The Jain teacher Parshvanatha, from a manuscript of the Kalpasutra (Book of Ritual)

This folio is from a text that focuses on the lives of the early teachers of Jainism. Although the Kalpasutra centers on the birth and life of the historical Mahavira, a contemporary of the Buddha, this painting depicts an earlier Jain teacher, Parshvanatha, who is thought to have preceded Mahavira by about 250 years. In sculpture and painting, Parshvanatha is recognizable by the seven-hooded snake that forms a canopy over his head.