The Courtesan Kosa with the King's Charioteer: Folio from a Kalpasutra Manuscript

Unknown artist

Sthulabhadra, a resident of Pataliputra (modern Patna) in the fourth century b.c., lived with the courtesan Kosa before his conversion to Jainism and renunciation of his former life. As a penance he chose to spend the rainy season living with her in her house as a test of his commitment to his vows of chastity. He remained unmoved by Kosa's attempts at seduction. When the king died, the courtesan was given to a charioteer who so admired his new mistress's respect for her former lover that he, too, converted to Jainism, becoming a monk, and she, a nun.Sthulabhadra became a great acharya and eventually the head of the sangha (community of monks and nuns). This moralizing story celebrates the charioteer's archery skills and Kosa's unsurpassed qualities as a dancer, neither of which could match the spiritual accomplishments of Sthulabhadra.