Shiva and his family
Artist Unknown, India, Punjab Hills, Kangra School
Description
India, Punjab Hills, Kangra school
ca. 1790–1800
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. Walter R. Parker, 1942.4
In this idyllic scene, the goddess Parvati offers her husband, the Hindu god
Shiva, a drink as they enjoy a quiet moment together. Their children, the
elephant-headed Ganesha and Skanda, play inside a tent made from the hide of
an elephant demon slain by Shiva. Both parents wear animal skins, the clothing
of mountain-dwelling ascetics, and Shiva is adorned with a long necklace of
skulls and a snake. Together the story and iconographic details allude to various
aspects of Shiva’s character—lover, family man, destroyer of evil, and supreme
practitioner of austerities—but, as is typical of Kangra painting, the overall mood
is one of tranquility and domestic harmony.
Kangra was a small Rajput state in the Punjab Hills, which lies or lay? at the foot
of the Himalaya mountain range in the far north of India. From the mid-eighteenth
century, artists in this region began to employ certain features of European
painting, as filtered through the painting of the Mughals (a Muslim dynasty of
Central Asian origin that extended over the Indian subcontinent). Here we see
that influence in the naturalistic palette and treatment of forms, especially the
animals and tree.
Subject Matter:
The narrative and iconographical elements of this scene alludes to multiple aspects of Shiva’s character—as lover, family man, destroyer of evil, and supreme practitioner of austerities—but, as is typical of Kangra painting, the overall mood is one of tranquility and domestic harmony.
Kangra was a small Rajput state in the Punjab Hills, which lie at the foot of the Himalaya in the far north of India. From the mid-eighteenth century, artists in this region began to adapt certain features of European painting, as filtered through Mughal painting. That impact is seen here in the naturalistic palette and treatment of forms, especially the animals and tree.
Physical Description:
In this idyllic scene, the goddess Parvati offers her husband Shiva a drink, as they enjoy a quiet moment together. Their children, the elephant-headed Ganesha and Skanda, play inside a tent made from the hide of an elephant demon that Shiva had slain. Both parents are clothed in animal skins, the garb of mountain-dwelling ascetics, while Shiva is further adorned with a long necklace of skulls and a snake.
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