Along the bottom of the page are set four panels. The left-hand one shows a well-dressed man watching a dancing girl, an intricate white triangular shape near his left hand. They are under three white domes topped with golden teardrop shapes. The next panel shows a young man on a richly caparisoned elephant. The curving white and blue bands along the top indicate that this scene and the next are outside. In the third panel, a man is mounted on a prancing horse. He wears a plumed helmet and carries a spear. The final panel shows a man clad in white aiming his bow at a rearing antelope with an arrow in its neck. The lush vegetation behind them signals it is an outdoor scene.
These four panels depict the various pastimes King Māridatta enjoyed. They are also described in the text of this folio and the one before.
Māridatta was advised only by young and arrogant counsellors. He roamed around with them, not heeding the advice of wise people. Sometimes he rode a horse, piercing the earth with its hooves. Sometimes he took his dogs to go hunting. Sometimes he went with beautiful ladies. Sometimes he sang alone, without any restraint. Sometimes he took his lute to accompany dancing ladies, and so on.
The four scenes show four of the king's enjoyments, depicted as:
Though hunting is a pastime associated with royal life, it has an ambiguous significance. It is considered to be positive because it is a kind of training for the king, and a substitute for war. But in Jainism, hunting is predominantly seen as a gross form of violence. Note that the final painting shows the movement of the antelope, which has just been pierced by an arrow. This movement expresses the suffering of the animal.
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 5, which is the folio number.
In the upper and lower 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 |
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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
Wellcome Trust Library. Beta 1471. Raïdhū. Perhaps 15th century