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BY A MASTER OF THE FIRST GENERATION AFTER MANAKU AND NAINSUKH, GULER, PUNJAB HILLS, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1770–75 Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, Mohini, an incarnation of Vishnu, stands between the assembled gods and demons, holding a vessel filled with amrita (nectar), within a narrow blue border comprising scrolling floral motifs, with buff margins Painting 6 ? x 10in. (16.8 x 25.5cm.); folio 9 7/8 x 12 3/8 in. (24.9 x 31.6cm.)
This complex painting concerns the demon Rahu and the enchantress Mohini. The story is told in Bhagavata Purana, Book 8, canto 9. Among the wonderful things that emerged when the gods and demons first churned the cosmic ocean was the amrita, the nectar of immortality. Gods and demons had churned the ocean together, but when the spoils emerged, the demons grabbed it. While they were squabbling among themselves, Vishnu created himself as Mohini the voluptuous enchantress, whom all the demons wanted to possess as she paraded herself seductively before them. The demons gave her the pot of nectar to divide between themselves and the gods and she made them promise to accept however she divided it.
Vishnu of course had no intention of dividing it with the demons, for to make them immortal would undo the order of creation. So Mohini had them all, gods and demons, sit in orderly rows and then proceeded to give the gods the whole of the nectar. The demons did not protest because they would have thought it wrong to fight with a woman! But one demon Svarbhanu realised what was going on and disguised himself as a demigod to gain some of the nectar. He was detected by Surya and Chandra, the sun and moon gods, and the moment he had drunk some of the nectar his head was cut off by Vishnu’s razor-sharp discus. His body sank lifeless to the ground and his head, being immortal, flew off into the sky where it became Rahu, the demon who swallows the sun and the moon in eclipses.
All of this is brilliantly pictured by our artist. Gods and demons sit in orderly rows as directed by Mohini. Only those nearer her react to what is transpiring. The demons show various expressions of outrage, consternation or resignation, while the gods and demigods, already somewhat faded, sit quietly discussing things among themselves or just waiting for the nectar that will reinvigorate them and give them eternal life . As the only standing figure Mohini’s imperious figure in her scarlet sari effortlessly dominates the composition as she does the whole story. Her face is stern as she looks down at the freshly beheaded demon, with Vishnu’s discus still hovering above his neck. She holds up the pot of nectar with one hand, denying it to the demons, while with the other she commandingly points to the sky where Rahu’s head has already taken up position. Surya and Chandra recoil from the grisly sight between them, but the great gods have varied reactions. Brahma is as imperturbable as ever, while Shiva rests his chin on his hand and looks deeply thoughtful. Vishnu seated between them has all four of his attributes in his hands, including his discus, but has an odd expression on his face: he seems to be rolling his eyes heavenwards and blowing out his cheeks as if to deny any complicity in Mohini’s actions. Indra and Yama and presumably Vayu and Agni beside them are lost in wonder. The edge of the cosmic ocean where all this takes place is like a sandy seashore but shot through with glitter from myriads of golden flecks.
The page is not from the ‘Modi’ Bhagavata Purana of the early 1770s, but seems to be a singleton production. It is not a subject much tackled in earlier Pahari painting, although Manaku in his 1740s series must have had a go at it. There is related drawing by Manaku which depicts the mountain being brought in for churning the ocean, being carried by Garuda with Vishnu astride his shoulders (Goswamy, 2017, C97). A slightly earlier scene resulting from the churning of the ocean, the emergence of Lakshmi and her marriage to Vishnu, is the subject of a page from another contemporary Bhagavata Purana series (Rochell, 2020, no.55). Preparations for the churning of the ocean can be seen in two pages from another later manuscript, showing the gods and demons transporting the mountain (Leach, 1995, vol.2, 11.95) and Vishnu preparing himself to dive to the bottom of the ocean as Kurma (Rochell, 2020, no.57). A later drawing from Kangra, dated circa 1825, depicting the same scene, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (acc.no.17.2552).
Although ostensibly a Vaishnava scenario, it is impossible to look at this page and not think of it as from the same milieu that produced the two great Guler series of the Devi Mahatmya in the late 1770s: the buff-bordered series (dispersed) and the blue-bordered 1781 series (in the Lahore and Chandigarh Museums), in which the Goddess destroys the demons and changes the course of the world.
No single artist has yet been identified for the Devi Mahatmya series or can be for our painting at the moment. All authorities seem to agree on the involvement of the four sons of Nainsukh and two sons of Manaku who are known collectively in Goswamy and Fischer’s terminology (1992) as the First Generation after Nainsukh and Manaku. Building on the artistic legacy of their grandfather Pandit Seu and their fathers, the six younger artists left behind an extensive oeuvre that attests to the family’s consistent artistic vision and uniformly impressive output.
We would like to thank J.P. Losty for his assistance with cataloguing this lot.
