Description

Unusually, this single scene takes up nearly three full pages of the manuscript. 

This is the second page, on which are six objects, again in individual panels:

  • the sun, a banner, a full vase on the first row
  • a lotus pond, the ocean, and a celestial palace on the second row. 

These three pages represent the 14 dreams of the brahmin lady Devānandā, who bore the embryo of Mahāvīra before it was transferred to the kṣatriya queen, Triśalā. The embryo Mahāvīra was transferred by Hariṇaigameṣin, the commander-in-chief of the god Śakra. Śakra ordered him to do this because Jinas cannot be born of a brahmin mother. These dreams announce the Jina’s great destiny. 

The first six dreams are on the previous page of the manuscript.

The last two dreams are shown on the page after this, in panels above Devānandā lying on her couch.

This is a painting in popular style. The representation of the ‘ocean of milk‘ is realistic, with a ship and a sea-monster. The celestial palace is shown as an architectural structure inhabited by a figure that represents a god

Other visual elements 

This manuscript is different from the mainstream Kalpa-sūtra from Western India, which in style look like more solemn objects.

This example represents a more popular style distinct from the usual artistic canon.