Cleveland Museum of Art

Mahavira's Initiation Tonsure, Folio 37 (verso), from a Kalpa-sutra

Date

c. 1475–1500

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Culture

Western India, Gujarat, last quarter of the 15th century

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

When Mahavira chose to renounce his life as a prince to seek omniscience and ultimate liberation, he traveled from his palace to the countryside until he came to a wooded park. The text states that under an ashoka tree in the park, Mahavira removed his ornaments and garlands and plucked out his hair with his fists in five handfuls. In the illumination he unflinchingly grasps a fistful of hair, his pectoral muscle flexed with the effort. Indra, the four-armed king of the gods, sits under a royal canopy on a lower level than Mahavira and praises his extreme act of self-mortification. The dramatic moment is effectively conveyed through the pert and wiry line drawing and bold palette of pigments made from lapis lazuli, vermilion, and lavish amounts of gold.

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