English: Accession Number: 1990:338

Display Title: Raja Drupada Begs Shiva to Grant him a Boon Suite Name: Razmnama Media & Support: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper Creation Date: 1616 Creation Place/Subject: India State-Province: Court: Mughal School: Mughal Display Dimensions: 14 1/16 in. x 8 3/16 in. (35.72 cm x 20.8 cm) Credit Line: Edwin Binney 3rd Collection Label Copy: EDWIN BINNEY 3RD GALLERYSHIVA INSTALLATION

The range and extent of textual sources for Hindu thought is mind-boggling, and can only be surpassed in complexity by the oral tradition that surrounds them and continues to grow. Shiva is seen through the prism of these texts in many guises. In the ancient and medieval periods, most of these texts are written in Sanskrit, an Indo-Aryan language related to Greek and Latin. In the Rg Veda, the earliest of the Indo-Aryan texts, Shiva takes shape as the Wild One (Rudra), Fire (Agni), The Guardian of Order at the Site of Sacrifice(Vastupati), the Lord of Animals (Pashupati), Lord of Yogis (Mahayogi). His nature develops in the sequence of Hindu texts that are roughly dated as follows: the Vedas, 1200-900 b.c.e; the Brahmanas, 900-700 b.c.e; the Upanishads, 700 b.c.e; the Epicsthe Mahabharata ( 300 b.c.e-c.e. 300) the Ramayana (200 b.c.ec.e. 200); and the Puranas, of which the Shiva Purana (c.e. 750-1350), Skanda Purana (c.e. 700-1150), Kurma Purana (c.e. 550-850), and Linga Purana (c.e. 600-1000) are particularly important to the Shaivite tradition.

When Akbar came to the throne of the Mughal empire in India in the 16th century, he commanded the translation into Persian, the language of the Mughal court, of many Sanskrit Hindu texts. Among these was the Mahabharata, which was translated as Razmnama The Book of Wars. In this illustration from a copy of the Razmnama made made during the reign of Akbars son, Jahangir, and dated 1616, Shiva appears to Drupada, King of Pancala, who is desperate for sons, and foretells the birth of Shikhandin. Two recurring themes in the Shiva myth surface in this story: procreation by unnatural means and androgeny. Shiva brings about birth of children to Drupada through sacrifice without the intervention of a woman, and the child Shikhandin is a woman who for the purpose of the great battle between the Pandavas and the Kauravas is granted manhood.

The subject of this painting by the artist Pemji, known for humorous pictures, is similar to the nearby Mughal painting of bhang-drinkers: followers of Shiva who take drugs. The stylistic difference is obvious, as is a degree of familiarity by the artist of the actual scene depicted. Pemjis far less sophisticated picture is nonetheless the more realistic. These are not demons of someones imagination, but a group of men who look truly stoned. Vacant gazes and lines under the eyes of this group register the potent nature of the substance, which is being offered from beaten metal bowls.

The men sit in front of two huts, holding pipes, suggesting the substance involved may be hashish or opium. (many different hallucinogenic plants were used by yogis as part of their practice.) One fellow sitting on a carpet seems to be able to read; he is fanned by a small companion, who looks like he is about to fall over. Two forest-dwellers in the middle try with some apparent difficulty to draw arms against one another. Many figures are slumped forward, attending only to their reveries. One fellow tries to dislodge a monkey from his back. In the manner of many unorthodox Shaivite followers, the men keep dogs, considered in polite society to be unclean scavengers. One dog barks into the ear of a yogi, who seems not to notice. Another dog and a small rodent are attracted to the contents of the bowls.

October 2005

Domains of Wonder

The Razmnama, or Book of Wars, is a Persian translation of India's great epic, the Mahabharata. In this illustration, King Drupada visits the god Shiva to request the gift of a son; Shiva grants him instead a daughter who will one day turn into a man.

The Muslim artists may have been somewhat unfamiliar with the iconography of Hindu deities, for Shiva is depicted as blue with a yellow garment and seated on a lotus-attributes more typical of Vishnu or Krishna. The crescent moon that normally is nestled in Shiva's matted locks floats detached at one side of his head.