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Nemi's Omniscience and First Teaching (below) and Nemi in the Realm of Liberation (above), Folio 51 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra

Unknown

1488

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Renaissance Renaissance Religious

Dominant colour

Nemi's Omniscience and First Teaching (below) and Nemi in the Realm of Liberation (above), Folio 51 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra is a 1488 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1488 · Mughal Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see two stacked scenes: a teacher in a golden circle surrounded by tiny gods and animals, and the same teacher floating under a crescent moon. This is a Jain painting from Gujarat, India. The circle isn’t just decoration—it shows the idea that the teacher’s words reach everyone at once, in every direction. The crescent moon above marks the moment he’s freed from the cycle of rebirth. To see more works like this, look up the subject western india, gujarat.

The story of this work

Overview

Nemi, who was the cousin of the Hindu god Krishna, lived in the ancient mythic past. Like every other Jina, after achieving enlightenment he gave a mystical teaching to all the gods and animals and appeared to the assembly simultaneously in all directions. This exposition of Jain teachings is depicted by the circular diagram with Nemi seated in the center. The crescent moon under the seated figure of Nemi at the top of the page reveals that he is depicted in the realm of liberation, above the world of birth and death, in eternal meditative bliss.

Read the full account in the museum source.