- Title
- A River Dolphin (Shishumara) Attacks a Maid, Folio from a Yashodhara Charita (Life of Yashodhara)
- Date Made
- 1454
- Medium
- Ink and opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 2 3/8 x 4 in. (6.03 x 10.16 cm); Sheet: 4 3/4 x 10 5/8 in. (12.07 x 26.99 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.90.86.1
- Curatorial Notes
The Yashodhara Charita or Charite (Life of Yashodhara) was written in 1209 CE by Janna, the Jain court poet and minister (Dandanayaka) to King Narasimha I (r. 1152–1173) and King Veera Ballala II (r. 1173–1220) of the Hoysala Dynasty in Karnataka (950–1346). This Digambara Jain purana of 310 verses recounts the cautionary tale of the morally weak but ultimately repentant King Yashodhara, his conspiring mother Chandramathi, and his unfaithful wife Queen Amritamati. King Yashodhara and his mother are eventually poisoned by the Queen and subjected to a gruesome cycle of animal rebirths that viciously destroy each other.
This folio illustrates their third rebirth when Yashodhara was reborn as a fish and Chandramati as a freshwater dolphin (shishumara) in the Sipra River. One day, the dolphin (here resembling a crocodile) attacked a palace maid who was bathing and attempted to drag her down. The maid’s royal master angrily ordered the dolphin destroyed, but the net that was cast captured both animals. The dolphin was then killed and the fish was taken to the royal kitchen for the king’s dinner.
The bulk of this Yashodhara Charita manuscript dated 1454 is in the National Museum, New Delhi.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Painting, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993.
- The Art Museum. London: Phaidon Press, 2011.
