Description

A well-dressed woman sitting on a dais gestures towards a large white cockerel. Behind her is a female servant fanning her. On the other side of the cock is a man dressed in green with a matching cap. He raises his folded hands in respect.

King Yaśodhara has finally accepted his mother’s suggestion of sacrificing a cockerel made of flour to the family goddess instead of a living creature. The specialist in making objects of flour – called the leppayārau in line 3 – is summoned. In the painting, he is shown on the right side, listening to Candramatī’s orders. She is seated on the left, fanned by a female attendant. In between stands the white bird, which is yet to be made.

Another interpretation of the scene is that the specialist in flour products is presenting the finished cockerel to Candramatī, but her hand gesture makes this less likely.

When Yaśodhara sees the flour cockerel, he is taken aback. Although it is not a living being, it is so exquisitely made that it moves and walks as if alive. Everyone who sees the bird is full of admiration.

The long protruding eye is a typical feature of western Indian painting. Its origin is unclear.

Other visual elements

This is a good example of an average manuscript. A red background is used for the painting but there is no use of gold, intricate design elements or elaborate script.

The bottom of the right margin contains the number 4, which is the folio number.

In the upper and lower margins there are syllables missing from the main text, or corrections. The number before them is the line number where they should be inserted.

Script

The script used for the main text is the Jaina Devanāgarī script. It is used for writing numerous Indian languages, here Apabhraṃśa Prakrit.