Somaprabha and a Celestial Nymph Listening to Music (recto), Calligraphy (verso), Folio from a Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories)

Enlarge My gallery Comment Tag Share Download Image*
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/collections.lacma.org-images/remote_images/ma-90342-O3.jpg?Ly4HpOUnCf2wXid6q9DPjvHDB2VATLWJ
View comments
No comments have been posted yet.
Add a comment
Please log in to add comments.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
Download powerpoint quality jpeg Download publication quality tiff
Current tags
This item has not been tagged yet.
Please log in to add tags.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

Somaprabha and a Celestial Nymph Listening to Music (recto), Calligraphy (verso), Folio from a Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories)

Pakistan, Lahore, Mughal Empire, circa 1590
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
5 1/8 x 5 3/8 in. (13.02 x 13.65 cm)
From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase (M.78.9.13)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

The Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories) is a vast anthology of hundreds of folk stories and fairy tales compiled in Sanskrit by the Kashmiri poet Somadeva in 1063–1081....
The Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Streams of Stories) is a vast anthology of hundreds of folk stories and fairy tales compiled in Sanskrit by the Kashmiri poet Somadeva in 1063–1081. Derived from earlier literary sources, the embellished tales were told by Somadeva for the diversion of Suryamati (or Suryavati), the queen of King Ananta of Kashmir (r. 1028–1063). The text was translated into Persian by Mustafa Khaliqdad ‘Abbasi for the Mughal Emperor Akbar (r. 1556–1605), but only about a dozen illustrated leaves are extant. See also M.78.9.12, M.78.9.7, two folios in the San Diego Museum of Art (1990.280 and 1990.281), and one folio in the Cleveland Museum of Art (I-2013-7592/31). The known leaves are cropped and have the Persian text on the reverse. This folio illustrates the story of the celestial nymph Somaprabha from Chapter 17 of the text. Born on earth because of a curse, Somaprabha is married to the merchant Guhachandra of Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar) on the condition that they refrain from sleeping together. Each night, however, Somaprabha mysteriously leaves the house to return at dawn. With the help of a charm given to him by a Brahman, Guhachandra gains the help of Agni, the God of Fire. That night, Agni and Guhachandra take the form of bees and follow Somaprabha. In the forest they discover her listening to heavenly music with another beautiful nymph. Agni advises Guhachandra to dally with a courtesan, which makes Somaprabha jealous and arouses her passion.
More...

Bibliography

  • Rosenfield, John.  The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection.  Boston:  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
  • Heeramaneck, Alice N.  Masterpieces of Indian Painting : From the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck.  New York:  A.N. Heeramaneck, 1984.
  • Rosenfield, John.  The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection.  Boston:  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
  • Heeramaneck, Alice N.  Masterpieces of Indian Painting : From the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck.  New York:  A.N. Heeramaneck, 1984.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Painting, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
More...