effects of past wrongdoing. Wealthy donors gained prestige in the community with the costly production of a sacred manuscript.

Inscriptions

Inscription

[[recto, beginning with line 1]] devāṇuppie | sumiṇā diṭṭhā | taṁ || attha lābho devāṇuppie | bhoga lābho | sutta lābho | sukha lā- [line 2] bho de° || evaṁ khalu tumaṁ devāṇuppie navaṇhaṁ māsāṇaṁ bahupaḍipunnāṇaṁ | addh’aṭṭhamāṇaṁ rāïṁdi- [line 3] yāṇaṁ | viïkkaṁtāṇaṁ sukumāla-pāṇi-pāyaṁ | ahīṇa-paḍipunna-paṁc’iṁdiya-sarīraṁ lakkhaṇa-vaṁjaṇa-gu- [line 4] ṇovaveyaṁ māṇ’ummāṇa-pamāṇa-paḍipunna-sujāya-savv’aṁga-suṁdar’aṁga | sasi-somākāraṁ | kaṁtaṁ piyadaṁ | [line 5] saṇaṁ surūvaṁ dārayaṁ payāhisi | se vi ya ṇaṁ dārae | ummukka-bāla-bhāve vinnāya-pariṇaya-mitte | jo- [line 6] vvaṇagam’anupatte | riuveya-yaüvveya-sāma|veya|-atthavvaṇaveya iïhāsaṁ paṁcamāṇaṁ nighaṁṭu-cha- [line 7] ṭṭhāṇaṁ s’aṁgovaṁgāṇaṁ sarahassāṇaṁ | caüṇhaṁ veyāṇaṁ sārae pārae dhārae saḍ’aṁgavī saṭṭhi-taṁtaṁ visāra-

Inscription Translation

“O beloved of the Gods, you saw dreams: you will have wealth O beloved of the Gods, you will enjoy pleasure, you will have a son, you will experience bliss, O beloved of the Gods. Indeed, beloved of the Gods, in nine plain and full months and seven and a half days and nights, you will have a charming beautiful and good-looking son, he will have soft hands and feets, a body possessing without limitations the five sense organs, bearing the auspicious signs, marks and qualities, he will have a beautiful body, with all its limbs well balanced, well formed in shape, proportion and size [and] a moon-like face. And, when this boy will have left behind his infancy, and when he will have just developped his acuity, having reached youth, he will commit to memory, study [and] master the four Vedas: Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda, Attharvaveda, the Itihāsas in fifth position, lexicology (nigghanṭu) in sixth position and with all that the Aṅgas, Upāṅgas and the Rahasyas. He will be a master of the six Aṅgas […] Jinacaritra

Inscription

[[verso, beginning with line 1]] e | saṁkhāṇe sikkhā kappe | vāgaraṇe | cchaṁde nirutte | joyasām=ayaṇe annesu ya bahūsu baṁbhannaesu [line 2] parivvāyaesu | supariniṭṭhie yāvi bha[vi]ssa|i taṁ orālaṁ tume devāṇuppie | jāva ārogge-tuṭṭhidī- [line 3] –hāüya-maṁgalla-kallāṇa-kāragā ṇaṁ tume devāṇuppie sumiṇā diṭṭhā ti kaṭṭu bhujjo 2 aṇuvūha- [line 4] ï | aṇu 2 tae ṇaṁ sā Devāṇaṁdā māhaṇī Usabhadattassa māhaṇassa aṁtie eyam=aṭṭhaṁ soccā | nisa- [line 5] mma haṭṭha-tuṭṭhā jāva haya-hiyayā kara-yala-pariggahiyaṁ dasa-nahaṁ sirasā vattaṁ matthae jaṁ aṁjali [line 6] kaṭṭu | Usabhadattaṁ māhaṇaṁ evaṁ vayāsī | evam=eyaṁ devāṇuppiyā taham=eyaṁ devā° avitaham=eyaṁ [line 7] de | asaṁdiṭṭham=eyaṁ de icchi[ya]m=eyaṁ devā° pa|ḍicchiyam=eyaṁ devā° paḍicchiyam =eyaṁ devāṇuppiyā | sacce

Inscription Translation

He will expand on the sixty tantras and will also thoroughly know mathematics, phonetics, the science of rituals, grammar, metrics, etymology, astrology (joyasām ayaṇe) and many other brahmanical and śrāmaṇical sciences.” “You saw remarkable dreams O beloved of the Gods, [°] you saw dreams, O beloved of the Gods, that bring good fortune, luck, long life, happiness and good health.” Thus, he [Ṛṣabhadatta], again and again, rejoiced. When the Brāhmaṇī Devānandā heard and listened to this speech from the Brahman Ṛṣabhadatta, she became joyful and happy, glad in her heart [°] joining the palms of her hand, bringing her ten nails together on her head, she laid her folded hands on her forehead and spoke thus to the Brahman Ṛṣabhadatta: “This is so, O beloved of the Gods! Exactly so, beloved of the Gods! This is true, O beloved of the Gods! This is free of doubts O beloved of the Gods! This is what I wish, O beloved of the Gods! This is what I accept, O beloved of the Gods! This is what I accept, O beloved of the Gods! […]

Provenance
?–1979
(Asian Decorative Interiors, Ltd., London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1979–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. Reproduced and mentioned: cat. no. 5, p. 15.
Exhibition history

Indian Gallery 109 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 28–May 8, 2001).

Year in Review: 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 13-March 9, 1980).

Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001).

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).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1979.23