Text, Folio 51 (verso), from a Kalpa-sutra
1488
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1488
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Text, Folio 51 (verso), from a Kalpa-sutra is a 1488 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a circle filled with tiny figures—gods, animals, and one man seated in the center. Around him, the crowd spreads in every direction, all facing him like spokes on a wheel. This is a Jain teaching diagram from 15th-century Gujarat. The seated man is Nemi, a spiritual teacher who reached enlightenment. The crescent moon above him shows he’s now free from the cycle of rebirth. The painting was meant to help people visualize his lesson. To see more works like this, look up western india, gujarat.
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.
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