Description

A well-dressed, bejewelled couple hold up leaves to each other. The man is sitting on an ornate couch, fanned by a female servant. Behind the woman seated on the floor stands another smaller woman, more plainly dressed. They are all inside a domed building with two towers.

This is a palace scene. The architecture is clearly Mughal style and recalls monuments that can be seen in Rajasthan or northern India. King Yaśodhara is fanned by a female attendant while he talks to his beloved wife Amṛtamati. She is smiling and the atmosphere is one of happiness and peace. Queen Amṛtamati is probably inviting him to come to the ladies’ apartments. She is followed by one of her personal attendants.

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.