Gautama is Relieved to Find That His Son Chirakarin Has Not Carried Out His Impulsive Order to Execute Ahalya, Leaf from a Razmnama Manuscript

Mohan (Son of Banwari)

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Object Label

This painting is an illustration from the Persian translation of the great Hindu epic known as the Mahabharata (Razm-nama in Persian). The Mughal emperors who ruled northern India from the mid-sixteenth to the nineteenth century were Muslims, originally from Central Asia. One of the early emperors, Akbar, had the major texts of Hinduism translated into Persian so he could better understand their stories and teachings. The relatively simple composition and lack of minute detail suggest that this painting was made not for the emperor, but for one of his courtiers. It depicts an episode in which an impulsive man orders his son to kill his wife (the son’s mother). The father returns home, and the son begs his forgiveness (touching his feet in humility in the painting), because he has not carried out the command. The painting is in the hybrid Persian-Indian style practiced at the Mughal court.

Caption

Mohan (Son of Banwari). Gautama is Relieved to Find That His Son Chirakarin Has Not Carried Out His Impulsive Order to Execute Ahalya, Leaf from a Razmnama Manuscript, 1598–1599. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, Sheet:12 x 6 13/16 in. (30.5 x 17.3 cm) Image: 10 x 5 1/4in. (25.4 x 13.3cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Danielle and Richard A. Bertocci, 86.253. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 86.253_IMLS_SL2.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Asian Art

Title

Gautama is Relieved to Find That His Son Chirakarin Has Not Carried Out His Impulsive Order to Execute Ahalya, Leaf from a Razmnama Manuscript

Date

1598–1599

Dynasty

Mughal

Geography

Place made: India

Medium

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Classification

Work on Paper

Dimensions

Sheet:12 x 6 13/16 in. (30.5 x 17.3 cm) Image: 10 x 5 1/4in. (25.4 x 13.3cm)

Inscriptions

"314" at top of page; text at lower left [in Persian, in naskhi script] reads: "Gautama rishi arrives at his own house and Cirakarin his son falls at his feet and lets the sword pass from his hands to the ground. His father had given [him] the order to kill his own mother [but] he showed compassion upon Cirakarin's delay in slaying his mother (translated from the Persian by John Seyller). in center of lower border, in Persian, in naskhi script: Mohan, son of Banwari. (Trans. J. Seyller)

Credit Line

Gift of Danielle and Richard A. Bertocci

Accession Number

86.253

Rights

No known copyright restrictions

This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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