A Night Scene of Shiva Puja (recto)

c. 1760–70

attributed to Muhammad Rizavi Hindi

(Indian, active mid-1700s)

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Culture

Mughal India, Lucknow

Medium

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Measurements

Painting only: 14.5 x 11.1 cm (5 11/16 x 4 3/8 in.); Page: 28.2 x 24.1 cm (11 1/8 x 9 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.350.a

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The linga is a stylized phallic symbol denoting the creative capacities of Shiva.

Description

Under golden stars and a crescent moon, a royal woman offers a flower garland at an open-air shrine to the Hindu god Shiva. Installed on a platform under a sapling, the stone linga believed to contain Shiva’s presence bears the bright orange traces of devotional anointments. Orange kumkum (red turmeric powder) and yellow saffron are in tiny trays before her, and she has used them to mark her forehead with the signs of her piety. The small brass ewer would contain purified water to bathe the linga. On the platform are offerings of fragrant blossoms and the light of clarified butter lamps.