Pradyumna and Samvara fight with maces, from the "Large Basohli Bhagavata Purana"

c. 1760–65

This object has related works. See

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Measurements

Image: 28 x 38.3 cm (11 x 15 1/16 in.); Overall: 30.2 x 41 cm (11 7/8 x 16 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of the Mundane Club 1960.184

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Location

242B Indian Painting

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Did You Know?

Pradyumna is the incarnation (avatar) of Kama, the god of erotic love.

Description

Paintings from this Pahari series often place figures against boldly contrasting backgrounds. Here, the scene that takes place a moment before the prince Pradyumna’s mace, or club, vanquishes the demon Samvara is frozen in time.

Years before, the demon heard a prophecy that Pradyumna would one day murder him. Hearing this, Samvara kidnapped Pradyumna as an infant and threw him into the ocean, where a fish swallowed him. The fish was caught and brought to Samvara’s kitchen, where the woman who would become his wife, Mayavati, discovered the baby still alive in its belly. Pradyumna lived to fulfill the prophecy, eventually killing the demon in this fight.