The Jīta-kalpa-sūtra is one of the Śvetāmbara Jain scriptures. It is an old technical treatise for monks dating back to approximately the sixth century. It deals with the punishments a monk must face if he breaks a vow or regulation that governs the mendicant lifestyle.

This particular manuscript has the conventional format of a page in palm-leaf Jain or non-Jain manuscripts – a long, narrow rectangle. With adjustments, this format continued to be used for Jain manuscripts when paper became widespread.

The earliest available Jain manuscripts in western India date back to the 11th to 12th centuries. They were written on palm leaf. Hardly any such manuscripts are found in libraries outside India, so this is a precious specimen.