Collection Online as of October 3, 2023

Text, Folio 54 (recto), from a Kalpa-sutra

c. 1475–1500

Part of a set. See all set records

Western India, Gujarat

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Overall: 12.5 x 25.7 cm (4 15/16 x 10 1/8 in.)

Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1932.119.54.a

Location

not on view

Description

Followers of the Jain religion recognize 24 Jinas, individuals who reached liberation from the cycles of death and rebirth. Arishtanemi was the 22nd of the 24 and was a cousin of Krishna. Here Arishtanemi sits in eternal meditative bliss, crowned and bejeweled in a shrine. His attendants are sometimes recognized as the Hindu deities Krishna and Balarama. Followers of the Jain religion do not view Krishna as a supreme deity; instead, they view him and his brother Balarama as semidivine heroes with access to the liberated being.

Provenance

?–1932

(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1932–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Hollis, Howard C. "A Jaina Manuscript." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 21, no. 2 (1934): 19–21. Mentioned: pp. 19–21 www.jstor.org

Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. cat. no. 3i

Exhibition history

Life and Exploits of Krishna in Indian Paintings (Indian art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2021-February 6, 2022).