Birth of Shakuntala

ca. 1910

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 251

The moralizing tale of Shakuntala, daughter of the sage Vishwamitra, and a forest nymph, Menaka, was first recorded in the Mahabharata. It was later absorbed into the Ramayana, and then turned into a play by the great Sanskrit dramatist Kalidasa in the fifth century. As told in the Mahabharata, the god Indra sent Menaka to distract Vishwamitra from his penances and a child was born. Ravi Varma chose to depict the moment when Menaka presents the newborn to the revered sage, who refuses to acknowledge his child and returns to his ascetic practices. Menaka abandoned the infant near the hermitage of the sage Kanva, who raises her as his own. The lush forest setting, complete with a pair of white swans, is inspired by European artistic conventions, as was Ravi Varma’s style.

Artwork Details

Title: Birth of Shakuntala
Date: ca. 1910
Culture: India, Karla–Lonavala, Maharashtra
Medium: Chromolithograph with varnish on paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 20 × 14 3/8 in. (50.8 × 36.5 cm)
Image: 19 1/2 in. × 14 in. (49.5 × 35.6 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of John and Fausta Eskenazi, 2025
Object Number: 2025.269.10
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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