San Diego Museum of Art - Shiva, Ever Solicitous of His Other Half

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Bookmark: https://collection.sdmart.org/objects-1/info/5072

Shiva, Ever Solicitous of His Other Half

Devidasa, Indian, (active 1680–1720)

Creation date: 1694-1695

Creation place: India

Other Information

Type: Watercolor Painting

Medium and Support: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection

Accession Number: 1990.1043

State/Province: Himachal Pradesh

Dimensions: 6 13/16 in. x 11 1/8 in. (17.3 cm x 28.26 cm)

Provenance

Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy, Boston, Massachusetts ( - 1947)

Raja Kirpal Pal, Basohli, Jammu & Kashmir, India ( - 1693)

Rama P. Coomaraswamy, London, England (1947 - August 28, 1970)

Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California (August 28, 1970 - August 27, 1990)

San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California (August 27, 1990 - )

Label Copy

This painting is the first from a set of illustrations of the fifteenth-century Sanskrit poem Rasamanjari by Bhanudatta, completed in 1695 in Basohli. The poem describes romantic situations and the types of lovers who would be thus engaged. It was illustrated countless times, often with the Shiva or Krishna and their consorts depicted as the lovers.
Bhanudatta's verse here illustrated:
Out of apprehension for his sweetheart's fatigue, Shiva extends his foot forward on uneven ground, and plucks a flower from a tree with his hand. He further holds Parvati, faint from excessive pleasures of love, to his body, and sleeps to the right on a bed fitted with an antelope skin.
A Braj translation is also on the reverse, in which the antelope skin has been replaced with a lion's. Devidasa has taken the liberty to paint a tiger's skin, with a great effect of energy and fierceness generated by the claws.

Power & Desire, 04/00
The opening leaf of a series on the kinds of lovers, this painting illustrates a lover’s tender concern. As Shiva and Parvati walk through the forest, he is solicitous of her needs. They walk on uneven ground, so he puts his foot
forward to test the earth for stones and thorns. He plucks perfumed flowers for her. Then, holding her near, he lies with her on a bed made of a tiger’s pelt.
The traditional bold colors of the Basholi school are used in a startling, graphic design, that also suggests the union of Shiva and Parvati as one. He walks with the right foot, she with the left. The ‘up-ended’ tiger skin seems aflame with energy, and on the bed, Parvati wraps her red scarf across her lover’s body.

VISIONS OF THE GREAT GODDESS
September 2004
Languorous as his divine consort is with love, and ever solicitous of her, - the beautifully crafted verse in Sanskrit says - Shiva puts his right foot forward as they walk, for fear of the ground being uneven, extends his right arm to pluck a flower; and when they lie down on their antelope-skin, he places all the weight on the right side, so as not to cause her any discomfort. The Hindi rendering of the verse says much the same thing in its own manner, except that it replaces the 'antelope-skin' of the original with a 'lion-skin'. In his rendering the painter makes a further change: it is a tiger-skin that he brings in to serve as the bed of the divine couple.
Shiva, for all his appearance as a divine yogi - third eye on the forehead, moon-digit in the locks, snake around his neck - wears the gentlest of looks. As an anukula nayaka should.

October 2005
Domains of Wonder
The text on the Rasamanjari opens with an unusual verse dedicated to Shiva, which focuses not on the glory of Shiva as a great god, but on his human aspect as a tender, caring husband. The artist Devidasa recreates such an image of Shiva, who, in the account, extends his right arm to pluck a flower for his beloved wife, Parvati. When they lie down, he is careful to lean to one side, so as not to cause her any discomfort. The bold, rich, red background sets off the delicate workmanship seen in the flowering tree and Parvati's dress and jewelry.
Last Updated: 9/5/2017

Exhibition

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

A Flower from Every Meadow: Indian Paintings from American Collections Asia Society Galleries , 3/21/1973 - 11/11/1973

Manifestations of Shiva Philadelphia Museum of Art , 3/29/1981 - 5/30/1982

Myths, Monsters, Maharajas: Introducing the Binney Collection San Diego Museum of Art , 11/23/1991 - 1/26/1992

Power & Desire: South Asian Paintings from the San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art , 4/29/2000 - 10/5/2003

Domains of Wonder: Selected Masterworks of Indian Painting San Diego Museum of Art , 10/22/2005 - 1/27/2008

Temple Palace and Mosque Rotations San Diego Museum of Art , 8/16/2010 - 00/00/00

Master Painters of India, 1100-1900 , 9/26/2011 - 1/8/2012

Bibliography

This object has the following bibliographic references:

Asok Kumar Das and Roy C. Craven, Jr.. Painters of the Pahari Schools Marg Publications. Mumbai, India, September 1998
Page Number: 17, 18, Figure Number: 1

Professor Takashi Koezuka and Akira Miyazi. New History of World Art: Shogakukan, Inc.. Tokyo, Japan, 1999
Page Number: 314, Figure Number: 189

Brijinder Nath Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer. Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India Artibus Asiae/Museum Rietberg. Zürich, Switzerland, 1992
Page Number: 62, 64, 65, Figure Number: 18, 22

Mr. Stuart Cary Welch. A Flower from Every Meadow: Asia House Gallery. New York, New York, 1973
Page Number: 13

Mr. Stuart Cary Welch and Mark Zebrowski. A Flower from Every Meadow: Asia House Gallery. New York, New York, 1973
Page Number: 68, 69, Figure Number: 36

Dr. Caron Smith. Arts of Asia Arts of Asia Publications Ltd. Hong Kong, September 2000-October 2000
Page Number: 99, 100, Figure Number: 20

William George Archer, OBE, MA, D.Litt.. Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, Sotheby Parke Bernet. London, England, 1973
Page Number: 45, 46 no. 10

Power and Desire: Hong Kong Museum of Art. 2001
Page Number: cat. no. 61, Figure Number: 61

Roselyne Hurel. Pouvoir et Désir: Miniatures Indiennes, Collection Edwin Binney 3rd du San Diego Museum of Art Paris musées/Éditions Findakly. Paris/Suilly-la-Tour, France, 2002
Page Number: 113

Roselyne Hurel. Pouvoir et Désir: Miniatures Indiennes, Collection Edwin Binney 3rd du San Diego Museum of Art Paris musées/Éditions Findakly. Paris/Suilly-la-Tour, France, 2002
Page Number: 121, 148, 153, 154-155, Figure Number: 61

Stella Kramrisch. Manifestations of Shiva Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1981
Page Number: 192, 193 no. P-29, Figure Number: P-29

Dr. Caron Smith. San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, California, 2003
Page Number: 84, Figure Number: 84

Brijinder Nath Goswamy and Dr. Caron Smith. Domains of Wonder: San Diego Museum of Art. San Diego, California, 2005
Page Number: 194, 195, Figure Number: 79

Brijinder Nath Goswamy. The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works 1100 - 1900 Allen Lane by Penguin Books . India, 2014
Page Number: 204-207, Figure Number: pg. 204

Dr. Milo Cleveland Beach and Brijinder Nath Goswamy. Masters of Indian Painting: 1100-1650 Artibus Asiae Publishers. Zurich, 2011
Page Number: 441, Figure Number: fig. 6, p. 451

John Guy and Britschgi, Jorrit. Wonder of the Age The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011
Page Number: 121, Figure Number: 58

Marks

Inscription, On reverse: Om. His own foot he places forward first . . .

Inscription, On reverse: Seeing that the ground is uneven, he . . .

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Shiva, Ever Solicitous of His Other Half

Other Information

Provenance

Label Copy

Exhibition

Bibliography

Marks