Kamatha Performing the Five Fire Penances (top) and Parsvanatha Rescuing the Snake Dharana (bottom): Folio from a Kalpasutra Manuscript

Kamatha Performing the Five Fire Penances (top) and Parsvanatha Rescuing the Snake Dharana (bottom): Folio from a Kalpasutra Manuscript

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Brahmin “heretic” Kamatha performs penances to test his faith before his conversion to Jainism. Four fires burn in altars and a fifth is represented as the blazing sun, seen to the left of the Brahmin’s head. In the lower register, Parsvanatha, the twenty-third jina, overseen by a lesser god (deva) on an elephant, rescues a snake from a woodcutter who disturbs it in a log. This snake proves to be the Naga king Dharana, who later protects the jina from floods and other calamities.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kamatha Performing the Five Fire Penances (top) and Parsvanatha Rescuing the Snake Dharana (bottom): Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptKamatha Performing the Five Fire Penances (top) and Parsvanatha Rescuing the Snake Dharana (bottom): Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptKamatha Performing the Five Fire Penances (top) and Parsvanatha Rescuing the Snake Dharana (bottom): Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptKamatha Performing the Five Fire Penances (top) and Parsvanatha Rescuing the Snake Dharana (bottom): Folio from a Kalpasutra ManuscriptKamatha Performing the Five Fire Penances (top) and Parsvanatha Rescuing the Snake Dharana (bottom): 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.