GUJARAT, WEST INDIA, CIRCA 1475-1500

The Kalpasutra is one of the foundational texts of Jainism, and recounts the life of Mahavira and the previous Tirthankaras, or ‘ford-makers’, who taught the foundations of the Jain religion. At this moment in the text, Queen Trisala reclines in her chamber, attended by a maid with a flywhisk. She awaits the coming of Harinaigamesi, the envoy of Indra, who will bring the unborn embryo of Mahavira to be miraculously implanted into her womb. Dispersed folios from a Kalpasutra with similar dimensions and rich illumination can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc.no. SL.17.2011.31.1).