Animal symbols of the 12 heavens

The painting shows the 12 animals that symbolise each of the 12 heavens – kalpas – of the Upper World.

They are depicted in three rows of four in the standard sequence. Looking from top to bottom, left to right, they are as follows:

• black antelope, buffalo, kind of boar, tiger
• goat, frog, horse, elephant
• snake, unicorn animal, bull, kind of ram.

There are several differences between the animals in the painting and the names in the text, namely:

• number 2 – the buffalo is much thinner than a more naturalistic version would be
• number 3 is supposed to be a boar, with a tusk shown in the painting, but the body is not as massive as is expected
• number 4 is referred to as sīha – ‘lion’ – in the text but it looks more like a tiger in the painting. Indian artistic representations of lions often show them as tigers because while the tiger was common on Indian territory the lion was never so.
• number 6 is named as a kind of frog in the text but the painting is not a naturalistic depiction. Paintings of frogs in Indian art often resemble the strange form seen here.
• number 10 is referred to as khaggī, which normally means ‘rhinoceros’. The rhino is found in Assam in eastern India so the painter would probably have known what it looks like but the body is rather thin here, and the animal in this painting is a cross between a unicorn and a rhino.
• number 12 is a white antelope in the text but the painting looks very like a ram.

Other visual elements

The bottom of the right margin contains the number 18, which is the folio number.

The illustration takes up most of the page while the text is on the right. The text contains two languages. The larger script is the Prakrit text used for the sūtra or verse while the smaller script above and below it is almost a literal translation in Gujarati.