The caption in the top-left corner says: Pārśva upasarga – 'Pārśva's tests'.

The 23rd Jina is recognisable from the hood of snakes above his head. Surrounded by plants, Pārśvanātha or Lord Pārśva stands motionless in the ascetic posture known as kāyotsarga. He is deep in meditation, unaware of whatever goes on around him.

The small human figure sitting between his legs is generally considered to be Dharaṇa, the yakṣa attendant associated with the 23rd Jina. He is shown with four arms, like a god. Both figures wear large headdresses and dangling earrings.

Other visual elements

The bottom of the right margin contains the number 77. This is the folio number, in a square with two blue lines as an ornamental motif.

The original paper is slightly damaged. But, 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:

• coloured background for the text
• gold ink instead of the standard black ink
• decorated border with blue floral motifs
• three diamonds filled with gold ink, with arrow-like blue lines and surrounding blue border as ornamental motifs.

The three diamonds along the central horizontal plane are symbolic reminders of the way in which manuscripts were bound when they were on palm leaf. Strings through holes in the paper were used to thread together the loose folios so the reader could turn them over easily. The diamonds are in the places where the holes would once have been.