Extent: 1 volume ([95] leaves) : paper, color illustrations ; 11 cm x 13 cm
Note:
Manuscript codex. Pagination: Incomplete; missing leaves: 1-9, 104-106, 109 to end. Layout and decoration: Written in Devanagari script, mostly in black ink with red highlights, and laid out over 7 lines. Illustrations and text are framed in yellow gouache with a red double fillet, while a black fillet frames the outer margin, which contains markings. Illustration: Fourteen extant polychrome miniatures appear at the end of each chapter. These miniatures depict the hero Arjuna in a chariot drawn by two white horses, with Krishna as the coachman. The thirteenth painting depicts Arjuna bowing to Vishvarupa, an avatar of Krishna, the supreme god of the Mahabharata and the concentration of many gods into one. This god has many heads and arms... Origin: India; between 1780 and 1800. Condition: binding is worn; stains and soiling; old restorations, small missing parts. End of chapters marked with multiple lines of red characters. Marginalia: Manuscript marginalia in different hands on endpapers in ink and pencil. The text is one of the fundamental writings of Hinduism, often considered a “compendium of all Vedic doctrine”. Comprising a total of 18 chapters, the story has continued to influence Hindu thought down the centuries. The Bhagavad-Gita tells the story of Krishna, the 8th avatar of Vishnu (identified as a manifestation of Brahman), and Arjuna, a warrior prince in doubt about the battle that...
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