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)
Unknown Artist
c. 1810
Medium
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Dimensions
27.7 × 39.4 cm · painting: 23.5 × 34.7 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
2018.121
About this artwork
The women’s quarters of a palace occupy the right side of the composition. On the left, in the courtyard, 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. The Pahari artist has depicted a local feast called Dhām prepared by hereditary Brahmin chefs in brass vessels in accordance with strict rules of purity.