Cosmographical painting

Unknown

Hanging scroll cosmographical painting (representation of the universe), painted in colours on cotton in India, possibly during the 18th century. In the Jain tradition, the universe is divided into three worlds: the upper heavenly world, the middle mortal world, and the lower world of the damned. This painting is a representation of the world of the mortals. Paintings of the mortal world have remained popular with the devout as it is within this world that liberation from the chain of rebirth is possible.