A male figure dressed in a white, full-skirted robe and small cap gestures to a large dog. White with black spots, the dog is very lively, bouncing on its paws. Between the dog and the man is a large bowl on a platform. The white flowers and curving white and blue bands along the top indicate that this scene is outside.
The dog is described in the text as being very strong and rather terrifying. The painting shows him being fed by a man who is his caretaker.
The dog is the first rebirth of Candramatī, mother of King Yaśodhara. As punishment for the violence of having sacrificed a cockerel made of flour to the Goddess Caṇḍamāri, Yaśodhara and Candramatī have to suffer many rebirths where they will meet and remain connected. In the first set of parallel rebirth, Yaśodhara is reborn as a peacock and Candramatī as a dog.
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 bottom of the right margin contains the number 39, which is the folio number.
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