PARASHURAMA SLAYING THE HAIHAYA KING KARTAVIRYA ARJUNA
Thanjavur (Tanjore), Tamil Nadu, Southern India, 19th century

Opaque pigments, ink, and gold leaf on paper, the large vertical composition depicting the Sixth Avatara (incarnation) of the Hindu god Vishnu, Parashurama, slaying the Haihaya King Kartavirya Arjuna, praised in the Mahabharata epic and in many Puranas script as a fair king who then became egotistical and too absorbed by his power, losing control of his senses and beginning to oppress humans, Yakshas and the Hindu gods themselves, Parashurama depicted standing in front of the multi-armed king ready to deliver a lethal blow with his axe, set in a natural landscape, within black rules and gold borders, mounted, glazed and framed, 67.5cm x 56.5cm including the frame.