album;
miniature;
painting
- Museum number
- 1999,1202,0.1.6
- Title
- Object: The month of Kartika. October/November
- Description
-
Painting from an album bound in red striped fabric containing 14 miniatures; with 11 Baramasa (Song of the seasons) paintings (paintings 2 to 12), 1 from Mewar, 2 from thikanas. Opaque watercolour on paper.
The festival of Diwali, festival of lights, symbolising the triumph of good over evil is being celebrated in this painting. Oil lamps are lit at sunset. The two men in the foreground are bathing in the sacred Ganges in order to earn merit; a Brahmin seated in a pavilion worships his deity. Gambling during Diwali night is a ritual in order to propitiate Lakṣmī, Goddess of Wealth. The couple are gambling while playing chaupar, a popular Indian game.
- Production date
- 1700-1725 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 28.30 centimetres (painting including grey and white margins.)
-
Width: 20 centimetres (painting including grey and white margins)
- $Inscriptions
-
-
- Curator's comments
- Paintings 2 to 12: The Maharajas of Amber (later Jaipur) served under Mughal armies in the Deccan for prolonged periods of time. This may have led to Deccani influences in their works. See Ebeling, K. 1973, p.79 and Pratapaditya Pal, 'Pleasure Gardens of the Mind, Indian Paintings from the Jane Greenough Green Collection', Los Angeles, 1993, p.105 for examples of Amber paintings from this period.
- Location
- Not on display
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Baramasa
- Acquisition date
- 1999
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1999,1202,0.1.6
