AM E076404 Lubdaka

Siwaratrikalpa

The first scenes occupy the bottom of the painting. On the right and left on both sides of a lake on which a boat filled with people floats, we see depicted the gods Wisnu and his consort, Sri-Laksmi, on the left and on the right the god Brahma and his consort. They, together with Siwa and Uma, who are portrayed half submerged in the lake, make up the trimurti. Above the lake in a Wilwa tree under which we see a tiger is the hunter Lubdaka, wearing a blue jacket. He remains awake all night dropping the leaves of the wilwa tree down onto a (natural) lingga (here depicted as the divine couple Siwa and Uma in the water). Lubdhaka does this out of fear that he will be eaten by wild animals unless he can stay awake. Unbeknowns to him he does this on the Night of Siwa for which he is to be rewarded by going to Siwa’s heaven when he dies. In the small scene to the left of this scene we see Lubdaka (wearing his characteristic blue jacket) pursued by a tiger during his hunt. In a small scene just to the right of the scene with Lubdaka in the tree we see Lubdaka now kneeling before Siwa and Uma. When Lubdaka dies there is a dispute between Siwa and Yama about Lubdaka’s fate. Yama takes him for a hunter and wants to punish him but Siwa intervenes to rescue the hunter from this fate. The scenes across the middle of the painting narrate this part of the story. On the left Yama gives instructions to his army to bring Lubdhaka to him and on the right hand side of the painting we see Lubdhaka seated in front of Yama. Between these two scenes is another in which we see Siwa and Uma come to rescue Lubdhaka. Above we have a scene in which Siwa explains to Yama why Yama has no right to punish Lubdaka and that he should be handed to Siwa to remain in his heaven. The scene to the right of the last one appears to depict some kind of consecration or honouring of Lubdaka who sits in the small pavilion with the gods standing behind him. What the two small scenes in the left and right hand top corners of the painting depict I cannot see clearly and will have to have a look at the painting [ref PW 2005]