c. 1740

The Storm God Indra Battles an Asura (Demon)

The master painter Manaku, to whom this work is attributed, helped establish the painting workshop that came to dominate the Pahari region. This drawing illustrates a verse in the eighth section of the Bhagavata Purana, which describes the advent of mankind along with the continuing battles between the devas (gods) and asuras (demons). This page shows the lion-mounted asura Jambha as he swings his great club at the god Indra. Although Jambha knocks out Indra's elephant, Indra eventually triumphs.

This drawing shows the initial stages of creating a painting. First, the artist sketched the composition in charcoal, making adjustments as he proceeded. Over the charcoal sketch, he painted a complete underdrawing in black watercolor. He would then have coated the page with white primer and, following the now-faint lines of the underdrawing, created a full, detailed outline drawing, ready to be filled with color.