The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 29, 2026

A horizontally oriented gum tempera and ink painting depicts two shirtless men with light skin tones and shaved heads wrestling on a bright yellow field under a blue sky. One raises a fist while the other lunges forward, muscles tensed. An audience is gathered on a green mound, including a woman in an orange skirt and a crowned figure on the right. Dark blue clouds drift overhead. A kneeling man has a darker skin tone.

Draupadi Rescued from Abduction, from a Mahabharata

c. 1615

Northern India, Popular Mughal School, probably done at Bikaner

gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Page: 14.6 x 19.4 cm (5 3/4 x 7 5/8 in.); Miniature: 11.2 x 16.5 cm (4 7/16 x 6 1/2 in.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.189
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Draupadi had five husbands, the Pandava brothers.

Description

Bhima and Jayadrath, dressed like wrestlers, duel while his four brothers (Pandavas) and their noble attendants look on. Bhima appears to be the wrestler taller in stature and wears a necklace of bells, and Jayadratha is the one wearing an orange loincloth. Draupadi stands behind Bhima, already being rescued from Jayadratha’s clutches.
  • Raja of Issarda
    ?–1973
    Colonel R. K. Tandan
    ?–2018
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2018–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Draupadi Rescued from Abduction, from a Mahabharata|url=false|author=|year=c. 1615|access-date=29 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.189