Kalpasutra and Kalakacharya Katha in Paintings from the Sarabhai Foundation Collection
The Sarabhai Foundation Collection of historical Jain art, comprising shrines, stone and metal images, manuscripts and patas, is rich and comprehensive. The manuscripts cover the major Jain themes that were historically committed to formal writing and illustration. These include the Brihat Samgrahani Sutra and Kshetrasamasa, comprehensive texts on Jain cosmology and geography, as well as the Kalpasutra, the most important canonical text of the Shvetambara sect of the Jain community.
The Kalpasutra, attributed to Bhadrabahu, was formally compiled sometime during the 3rd 1st centuries BCE. It describes the lives of the 24 Jinas, or conquerors: the enlightened teachers who are believed to have conquered all passion and illuminated the path to eternal bliss, moksha. The Kalpasutra places greater emphasis on the life of Mahavira, the 24th Jina, than on the lives of the others. Surviving, manuscripts of the Kalpasutra text, produced in the medieval period, often end with the Kalakacharya Katha, a popular story about the Jain teacher Kalaka and his magical abilities. The Kalakacharya Katha follows a text written by Dharmaprabhasuri in 1398.
The Sarabhai collection has 138 folios of an incomplete Kalpasutra and Kalakacharya Katha manuscript in Prakrit dating from the first half of the 16th century (SFPL-35). Of the 65 loose-leaf folios of the manuscript which are painted, 62 are illustrated here. The illustrations belong to what is often called the Jain style of Western India, incorporating opaque watercolours, ink and gold pigments. In keeping with the tradition, the manuscript has a landscape format. Each folio measures 11.5cm x 26.5cm.
