Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. Paintings of Group A: 1. Reporting of fourteen dreams by Neminatha's mother. 2. Neminatha's mother's longing for air travel during her pregnancy. 3. Indra takes child Neminatha for the first bath. 4. Fifty-six Kumarikas gather to celebrate Neminatha's. 5. Indra presents elephants, horses and a cow to the king on the birth of the Tirthankara. 6. Humbling of the pride of a god by boy Neminatha. 7. Neminatha's youthood exploits. 8. Holi revelries of Neminatha. 9. Neminatha on a swing. 10. Neminatha and Krsna holding consultations regarding the former's marriage. 11. Neminatha's marriage party marches to king Ugrasena's house. 12. Seeing animals to be slaughtered for his marriage feast, Neminatha declines to marry and opts for ascetic life. 13. Neminatha's would-be bride faints. 14. Neminatha turns an ascetic. 15. Neminatha attains Kevalajnana and Krsna pays a visit to him. II. Paintings of Group B: 16. The saving of the life of a bird. 17. Tirthankara in Kayotsarga pose. 18. Tirthankara in padmasana pose. Appendix.

"This work presents a set of Jaina paintings in the State Museum, Lucknow, depicting life-episodes of Neminatha--a popular theme with Jaina writers and painters. Majority of the paintings bear label-inscriptions in Rajasthani dialect related with the theme of the paintings. All the paintings and the inscriptions have been illustrated.

"The 'Introduction' deals with the general features of the paintings. This is followed by the description of the painting and identification of the theme, one by one. The sequence followed is: description of the painting, text of the inscription, rendering of the text in khadi boli, and its English translation.

"The episodes of the paintings have been compared with literary evidence and other paintings on the same theme published earlier, and similarities and differences have been highlighted.

"Some paintings demonstrate superiority of Neminatha over Krsna, who according to the Jaina tradition was his cousin.

"The showing of more than one episode in the same painting in the style of continuous narration, and the anomaly between what the painting shows and what the inscription describes, in a few cases, have been highlighted.

"The language and orthography of the inscriptions and the silpshodness in their composing have been commented upon in the appendix, at the end of the book." (jacket)

[Kiran Kumar Thaplyal is Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History and Archaeology, Lucknow University. His books include Studies in Ancient Indian Seals, Inscriptions of the Maukharis and Later Guptas.]