Cleveland Museum of Art

Parshva Undergoes Physical Trials, Folio 46 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra

Date: c. 1500
Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Culture: Western India, Gujarat, late 15th-early 16th century
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

Parshva stands in a yogic posture of meditation, bearing the hardship of the elements, unmoved. When stormwaters threatened his life, serpents shielded him so that he could complete his meditations and reach liberation. One cobra stretched his seven-hooded canopy over his head like an umbrella, while a serpent king and his wife praise him. The abstract gold lines on the blue background represent the waters that rose to the level of his shoulders. In this painting, the image of Parshva wears a white lower garment, which indicates that this manuscript was made for the prominent branch of Jainism that allows monks and nuns to wear white robes.

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