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Lot Essay
The Mahabharata, one of the most widely known Hindu epics, details the cosmic civil war between forces of good and evil through the internecine strife between the warring Pandava and Kaurava cousins. Converging on themes of morality and duty, the epic prefaced the founding of ancient India, and includes the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism's most sacred texts. Stories from this ancient Indian epic have stimulated visual artists in India for several centuries, and it is not surprising that Somnath Hore was influenced by its descriptions of violence and suffering.
In this finely wrought sculpture, Hore depicts the character of Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandava brothers. In the epic, the fate of the young and faultlessly beautiful Draupadi is frequently subject to the whims and actions of other characters like her mother-in-law Kunti and her five husbands. In one of its most famous episodes, said to be the cause of the ultimate battle in the epic, the Pandava brothers wager and lose Draupadi to the Kauravas in a game of dice, leading to her humiliation in front of the entire court. In this sculpture, Hore portrays Draupadi with Shakuni, the uncle of the Kauravas who planned the entire event and loaded the dice to favor his nephews. Shakuni is depicted in animalistic form here, like a predator clawing at Draupadi’s feet.
Describing the artist’s unique casting technique and style of figuration, Pranabranjan Ray notes that “The armatures, air vents and escape pipes of the molten metal are arranged in such a manner as they form the skeletal structures of the figures with the bones, veins and all that. The sheets of thin metal over the torso and the head of the figure is, at the same time, like a skin covering the bones with no flesh intervening and a bandage covering the wounds. The ends of the metal sheets join in such a manner as it suggests a slashed-open skin or skins with marks or surgical operation or skins showing naked bones. They are like living apparitions from scenes of destruction walking down the corridors of a hospital after being attended to.” (P. Ray, Hore, New Delhi, pp. 8-9)
In this finely wrought sculpture, Hore depicts the character of Draupadi, the wife of the five Pandava brothers. In the epic, the fate of the young and faultlessly beautiful Draupadi is frequently subject to the whims and actions of other characters like her mother-in-law Kunti and her five husbands. In one of its most famous episodes, said to be the cause of the ultimate battle in the epic, the Pandava brothers wager and lose Draupadi to the Kauravas in a game of dice, leading to her humiliation in front of the entire court. In this sculpture, Hore portrays Draupadi with Shakuni, the uncle of the Kauravas who planned the entire event and loaded the dice to favor his nephews. Shakuni is depicted in animalistic form here, like a predator clawing at Draupadi’s feet.
Describing the artist’s unique casting technique and style of figuration, Pranabranjan Ray notes that “The armatures, air vents and escape pipes of the molten metal are arranged in such a manner as they form the skeletal structures of the figures with the bones, veins and all that. The sheets of thin metal over the torso and the head of the figure is, at the same time, like a skin covering the bones with no flesh intervening and a bandage covering the wounds. The ends of the metal sheets join in such a manner as it suggests a slashed-open skin or skins with marks or surgical operation or skins showing naked bones. They are like living apparitions from scenes of destruction walking down the corridors of a hospital after being attended to.” (P. Ray, Hore, New Delhi, pp. 8-9)