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拍品專文
The present folio belongs to a large format Mahabharata series attributed to the Kangra court artist, Purkhu. Owing to the patronage of Maharaja Sansar Chand (r. 1775-1823) and the artistic direction of Purkhu (active c. 1780-c. 1820), Kangra is remembered as a great center of Pahari miniature painting. A skilled portrait artist, Purkhu is lauded for his distinguished and individualized portraits within his works, often noted for veering towards journalistic goals over idealized or fantastical qualities. His works documenting the public and private life of Sansar Chand are thus unsurprisingly rigorous in their attention to detail, and one can assume, loyalty to accuracy. Notwithstanding, Purkhu’s works on religious themes have proved his capability for innovation and passion, creating large series on the Harivamsa, Shiva Purana, Ramayana, Kedara Kalpa, Gita Govinda, and the present Mahabharata series.
This battle scene represents the chakravyuha, a military formation resembling a spiraling labyrinth of artillery men meant to disorient and trap their opponent. Notably difficult to penetrate, only a handful of skilled warriors would have been able to counter the strategy . According to the Mahabharata, Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu learnt of the chakravyuha in his mother’s womb. Throughout gestation, he learned how to penetrate its many layers, but sadly, never heard how to escape. When the Kaurava army formulated the chrakravyuha attack against the Pandavas, only Abhimanyu was present. He fought his way through six tiers of the spiral, defeating many high ranking members of the Kaurava clan. However, once he reached the center, the surviving Kaurava commanders all attacked him simultaneously, ultimately exhausting and killing the young warrior. The death of Abhimanyu is narrated in the seventh book of the Mahabharata, canto 47.
When writing on the chakravyuha painting from the N.C. Mehta collection, Khandalavala references a folio from the series in the collection of the National Museum, New Delhi, bearing an inscription referencing Sansar Chand and dating the work to 1803. The referenced folio, however, is apparently unpublished and has not been referenced elsewhere. A further page from this series is illustrated in W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, p. 225, no. 61. Archer points out that upon visiting with Maharaja Sansar Chand and viewing his painting collection in June and July of 1820, the explorer William Moorcroft (1767-1825) noted that ‘the principal portion consists of representations of the performances and prowess of Arjoon and the adventures of Krishna.” Aligning with the association to Sansar Chand, the series as a whole demonstrates strong characteristics from the workshop of the Kangra artist Purkhu. The large format of the painting, the principal figures being bigger than the less important ones, the distinctive heavy beards and large moustaches and the red and white Devanagari inscriptions hovering over each figure are all hallmark features of the artist’s atelier. A Garhwal Darbar stamp apparently on the reverse of a page from the series has perhaps contributed to similar scenes from this series having been attributed to the Garhwal school. However, it is quite apparent stylistically that the work stems from the Kangra kalam, and it has been speculated the series was brought into the Tehri Garhwal collection as part of the dowry of the two daughters of Sansar Chand, who wed Raja Sudarshan Shah of Tehri Garhwal.
The chaotic and disorienting nature of the chakravyuha is highlighted by the changing colors of the backgrounds on every page. The intense battle continues on this series for many folios known to the market and public collections. A similar battle-field scene with Abhimanyu as protagonist is published in K. Khandalavala, Pahari Miniature Paintings in the N.C. Mehta Collection, two are in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (acc. nos. F2003.34.16.1 and F2003.34.16.2), and several have come to market at Sotheby’s New York, 15 December 1978, lot 180, Sotheby’s New York, 26 March 2013, lot 129, Christie’s London, 1 May 2019, lot 117, and more recently at Christie's New York, 21 September 2022, lots 434, 435 and 436; and 22 March 2023, lot 386 for $50,400.
This battle scene represents the chakravyuha, a military formation resembling a spiraling labyrinth of artillery men meant to disorient and trap their opponent. Notably difficult to penetrate, only a handful of skilled warriors would have been able to counter the strategy . According to the Mahabharata, Arjuna’s son Abhimanyu learnt of the chakravyuha in his mother’s womb. Throughout gestation, he learned how to penetrate its many layers, but sadly, never heard how to escape. When the Kaurava army formulated the chrakravyuha attack against the Pandavas, only Abhimanyu was present. He fought his way through six tiers of the spiral, defeating many high ranking members of the Kaurava clan. However, once he reached the center, the surviving Kaurava commanders all attacked him simultaneously, ultimately exhausting and killing the young warrior. The death of Abhimanyu is narrated in the seventh book of the Mahabharata, canto 47.
When writing on the chakravyuha painting from the N.C. Mehta collection, Khandalavala references a folio from the series in the collection of the National Museum, New Delhi, bearing an inscription referencing Sansar Chand and dating the work to 1803. The referenced folio, however, is apparently unpublished and has not been referenced elsewhere. A further page from this series is illustrated in W.G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London, 1973, p. 225, no. 61. Archer points out that upon visiting with Maharaja Sansar Chand and viewing his painting collection in June and July of 1820, the explorer William Moorcroft (1767-1825) noted that ‘the principal portion consists of representations of the performances and prowess of Arjoon and the adventures of Krishna.” Aligning with the association to Sansar Chand, the series as a whole demonstrates strong characteristics from the workshop of the Kangra artist Purkhu. The large format of the painting, the principal figures being bigger than the less important ones, the distinctive heavy beards and large moustaches and the red and white Devanagari inscriptions hovering over each figure are all hallmark features of the artist’s atelier. A Garhwal Darbar stamp apparently on the reverse of a page from the series has perhaps contributed to similar scenes from this series having been attributed to the Garhwal school. However, it is quite apparent stylistically that the work stems from the Kangra kalam, and it has been speculated the series was brought into the Tehri Garhwal collection as part of the dowry of the two daughters of Sansar Chand, who wed Raja Sudarshan Shah of Tehri Garhwal.
The chaotic and disorienting nature of the chakravyuha is highlighted by the changing colors of the backgrounds on every page. The intense battle continues on this series for many folios known to the market and public collections. A similar battle-field scene with Abhimanyu as protagonist is published in K. Khandalavala, Pahari Miniature Paintings in the N.C. Mehta Collection, two are in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (acc. nos. F2003.34.16.1 and F2003.34.16.2), and several have come to market at Sotheby’s New York, 15 December 1978, lot 180, Sotheby’s New York, 26 March 2013, lot 129, Christie’s London, 1 May 2019, lot 117, and more recently at Christie's New York, 21 September 2022, lots 434, 435 and 436; and 22 March 2023, lot 386 for $50,400.