The Storm God Indra Battles an Asura (Demon)

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The Storm God Indra Battles an Asura (Demon)

c. 1740

Attributed to Manaku of Guler (Indian, active c. 1725–c. 1760)

The master painter Manaku, to whom this work is attributed, helped establish the painting workshop that came to dominate the Pahari region. This drawing illustrates a verse in the eighth section of the Bhagavata Purana, which describes the advent of mankind along with the continuing battles between the devas (gods) and asuras (demons). This page shows the lion-mounted asura Jambha as he swings his great club at the god Indra. Although Jambha knocks out Indra's elephant, Indra eventually triumphs.

This drawing shows the initial stages of creating a painting. First, the artist sketched the composition in charcoal, making adjustments as he proceeded. Over the charcoal sketch, he painted a complete underdrawing in black watercolor. He would then have coated the page with white primer and, following the now-faint lines of the underdrawing, created a full, detailed outline drawing, ready to be filled with color.

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Object Details

Title:

The Storm God Indra Battles an Asura (Demon)
Unfinished page from a dispursed series of the Bhagavata Purana (The Story of God [Krishna])

Date:

c. 1740

Artist:

Attributed to Manaku of Guler (Indian, active c. 1725–c. 1760)

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and charcoal on paper

Dimensions:

Image: 7 × 11 1/8 inches (17.8 × 28.3 cm) Sheet: 8 1/8 × 11 11/16 inches (20.6 × 29.7 cm)

Classification:

Drawings

Credit Line:

Gift of Barbara Stoler Miller in honor of Stella Kramrisch, 1986

Accession Number:

1986-111-5

Geography:

Made in Guler, Himachal Pradesh, India, Asia Near Basohli, Jammu and Kashmir, India, Asia

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