The story of Kalaka's career is usually divided into four separate episodes, beginning with his overthrow with the help of the Shakas of the wicked king Gandabhilla of Ujjayini, who had abducted Kalaka's sister, the nun Sarasvati. The next episode tells of the advancing by one night of the date of the Paryusana festival, which is followed by the story of Kalaka's reproof to the conceited monk Sagaracandra, his disciple's disciple. The last of the four episodes recounts Kalaka's exposition of the nigoda doctrine before Shakra, the king of the gods.

               The text of the page included in the exhibition has not yet been deciphered and so the episode illustrated remains unidentified. The two scenes with figures in the Kalakacaryakatha page are drawn with a sharp wiry line of even width. The faces are shown in profile, with a slightly protruding eye. The line is accompanied by limited palette of flat but bright colors red, white and blue. Patterns, especially those of textiles, are emphasized, not surpassingly since the western Indian region of Gujarat is an important textile producing area, and is central to Jainism and its arts. Notice the red dots on the page. They were originally thread holes to keep the pages together but now no longer necessary they have become decorative elements.

               Until recently, the page exhibited here was identified as from an illuminated manuscript of the Kalpa-sutra, the text of which deals with the lives of the 24 Jaina saviours (the Tirthankaras), the Succession of Pontiffs, and the rules for monks during the Paryusana festival. It also records the five auspicious events and many legends of the last three saints, Aristanemi, Parshvanatha, and Mahavira, as well as with those of Rsabanatha, the first of the 24 saints. Manuscripts of the Kalpa-sutra, which are usually housed in monastery libraries, are often profusely illustrated in the characteristic western Indian style of miniature painting. During the Paryusana festival, celebrated each year, a Kalpa-sutra manuscript is taken out in a procession and read out loud by the monks before the gathered celebrants. Great merit is attached to hearing the Kalpa-sutra.

Illustration