Raja Dharma Mitra offering food to Tirthankara Shantinatha

King Dharma Mitra and his wife are offering first ahara food, to the sixteenth Jain Tirthankara Shantinatha after he attained kevalajanana (absolute knowledge). As acclaim Jain texts, during his long years of penance, Shantinatha had neither taken any sleep nor food. After he attained absolute knowledge he came to Somanasapur where king Dharma Mitra offered him his first meal.

Well versed in Jain rituals and customs, the painter has rightly portrayed the bare-footed king pouring water the initial course of ahara, into the hollowed hands of the divine guest, with his wife carrying the tray of food for the second course. As prescribed, a Jain monk did not use any bowl or other pot.