A well-dressed woman sitting on a dais gestures towards a large white cockerel. Behind her is a female servant fanning her. On the other side of the cock is a man dressed in green with a matching cap. He raises his folded hands in respect.
King Yaśodhara has finally accepted his mother's suggestion of sacrificing a cockerel made of flour to the family goddess instead of a living creature. The specialist in making objects of flour – called the leppayārau in line 3 – is summoned. In the painting, he is shown on the right side, listening to Candramatī's orders. She is seated on the left, fanned by a female attendant. In between stands the white bird, which is yet to be made.
Another interpretation of the scene is that the specialist in flour products is presenting the finished cockerel to Candramatī, but her hand gesture makes this less likely.
When Yaśodhara sees the flour cockerel, he is taken aback. Although it is not a living being, it is so exquisitely made that it moves and walks as if alive. Everyone who sees the bird is full of admiration.
The long protruding eye is a typical feature of western Indian painting. Its origin is unclear.
This is a good example of an average manuscript. A red background is used for the painting but there is no use of gold, intricate design elements or elaborate script.
The script used for the main text is the Jaina Devanāgarī script. It is used for writing numerous Indian languages, here Apabhraṃśa Prakrit.
The 15th-century Digambara poet Raidhū composed a version of one of the most important Jain tales – the Story of Yaśodhara. Called the Jasahara-cariu, which means 'the story of Yaśodhara' in Apabhraṃśa Prakrit, Raidhū’s version has the subtitle of 'having the characteristic of compassion' – daya-lakkhaṇa. This underlines the main teaching of the story, which is a manifesto against violence of all types and a defence of non-violence.
A story with several episodes, the tale of Yaśodhara is a good representative of religious teaching in narrative form – dharma-kathā. Its importance comes from the fact that it shows very clearly the working of karma and rebirth and refers to key concepts, such as:
Ultimately, all the protagonists become pious Jains and will be emancipated.
The text is divided into four sections called sandhi, which go into detail about all the rebirths that are recounted in the story within a story:
Section |
Events |
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1 |
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2 |
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3 |
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4 |
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This version of the story has not yet been published. It is known from very few manuscripts, which are all illustrated and in India. However, not a single manuscript is complete. So this one, held in the Wellcome Trust in London, is a precious document, even though it is only the first half of the story. It is probable that the second half of the document is a manuscript originally kept in Delhi, dated 1454 CE. It is also very likely that a single folio in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is part of the same manuscript (see Balbir, forthcoming).
Like other versions of the tale of Yaśodhara, Raidhū's narrative poem is a major inspiration for illustrations in Digambara manuscripts.
Wellcome Trust Library. Beta 1471. Raïdhū. Perhaps 15th century