Jain Manuscript Painting
Category: | Jain Art |
Type: | Miniature painting |
Motif: | Mahavira plucks out his hair |
Name: | Mahavira plucks out his hair |
Manuscript: | Kalpasutra manuscript folio |
Union state: | Gujarat |
Country: | India |
Date: | 1400-1500 |
Style: | Western Indian style |
Material: | Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper |
Length: | 27 cm |
Width: | 11,1 cm |
Custody: | The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
Purchase: | Rogers Fund, 1955 |
Inventory-No.: | 55.121.38.17 |
Description: | Upon arriving in the forest, Mahavira descends from the palanquin and sits beneath an asoka tree on high ground. He discards his princely attire and jewels and plucks out his hair in three clutches, which are collected in a diamond urn by the kneeling Shakra. The preservation of Mahariva's discarded jewels and hair would seem to be an allusion to the memory of the practice of relic worship, which, though central to early Buddhist worship, is not otherwise acknowledged in Jainism. |
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