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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=AE2C140C7479CB13C8AB4DEFAFFA52EC9FEFB34236BC81AB43288F73F0262727&s=24247294&se=1178746119&v=3&f=%5Cd7009%5Cu260070096%5C17.2014_o2.jpg
Mar 3, 2022
Folio 13 from a Kalpa-sutra: Transfer of the Embryo (recto); Transfer of the Embryo (verso)
Folio 13 from a Kalpa-sutra: Transfer of the Embryo (recto); Transfer of the Embryo (verso)
1465
Part of a set. See all set records
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Overall: 11.7 x 29.5 cm (4 5/8 x 11 5/8 in.)
On Loan from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 17.2014
Location
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Description
The paintings on this page illustrate the text describing the unusual circumstances of the early gestation of Mahavira. He had been conceived in the womb of a Brahman woman of the orthodox Hindu priest class, shown reclining twice on this page. In the upper register, a goat-headed divinity gently takes the golden embryo of Mahavira away in his raised hands. He had been sent by the king of the gods, who mandated that a teacher of the new religion be born of a queen. In the lower register, the divinity brings the queen’s embryo to the Brahman woman in exchange.
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