A special from Man Mohan Munshi Ji. I remember that Kul Brahmins used to bring little photographs/painting of goddess on the day of Gour’trie (Gouri-tra-itr ?).
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In good old days while compiling the horoscopes of the family members of their Yajmans the Kul Brahmins(family Purohits) of Kashmiri Pandits themselves draw/paint pictures of the Hindu deities on the top of the Horoscopes which were not in book form but a huge length of paper rolled into a bundle.
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| Vinayaka |
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| Shiva |
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| Purohit’s imagination of Shri Amarnathji Shrine |
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| Durga |
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| Sharika |
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| Durga |
Great pictures. It is wonderful to see these examples of the Kashmir school. They are pretty rare,that is certain.The one depicting Amarnath cave is the first of its kind i have seen. I did not know some miniaturist made a painting of the herdsman adoring Shiva-Parvati. It has an unmistakable trace of the Kangra school of miniature painting. This is a veritable gem among paintings. The figures are attired in costume typical of the Pahari idiom.
Vinayak, i think that the figure in the painting captioned 'Durga' may be safely reckoned to be that of the tantric goddess 'Shodashi'. Her accouterments and the gods who support her throne lead one to believe that this is in fact the sixteen year old damsel-goddess 'Shodashi'.You did me a great service by including these marvelous pics. Thanks a ton!
Although i can't confirm it, but that's an interesting observation about Shodashi. Thanks!
Vinayak ji,
Superb blog! I have spent several pleasant hours going through its contents.
Subhash Kak
Thanks!
both the goddess are ragnya bhagawati not shodashi form…the only one shodashi in the painting is sitting on the asana of five deities sharika tag is also wrong since sharika as per kashmiri beliefs is shyama and ashtadashabhuja
the last two paintings are of ragnya bhagawati or ksheer bhawani as we know her above that sitting on five deity supported asana is shodashi