INDIA, PUNJAB HILLS, BASHOLI, CIRCA 1740

Arjuna, one of the five Pandava brothers, won his wife Draupadi through a show of skill by winning a difficult archery contest set up by her father. The Pandavas were polyandrous, thus Draupadi became the bride to all five. Here, Draupadi stands to the right with her husbands-Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva, and Yudhisthira-against a field of moss green. To the left, a king identified as Aruroha in the inscription on the verso sits within a palace chamber. In Doris' words, "The two halves of the painting are counter-weighted like a balance scale in perfect equilibrium." W.G. Archer has pointed to the parallels between this painting and the Basholi Gita Govinda series reproduced in his definitive study, Indian Paintings of the Punjab Hills, pl.32-34.