Bima Swarga

© the copyright holder. Image credit: Horniman Museum and Gardens

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Painting on cloth depicting an episode from the story of Bima's journey through hell, Bima Swarga, in which he seeks to save the souls of his father Pandu and his mother Madri. Bima appears on the left of the picture above a cauldron in which demons are boiling a victim, probably one of his parents. Above them another demon stokes a second fire. Further to the right, from left to right along the lower portion of the painting a woman is being suckled by two enormous larvae; another woman is raped by a boar; two women are forced to pull a plough on all fours; and a woman is fed into a huge demon's gaping mouth. In the register above this to the right two demons sit in a pavilion. To the right of this a procession of immortals carry a woman who has led a moral life and is thus being received in heaven as a queen.

Horniman Museum and Gardens

Forest Hill

Title

Bima Swarga

Date

c.1970

Medium

pigment on textile

Measurements

H 147.5 x W 288.8 cm

Accession number

1988.2

Acquisition method

purchased, 1988

Work type

Painting

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Horniman Museum and Gardens

100 London Road, Forest Hill, Greater London SE23 3PQ England

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