The caption in the top-right corner says: Kamaṭhapaṃcāgni – 'Kamaṭha's five fires'.
The illustration contains two scenes at different levels, both featuring Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva.
On the upper level a man sits in the lotus posture of meditation with four fires on each side of the body and the sun beating down from overhead, here represented as a semicircle on the top left. He is dressed in a lower garment and a large scarf, the ends of which are floating at his sides. Although his garment has white dots similar to the depiction of the robes of Śvetāmbara monks, it is not the same.
On the bottom level Prince Pārśva is shown on the back of a royal elephant, a symbol of aristocratic status. The other man is a servant who has split the log on the left, from which a snake is now coming out.
To Jains the brahmin ascetic Kamaṭha was a wicked person. He was a heretic who engaged in the penance of five fires, in which four fires surround the body, with the fire of the sun overhead.
Through his superior knowledge, Prince Pārśva realises that one of the fires contains a log in which a family of snakes is trapped. He asks a servant to split the log so the snakes can escape the fire.
For this reason, Pārśva is conventionally shown with a hood of snakes in pictures and the snake is his emblem.
The bottom of the right margin contains the number 75. This is the folio number, in a square with two blue lines as an ornamental motif.
The original paper is slightly damaged. But, as with many Kalpa-sūtra manuscripts, there is a clear intention to make the manuscript a valuable and remarkable object in itself. This aim is signalled by the:
The three diamonds along the central horizontal plane are symbolic reminders of the way in which manuscripts were bound when they were on palm leaf. Strings through holes in the paper were used to thread together the loose folios so the reader could turn them over easily. The diamonds are in the places where the holes would once have been.
The Kalpa-sūtra is the most frequently illustrated Jain text of the Śvetāmbara sect. It is read and recited by monks in the Śvetāmbara 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, renunciation, enlightenment and final 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.
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 rare palm-leaf page in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art comes from an early 14th-century manuscript of the Śvetāmbara scripture of the Kalpa-sūtra. The picture illustrates the episode where the antelope-headed god Hariṇaigameṣin transfers the embryo of the Jina-to-be Mahāvīra from the brahmin lady Devānandā to the kṣatriya queen Triśalā.
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/131608.html?mulR=656|4
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
This illustrated page from a 15th-century manuscript of the Kalpa-sūtra is provided by the National Gallery of Australia. At the beginning of the section dealing with the 22nd Jina, Ariṣṭanemi, also called Nemi, the painting shows the famous episode of Prince Nemi's decision to renounce worldly life just before his wedding. He is so appalled by the distress of the animals due to be killed for his wedding feast that he decides to become a monk.
http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?View=LRG&IRN=147981&PICTAUS=TRUE
The National Gallery of Australia offers an elaborately illustrated page from a 15th-century manuscript of the Kalpa-sūtra. The 23rd Jina Pārśva sits in the lotus posture of meditation. He is easily identifiable from his seven-headed snake headdress.
http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=177853&View=LRG
This illustration is from a page of the Śvetāmbara scripture of the Kalpa-sūtra in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It shows the last Jina, Mahāvīra, performing 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://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/105108.html?mulR=656|9
British Library. Or. 5149. Unknown author. 1464
Victoria and Albert Museum. IS. 83-1963. Unknown author. 15th century
British Library. Or. 13700. Unknown author. 1445
Wellcome Trust Library. Gamma 3. Unknown author. 1503
British Library. Or. 12744. 1522. Unknown author.
British Library. Or. 5149. Unknown author. 1464
British Library. Or. 13959. Unknown author. 1639