painting
- Museum number
- 2007,3014.22
- Description
-
Story-telling painting, in gouache of the 'Paithan' type, illustrating a narrative from the Mahabharata. Harishchandra says farewell to his citizens.
To the right of the leaf, the king says farewell to somebody not shown in the page and to the left, he appears again, walking at the head of his family through the forest. The trees are elegantly incorporated into the layout of the painting, and where the king is shown twice in the same drawing, the trees also serve to stress the different phases of the narrative.
- Production date
- 19thC(late)-20thC(early)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 29.30 centimetres
-
Length: 40.90 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- This is a complete storytellers’ set of sixty paintings (2007,3014.1 to 60). It depicts the story of king Harishchandra, one of the most popular stories throughout India and narrated in the Mahabharata, in the Markandeya Purana and in the Srimad Devi Bhagavatam. The source of the present narrative is uncertain as it is often retold with a number of variations and additions in numerous local languages. King Harischandra, the hero of this tale, exemplifies moral rectitude. In the usual Paithan manner, this once had another painting attached to the reverse (see 2007,3014. 21), which was removed and separately mounted. Paithan paintings were used as part of a story-telling performance, and while entertaining, were also considered to be a form of worship.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- The paintings are executed in opaque watercolour on foolscap size industrial paper. However, about 2.5 cm of the original format has been lost, as most of the leaves, probably badly frayed at the edges by their handling, have been cropped. Furthermore, some of the leaves have been repaired by the storytellers with newspaper bits, and with red masking tape. Fortunately almost nothing of the paintings, except the occasional top of a crown or decorative border, has been obliterated by these restorations.
- Associated titles
Associated Title: Mahabharata
- Acquisition date
- 2007
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2007,3014.22