Feast where Vishnu decides he will incarnate as King Dasharatha’s sons, from Chapters 14–15 of the "Bala Kanda" (Book of Childhood) of a Ramayana (Rama’s Journey)

c. 1810

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Medium

Measurements

Overall: 27.7 x 39.4 cm (10 7/8 x 15 1/2 in.); Painting: 23.5 x 34.7 cm (9 1/4 x 13 11/16 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.121

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Location

242B Indian Painting

Did You Know?

Vishnu and Indra have taken off their crowns for the meal; the crowns are being guarded on raised platforms in the background.

Description

The women’s quarters of a palace occupy the right side of the composition. In the courtyard to the left, gods, including the blue Vishnu, four-headed Brahma, Surya (Sun), Chandra (Moon), Indra with eyes all over his body, and Shiva with snakes in his hair who sits with his minions, feast on food served on plates and bowls of leaves. Vishnu and Indra have taken off their crowns for the meal; the crowns are guarded on raised platforms in the background. The Pahari artist has depicted Dhaam, a local feast prepared by hereditary priest-chefs in accordance with strict Hindu rules of nutritional purity.