Collection Online as of January 29, 2023

A Traveler Persuades Lorik to Return Home (top); Chanda Objects (bottom), from a Chandayana (Story of Chanda)

Sultanate India

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Image: 19.7 x 14 cm (7 3/4 x 5 1/2 in.); Overall: 25.5 x 20 cm (10 1/16 x 7 7/8 in.)

Gift of D. J. R. Ushikubo, The John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust, and Bequest of James Parmelee by exchange 1981.55

Location

not on view

Inscriptions

Inscription

text on verso

Inscription Translation

Canto, 380 “Oh Princess, I know that you are not normally impatient; I also know that for not even one night, you don't see a man in your bed. Having run away with you to another country, I entered a forest, then didn't stay there. You did exactly what a union requires; made no mistakes, and you got what you wanted. Otherwise, why would you come with me? It was only for your heart, Oh woman, that you loved me. Now you can catch hold of a Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, anyone; Otherwise, take the ‘Sun’ and with the Zodiac Twelve wander about.” (Translated by Richard Cohen)

Inscription Remark

The setting is when Lorik is convinced by a travelling herder of cattle and other commodities who has brought a message from Lorik's jilted wife, Maina, that he and Chanda should return to their hometown, Govar. Chanda is against this plan. The verso side of the painting has the Avadhi text describing the a scene in which Lorik attempts to assuage Chanda. The Chandayana is essentially a triple allegory, deploying, 'secular', Sufic and astrological themes. (Richard Cohen)

Citations

Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 7

Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).