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The Life of Lord Sri Mahavira which was bare and desolate, full of dried up and twisted trees, piles of dead leaves and ant hills and came to an old hut of leaves. There he began to Meditate. The serpent saw him, and sent forth his deadliest looks and most fatal breath, but they had no effect. He then bit the master's feet, but again without result; all his poison was as nectar. Then the master spoke, "Awake, awake!" At these words the serpent recalled its previous existences and repented. Immediately it renounced violence. Soon the cowherds came and great was their astonishment. Presently along came vendors of ghee (melted and clarified butter) and they dropped ghee on the serpent. Ants, attracted by the odour, came to eat it. The serpent never moved and when the ants finished with him, he looked like a sieve (titau). After a fortnight's agony the serpent died and went to heaven.
The left-hand panel is in four sections, the upper two contain horsemen advancing in ranks in the same direction; the third panel contains two horsemen with bows drawn mounted on rearing horses facing each other, at the feet of one of the horses is a dog. pursuing a hare; the bottom panel contains a bathing scene showing four men at a ghat (bathing steps). The right-hand panel is also in four sections: the upper section shows two cavalrymen and one foot-soldier; in the second, two horsemen with drawn bows face each other, the third also shows two horsemen with drawn bows facing each other, their horses are rearing, and there are hares in the foliage at the horse's feet; the bottom section shows four men at a bathing ghat, These scenes, all executed in a Persian manner, have nothing to do with the text. The top margin contains six advancing elephants in two sets of three facing one another; on each elephant is a soldier with a spear. The bottom margin has two horsemen and a foot-soldier advancing towards three approaching horsemen who carry drawn bows. the figures in the top and bottom margins are all executed in the early Western Indian manner.
The two painting in the centre of the page deal with the story of the serpent Chandakausika. The scene on the right shows the serpent attacking Mahavira and dying. The scene on the left illustrates the previous existences of the serpent. The account opens with the soul of the future serpent Chanḍakausika as a Jain monk who, while carelessly going on his round, trod upon a frog and killed it. Reminded of this sin by his disciple he flew into a temper and ran to attack him, but in doing so he dashed against a pillar and died. He was then born as a god and afterwards came to the earth, under the name of Chandakausika, as the head of five hundred hermits. He was a very temperamental man who lost his temper at the sight of people plucking flowers and fruits from the hermitage garden. One day he ran after some princes while they were plucking fruits fell into the well and died. Later he was born as a serpent and began to live in his former hermitage. Mahävira, on reaching his hermitage, began to meditate.
On the left side in the upper panel, Chandakausika is seen treading on a frog, his attack on his disciple and the pillar against which he dashed himself are also represented. In the lower panel Chapḍakausika is shown as god riding in his heavenly chariot; his fall from heaven and his transformation into a snake are also shown. On the right side,
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