Indra Instructs Harinaigameshin to Transfer Mahavira's Embyro

Currently not on view

Indra Instructs Harinaigameshin to Transfer Mahavira's Embyro

1432

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Indra is worried that the jina Mahavira will be born to a Brahman (priestly) caste woman, as all pure beings, including jinas, are born into Kshatriya (royal) caste families. It is the eternal responsibility of an Indra, king of the gods, to have a jina transferred into a womb of a royal woman. Thus, in this scene Indra instructs his goat-headed commander of the divine infantry, Harinaigameshin, to remove the embryo from the womb of the Brahman woman Devananda and place it in the womb of the Kshatriya woman Trishala, wife of King Siddhartha.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Indra Instructs Harinaigameshin to Transfer Mahavira's Embyro
Page from a manuscript of the Kalpasutra

Date:

1432

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Dimensions:

Sheet: 5 3/16 × 13 1/16 inches (13.2 × 33.2 cm)

Classification:

Books/Manuscripts/Information Artifacts

Credit Line:

Gift of Stella Kramrisch, 1967

Accession Number:

1967-226-1(7a,b)

Geography:

Made in Gujarat, India, Asia

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Currently not on view