AN ILLUSTRATION TO A BHAGAVATA PURANA SERIES: THE VEDIC GOD INDRA SLAYING DITI'S NEWBORN BABY
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Mewar (Udaipur), Rajasthan, North-Western India, ca. 1648, attributable to the studio of Sahibdin (active ca. 1628 – 55)

Opaque pigments on thin wove paper, the small vertical-format composition depicting a scene narrated in the Bhagavata Purana (Canto 6, Chapter 18), the slaying of Diti's newborn child by the Vedic god Indra and the rise of the Marutas, storm deities assisting Indra as a group of young, fierce and often aggressive warriors, the illustration featuring the multi-eyed god holding a knife and chopping Diti's baby in seven pieces in the lower left corner, the oblivious mother peacefully resting in her bed chamber on the right-hand side, the palette, overall composition and characterisation of the architecture in the background reminiscent of the latest creations by the Mewar courtly painter Sahibdin, the reverse plain, 16.7cm x 13cm.

Provenance: previously in a private Finnish collection, purchased in India in the 1970s.