Five naked men are walking, each carrying a water-pot and white broom. The natural landscape is shown by the palm trees.
These men are advanced Digambara monks and thus they are fully naked. Among Digambaras, the broom carried by all Jain mendicants is usually made of peacock feathers. Here, its white colour suggests that it is probably made of cotton and thus it looks more like the broom of Śvetāmbara monks.
The trees offer some shade, since it is the hot season, as the text says. These monks are wandering in the forest near King Māridatta's capital, Rājapura. They are led by Sudatta, as mentioned in line 6 – Sudatto muṇi.
Sudatta found that Rājapura was not fit for life according to the rule because it was a place for pleasure so he decided that they should stay in 'a very dreadful cemetery'. This masāṇu bībhacha bhuri is extensively described, beginning on line 3 of the folio's other side.
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.
In the upper and left margins there are syllables missing from the main text, or corrections. The number before them is the line number where they should be inserted.
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 |
---|---|
1 |
|
2 |
|
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
Wellcome Trust Library. Beta 1471. Raïdhū. Perhaps 15th century