Leaf from a Gandavyuha Manuscript

This palm leaf manuscript page was once part of a larger manuscript called the Gandavyuha, which told the tale of Sudhana, a young pilgrim who seeks out multiple teachers in an effort to attain enlightenment. Sudhana is depicted by a tree against a stippled blue background on his way to visit a guru. The painting style reveals connections with northeast India, likely indexing the migration of Indian monks to monasteries in the Himalayas, which occurred on a large scale between the 11th and 13th centuries. The manuscript consisted of a stack of multiple leaves bound together through the two holes at the center, and would have been easy to transport. This leaf is one of the oldest extant examples of South Asian manuscript painting.