Description
This text is the final portion of the section devoted to the life of Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva, the 23rd Jina. However, the verso of this page has an image relating to the life of the first Jina, Ṛṣabhanātha or Lord Ṛṣabha, which is narrated later in the text.
Lines 1 to 3 note the length of Pārśva’s life as being:
- a little less than 70 years as an omniscient being
- 70 full years as a monk
- a total of 100 years.
The preceding folio of the manuscript, which is not available, tells how Pārśva spent the first 30 years of his life as a householder.
Lines 3 to 7 contain precise calendrical information about Pārśva’s emancipation, which took place:
- in the first month of the rainy season, second fortnight, which means the bright fortnight of Śrāvaṇa
- on the eighth day
- in the early part of the day, when the moon was in conjunction with the constellation of Viśākhā.
Other visual elements
The red circle in the centre is a common and simple decorative element. There is usually one on rectos, like here, while there are three on versos.
Script
The elaborate script used is the Jaina Devanāgarī script, which is here like calligraphy. It is an old type in the way the sounds e and o are notated when used with a consonant, and is known as pṣṭhamātrā script.
In this particular folio there are occasional rings above the main line of writing. These notate the nasalised vowels and are used instead of simple dots. There are examples above the first line.