Shiv_family_MDI
Shiva and the Divine Family Mandi, Punjab Hills, India 1810-20 Size: 200 mm *150 mm @Sotheby’s Artist: Sajnu The painting celebrates the bliss of marriage of Shiva and Parvati who are in the company of the six-headed son Kartikey and the elephant-headed son Ganesh. The ancient scriptures do narrate quarrels between Shiva and Parvati as a modern-day couple but they are immediately drawn back to that attraction of enjoying the simple joys of family life. Sajnu here creates a whisper of love - that whisper where there are no words being spoken as the couple prepare the intoxicating bhang 1 and yet everything is being heard as one looks at the layers of this painting. The family has traveled down to the hills to meet their devotees from that majestic Mount Kailash. The mountain people were aware of their God’s responsibility to them and their artists painted the event of the God’s visit with ingenuity, conviction and familiarity. 2 The couple sits on a leopard skin sp