Mahavira Plucks Out His Hair: Folio from a Kalpasutra Manuscript

Mahavira Plucks Out His Hair: Folio from a Kalpasutra Manuscript

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Upon arriving in the forest, Mahavira descends from the palanquin and sits beneath an asoka tree on high ground marked by the rock formations below and, attended by a kneeling Shakra, discards his princely attire and jewels (according to the text, they are gathered up by Kuvera, god of wealth) and plucks out his hair in three clumps (collected in an diamond urn by Shakra) as an expression of renunciation. Preserving his discarded jewels and hair would seem to be an allusion to the memory of the practice of relic worship, which is not otherwise acknowledged in Jainism, though it was central to early Buddhist worship.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Mahavira Plucks Out His Hair: Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptMahavira Plucks Out His Hair: Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptMahavira Plucks Out His Hair: Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptMahavira Plucks Out His Hair: Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptMahavira Plucks Out His Hair: Folio from a Kalpasutra Manuscript

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.