Alessandro Graheli. 

The manuscript is ca. 14.5 × 10 cm in size and is composed of 230 country-made paper leaves. Of these, 192 are written folios, 14 are miniatures, and the rest are blank flyleaves.

The textual portion is foliated 1 to 192 with numbers on the recto side of the folios. The text is written in black glossy ink and rubricated punctuation marks. Significant words, such as chapter titles, are also written in red. The text is elegantly laid out with six lines per page enclosed in a black, yellow and red rectangular frame, and surrounded by ample margins.

The leaves are bound in a clothed cover with floral motives and are tightly sewn by a thick cotton string, along with a firm embroidered headband. The edges are trimmed and bear traces of saffron color.

The text consists of a devotional compilation in Sanskrit language and in Gurmukhi script. The bulk of the manuscript, foll. 7 to 163, consists of the complete text of the Bhagavadgītā, the famous Hindu devotional poem. In the six folios preceding the text of the Bhagavadgītā there is a purificatory prayer meant to be recited before reading the Bhagavadgītā. On folios 163 to 192 there are three further devotional hymns: eight verses in praise of Lord Rāma, a devotional poem called Sāragītā, and a further prayer in Rāma's honour.

The manuscript is in good conditions, with minimal traces of age at the very edges of the leaves, which are all intact except for a torn corner in folio 151. The back cover is detached from the binding. Judging from state of preservation and the script, the manuscript was likely produced towards the end of the 19th century or the beginning of the 20th, in the Punjab region (present North-Western India and South-Eastern Pakistan).

The fourteen fine miniatures in Pahari style, with opaque water-based pigments with gold, depict devotional scenes. The first ten are systematically inserted at the end of each of the first ten chapters of the Bhagavadgītā and portray Lord Viṣṇu in his ten main manifestations:

• [after fol. 16] Miniature 1: Viṣṇu, in his fish manifestation, fights the conch-demon.
• [after fol. 33] Miniature 2: Viṣṇu presides over the churning of the milk ocean. He sits on the lotus in the centre, with gods on the left and demons on the right, all intent in churning the ocean of milk by pulling a rope in the form of the divine serpent.
• [after fol. 43] Miniature 3: The boar manifestation, Varāha, kills the Hiraṇyākṣa demon and rescues the Earth.
• [after fol. 53] Miniature 4: The lion manifestation, Narasiṃha, disembowels the Hiraṇyakaśipu demon, while the pious Prahlāda prays on the left and the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī, stands on the right.
• [after fol. 58] Miniature 5: The dwarf manifestation, Vāmana, is welcomed with honours by King Bali.
• [after fol. 69] Miniature 6: The warrior manifestation, Paraśurāma, is about to kill Kārtavīrya, having already chopped two of his ten arms.
• [after fol. 76] Miniature 7: The king manifestation, Rāma, fights the ten-headed demon. Rāma's brother fights by Rāma's side. The monkey manifestation, Hanumān, also take part in the battle.
• [after fol. 82] Miniature 8: The cow-herd manifestation, Kṛṣṇa, is about to kill the demon Kaṃsa.
• [after fol. 89] Miniature 9: The Buddha manifestation sits in lotus posture, with closed eyes and beatific expression, attended by disciples.
• [after fol. 98] Miniature 10: The tenth manifestation, Kalki, faces his winged white horse.

Four further miniatures are randomly inserted:

• [after fol. 113] Miniature 11: Viṣṇu in his Kapila manifestation sits in lotus posture on a deer skin and instructs his mother, while his father listens on the left.
• [after fol. 118] Miniature 12: Viṣṇu and Lakṣmī sit on a lotus.
• [after fol. 125] Miniature 13: Haṃsa, the swan manifestation, is portrayed with a white complexion and four arms, bearing a rosary, a lotus, a manuscript of the Veda, and a lute.
• [after fol. 131] Miniature 14: The elephant-god Gaṇeśa and his mother Durgā ride a tiger.