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Lot Essay
This illustration belongs to a known, unfinished Bhagavata Purana series that has been estimated to comprise hundreds of paintings and drawings. The drawings exhibit the same energy and vitality that is evident in the finished paintings from this series. Manaku must have taken years to finish the work and would most certainly have had assistance from other artists in his workshop.
In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas were the five sons of Pandu, born to the same father from two mothers. Arjuna was given Draupadi’s hand in marriage after he won a shooting contest arranged by her father Drupada. However, all five brothers, Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahdeva, were married collectively to Draupadi. Here, Draupadi stands to the right with her husbands against a field of moss green. To the left, a king identified as Aruroha in the inscription on the verso sits within a palace chamber.
Paintings from this series can be found at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc. nos. 63.142-147), the Museum Rietburg (acc. nos. RVI 1366 and RVI 1773), The National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution (acc. no. S2018.1.7), and the Kronos Collection. The series is also extensively published by B.N. Goswamy in Manaku of Guler: The Life and Work of another great Indian Painter from a Small Hill State, New Delhi, 2017, pp. 146-220 and 393-449, nos. C45-C82 and B1-B166. Two drawings from this series are offered in this sale as lots 377 and 378.
In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas were the five sons of Pandu, born to the same father from two mothers. Arjuna was given Draupadi’s hand in marriage after he won a shooting contest arranged by her father Drupada. However, all five brothers, Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahdeva, were married collectively to Draupadi. Here, Draupadi stands to the right with her husbands against a field of moss green. To the left, a king identified as Aruroha in the inscription on the verso sits within a palace chamber.
Paintings from this series can be found at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc. nos. 63.142-147), the Museum Rietburg (acc. nos. RVI 1366 and RVI 1773), The National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution (acc. no. S2018.1.7), and the Kronos Collection. The series is also extensively published by B.N. Goswamy in Manaku of Guler: The Life and Work of another great Indian Painter from a Small Hill State, New Delhi, 2017, pp. 146-220 and 393-449, nos. C45-C82 and B1-B166. Two drawings from this series are offered in this sale as lots 377 and 378.