In the upper corner of the left margin there is a damaged caption reading: …timā 6 // 37. This could stand for [Jinapra]timā – ‘Jina images’.
Four identical figures are seated in two rows in temple structures, all in the posture of meditation. They are eight Jinas.
They cannot be identified individually. This kind of depiction is a way of dealing with the 20 intermediate Jinas whose lives are not told at length in the Kalpa-sūtra. The lives of the Jinas from number 21 to 2 are summarised with little difference in the stories. The usual way to show them is to represent them, like here, as identical figures. Here only a selection of eight Jinas is shown. In other manuscripts, all 20 are depicted, either in one picture, or, more often, in two pictures each containing ten figures.
As with many Kalpa-sūtra manuscripts, there is a clear intention to make the manuscript a valuable and remarkable object in itself. Here this aim is signalled by the:
The red circle in the centre along the central horizontal plane is a symbolic reminder of the way in which palm-leaf manuscripts were bound at one time. Strings through this hole in the palm leaf were used to thread together the loose folios so the reader could turn them over easily. The circle is in the place where the hole would once have been. One circle generally means a recto side, and three circles a verso side.
In the left margin the number ‘6’ is clear and should indicate the number of figures in the painting yet does not match what is actually shown. Such discrepancies are common in Jain manuscripts because the captions are directions for the painter, who in some cases did not follow them.
The number ‘37’ indicates the number of the picture within this manuscript. However, only one page of the original manuscript is available.
The elaborate script used is the Jaina Devanāgarī script. It is used for writing numerous Indian languages, here for Prakrit. There are a few notable features of this script, which:
Red is used to highlight stanza breaks and certain symbols and phrases, specifically:
The Kalpa-sūtra is the most frequently illustrated Jain text of the Śvetāmbara sect. It is read and recited by monks in the festival of Paryuṣaṇ, which takes place in August to September each year.
The first part of the Kalpa-sūtra deals with the lives of the Jinas, especially Mahāvīra, Pārśva, Nemi and Ṛṣabha. It features almost identical stories of their births, lives as princes and then their renunciation, enlightenment and emancipation.
The second part – Sthavirāvali – is a praise of the early teachers of Jainism. The third part – Sāmācārī – deals with particular monastic rules to be followed during the rainy season.
The pages or folios under this shelfmark belong to different manuscripts. The folios show a variety of handwriting, language and artistic style and are on noticeably different paper.
The folios are from four separate manuscripts, as follows:
There is also a manuscript holder made for an unknown manuscript.
It is not known what has happened to the rest of each manuscript.
Copies of the Kalpa-sūtra and Kālakācārya-kathā are often made in a single manuscript, which may be why these folios were bundled together. At some point in the past these folios and the manuscript holder were put into a box at the British Library and labelled ‘Frags. of Jain Mss. Skt. / Pkt.’ meaning 'Fragments of Jain manuscripts in Sanskrit and Prakrit'. However, it is important to remember that they do not belong together.
1. [Since the passing away of Arhat Ajita, namely the second Jina, 5,000,000] crores of sāgaropamas have passed / the rest
2. like for Śītala [the tenth Jina]// 3 years, 8 months and a half plus
3. 42 000 [= 42,003 years and 8 and a half months] //cha// 1 In that time
4. in that period, the Arhat Ṛṣabha from Kosala / Four [auspicious events in his life took place under the constellation]
5. Uttarāsāḍha, and the fifth took place in conjunction with Abījit. To wit:
6. He descended [from heaven] on Uttarāsāḍha, after having descended he entered the womb, etc. until
7. he was finally emancipated in Abhījit // cha// At that time.
The following elements are noteworthy in the text on this page, namely:
The list of the 20 intermediate Jinas in the Kalpa-sūtra gives only the intervals of time between the appearance of each Jina. This is done in reverse order, starting with Jina number 21, Naminātha or Lord Nami, and going up to the second Jina, Ajitanātha or Lord Ajita.
Along with Mahāvīra, Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva and Neminātha or Lord Nemi, Ṛṣabha is one of the four Jinas whose life is narrated at length in the Kalpa-sūtra.
1. [sā]garovama-koḍi-saya-sahassā viikaṃtā / sesaṃ
2. jahā Sīalassa // te-vāsa addha-nava-māsāhiya
3. bāyālīsa sahasse[h]i //cha//1 teṇaṃ kāleṇaṃ te-
4. ṇaṃ samaeṇaṃ / Usabhe arahā Kosalie / cau U-
5. ttarāsāḍhe / Abhīi paṃcame hutthā // taṃ jahā // 1
6. Uttarāsāḍhāhiṃ cue caittā / gabbhaṃ vakkaṃte / jā-
7. va Abhīiṇā parinivvue // cha// teṇaṃ kāleṇaṃ
This manuscript of the Kalpa-sūtra is fully digitised on the Gallica Bibliothèque numérique website, part of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (National Library of France) in Paris. Though the website is available in English, the information about the artefact is in French.
This highly decorated page from a 15th-century manuscript of the Kalpa-sūtra is provided by the National Gallery of Australia. A young man performs the rite of keśa-loca – ‘pulling out of the hair’ – which indicates indifference to the body. It is part of the initiation ceremony of dīkṣā, in which an initiate renounces the world and becomes a mendicant. He is watched by Śakra, king of the gods who takes an active role in the lives of the 24 Jinas.
http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=177852&View=LRG
Look through historical photographs and drawings of Jinas in the JAINpedia image gallery, chosen from the online collection of the British Library.
A few photographs of Jina images in various styles, ranging from tenth-century sculptures to a contemporary depiction, provided by Professor Frances W. Pritchett of Columbia University in New York.
The pilgrimage centre of Gwalior in central India is famous for its carvings of Jinas. Both freestanding and relief sculptures, the Jinas are found in the temples as well as in panels cut into walls of rock. This collection of drawings and photographs is presented by Professor Frances W. Pritchett of Columbia University in New York.
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1000_1099/jaintemples/gwalior/gwalior.html
The Victoria and Albert Museum provides an illustrated summary of iconography associated with images of Jinas. The information is also available to download in a PDF.
You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer to open PDF files.
British Library. Or. 13455. Unknown author. 14th to 15th centuries
Gamma 453. Wellcome Trust Library. Unknown author. 1512
British Library. Or. 13959. Unknown author. 1639
British Library. Or. 13700. Unknown author. 1445
British Library. Or. 5149. Unknown author. 1464
British Library. Or. 13623. Yaśo-vijaya. 1733
Victoria and Albert Museum. IS 2-1972. Unknown author. Circa 1450
British Library. Or. 13623. Yaśo-vijaya. 1733