The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 20, 2026

A horizontally oriented abstract oil painting depicts a blue deity reclined on a white serpent. To the right, hazy multiples of red and green figures spiral through thick, frenetic swirls of gray and white hashes that speckle the canvas. Splatters of orange and cream paint occasionally thin into fine streaks. Reaching upward with one arm, the figures struggle behind a dark curtain as blue fields show through the textured mass and swirling streaks of paint.

Vishnu Battles Madhu and Kaitabha, from a Markandeya Purana

c. 1760

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Gum tempera on paper
Image: 16.7 x 25.8 cm (6 9/16 x 10 3/16 in.); Overall: 20.2 x 29.2 cm (7 15/16 x 11 1/2 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1974.46
Location: Not on view

Description

This scene from a Hindu text is set during the moments before the creation of the world. The four-armed god Vishnu has just awakened on his multiheaded serpent bed that floats on the cosmic ocean of milk. Two demons generated from his earwax, according to the text, have already begun a primordial battle between good and evil. In the foothills of the western Himalayas there were numerous small kingdoms governed by rulers who paid tribute to the Mughal emperor. The rulers of these Pahari kingdoms, including Guler, began to sponsor workshops of court painters during the 1600s, following the model of the imperial Mughal atelier. Each court developed its own painting style; at Guler, unpopulated pale expanses offset the opaque hues of clustered figures delineated by smooth contour lines.
  • Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 245); January 5, 2015 - April 27, 2015.
    Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975).
  • {{cite web|title=Vishnu Battles Madhu and Kaitabha, from a Markandeya Purana|url=false|author=|year=c. 1760|access-date=20 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.46