Archival Details

• Tradition: Kalpasutra
• Period: 15th century
• Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: (Average size .1–.71): 4 1/2 x 11 3/8 in. (11.4 x 28.9 cm)
• Credit line: Bequest of Cora Timken Burnett, 1956
• Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession 57.51.38.21

The Kalpasutra is a core Jain text recounting the lives of the Jinas, and illustrated manuscripts of it — often on paper or palm leaf, frequently using gold and lapis blue — were produced by Jain communities in western India from roughly the 14th century onward.