A GROUP OF KANPHATA YOGIS AND YOGINIS IN A FOREST
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE AMERICAN COLLECTION
Delhi or Awadh school, Northern India, mid to late 19th century

Opaque pigments, black ink and pencil heightened with gold on paper, the vertical composition depicting a group of Kanphata yogis and yoginis gathered in a forest under verdant trees and next to a stream, listening to the sitar played by a yogini with tall matted dreadlocks on the right side, another yogini venerating and looking adoringly at the eldest sadhu completely absorbed in meditation, each characters' forehead marked with an ochre bindu, most characters wearing long and heavy earrings elongating their earlobes, the composition set within black and gold rules and later-added gold-sprinkled borders, the recto plain, 37cm x 26.3cm.

Kanphata Yogis are members of an order of religious Indian ascetics in India venerating the Hindu god Shiva. The name kanphata (ear split) stems from the heavy earrings they often wear. Followers of Gorakhnath, a 12th-century mystic, their aim is to acquire supernatural powers through esoteric practices, in contrast to more common forms of devotion such as bhakti and meditation (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kanphata-Yogi). A fine drawing depicting a gathering of Kanphata Yogis, also known as Gorakhnathi, and showcasing the same features present in our painting, like the typical heavy earrings and barely clad bodies, is part of the Windsor Royal Collection (inv. no. RCIN 1005062), published in E. Hannam, Eastern Encounters: Four Centuries of Paintings and Manuscripts from the Indian Subcontinent, 2018, p. 68.