Raga Brahma, Creator of the Universe
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.The creator god Brahma, known since late Vedic times, has a diminished role in historical Brahmanism, having been displaced by Shiva and Vishnu. He is represented four-headed and here wears a shared diadem with pink lotus plumage. In his four arms he holds his standard attributes, the jewel-encrusted water vessel (kamandalu), a rosary, a holy book inscribed with verses from the Vedas and a tuft of sacred kusa grass used in Vedic ritual. He is mounted on his divine vehicle (vahana), the white goose (hamsa) which stands perch on a grassy hillock. Chromatically, the picture is dramatic, with the play of brilliant yellow, crimson and white against an intense red ground imparting a divine authority. and here wears a shared diadem with pink lotus plumage. In his four arms he holds his standard attributes, the jewel-encrusted water vessel (kamandalu), a rosary, a holy book inscribed with verses from the Vedas and a tuft of sacred kusa grass used in Vedic ritual. He is mounted on his divine vehicle (vahana), the white goose (hamsa) which stands perch on a grassy hillock. Chromatically, the picture is dramatic, with the play of brilliant yellow, crimson and white against an intense red ground imparting a divine authority.
Artwork Details
- Title: Raga Brahma, Creator of the Universe
- Date: ca. 1720
- Culture: India, Mankot
- Medium: Opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 6 1/2 × 4 15/16 in. (16.5 × 12.5 cm)
Framed: 10 1/8 × 8 1/2 × 3/4 in. (25.7 × 21.6 × 1.9 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Howard Hodgkin Collection, on loan from the Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust
- Object Number: L.2022.30.1
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art