Image title: Plate-19: Gangadhara-Gauriprasada

[Full title: Gangadhara-Gauriprasada, Vijayanagara, Lepakshi, 16th century]

Among the finest, if not the best, of the paintings here, is the panel showing Śiva as Gaṅgādhara, in his attitude of appearing Gaurī, as Gaurīprasādaka. It is a delicate theme rendered delicately. The whole composition of the picture does credit to the genius of the painter. Here is a happy blend of action and repose, anger and calm; also of the straight line and the curved that make up the rhythmic outline of the composition in the single samabhaṅga of Pārvatī and the complex tribhaṅga of Śiva, that already appears within the boundary of atibhaṅga. Gaṅgā in the locks of Śiva angers Gaurī terribly, and her anger has to be appeased by her spouse.

An effort at that difficult task is cleverly presented. The jealous anger of the khaṇḍitā nāyikā, forsaken sweetheart, and the eager submission and the appealing attitude of the śaṭha nāyaka, faithless lover, are well portrayed here. The later treatment of this iconographic form, of which this is a good example, is in accordance with texts like the Aṃśumadbhedāgama and Śilparatna, but such charm of small domestic squabbles is absent in the earlier representations by artists from the court of the Pallavas. The general description of Pārvatī, and a special feature about her face—virahitānanā, with the look of one ‘forsaken’, is clearly brought out in her visage.

Gallery information:

This plate is contained in the book “Vijayanagara Paintings”, a valuable aid to the understanding of Indian iconography (also known as śilpaśāstra). The Vijayanagara empire was established in 1335 by Harihara, Harihara, Kaṃpa and Bukka (sons of Saṅgama) and grew to be a dominant power in the South. Painting has been considered in the Citrasūtra of the Viṣṇudharmottara, the early standard text on painting, as the premier art.