This is the very end of the Kalpa-sūtra.

The text before this is the Sāmācārī section, which deals with particular monastic rules for the rainy season. Lines 1 to 4 state that among the ascetics who follow these rules, ‘some will reach perfection… in that same life, some in the next life, some in the third birth; one will have to undergo more than seven or eight births’ (Jacobi’s translation 1895: 310).

The rest of the page explains how Mahāvīra preached on this topic in front of several monks and nuns, several lay men and lay women:

In that period, at that time, Śramaṇa Bhagavān [= Noble Ascetic] Mahāvīra had, while staying at the Guṇaśīlaka caitya in the city of Rājagṛha, in the midst of many monks, many nuns, many male and female followers, many gods and goddesses, explained again and again the chapter [later] entitled Pajjosavaṇākappa.

The name of the scripture is given as Pajjosvaṇā-kappaṃ namaṃ ajjhayaṇaṃ in lines 7 to 8, meaning ‘the scripture called “Rules and Regulations for the Rainy Season”’.

The last sentence on the page reads Pajjosavaṇā-Kappo sammatto / atthama-ajjhayaṇaṃ Dasā[suyakkhandhassa]. This can be translated as: ‘”Rules and Regulations for the Rainy Season” is now complete. It is the eighth chapter of the [scripture] called Daśāśrutaskandha’.

This indicates the position of this scripture within the larger body of texts that relate to rules for monastic life.

Other visual elements

As with many Kalpa-sūtra manuscripts, there is a clear intention to make the manuscript a valuable and remarkable object in itself. This aim is signalled by the:

• red background of the text
• gold ink instead of the standard black ink for the text
• decorated borders with floral arabesques and geometrical designs in blue
• division of the text into two parts along the folio’s centre by a central margin holding a red disk surrounded by blue designs.

At the bottom the number 89 refers to the folio number.

Script

The elaborate script is Jaina Devanāgarī, which is here like calligraphy. It is used for writing numerous Indian languages, here Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit.

This is an old type in the way the sounds e and o are notated when used with a consonant. It is known as pṣṭhamātrā script.