The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2023

Bhima's Consultation with the Astrologer: Scene from the Nala-Damayanti Drawings

c. 1790–1800

Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Kangra

Ink with slight color on paper

Overall: 22.2 x 33.5 cm (8 3/4 x 13 3/16 in.)

Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1936.684

Location

not on view

Description

In the central pavilion, King Bhima, father of the beautiful Damayanti, receives favorable signs from his astrologers for the marriage of his daughter to her beloved, Nala. In the upper left corner, King Bhima tells the good news to his daughter, while messengers inform Nala in the upper right. Musicians and dancers already begin to celebrate.

This lyrical series depicts scenes from the extended romantic poem of the 1100s, based on an episode from the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata.

Provenance
?-1936
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy [1877-1947] sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1936-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Peyton, Allysa B., and Katherine Anne Paul. Arts of South Asia: Cultures of Collecting. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 2019. Medntioned: p. 147, footnote 19 -. 147
Exhibition history

Exhibition of the Month: Indian Miniatures. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 15-September 28, 1952).

Indian Gallery 242 Rotation – April-November 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 10-November 6, 2017).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1936.684