- Title
- Raja Sidh Sen of Mandi (r. 1684-1727)
- Date Made
- circa 1750-1775
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 9 1/4 x 6 in. (23.5 x 15.24 cm); Sheet: 11 1/8 x 7 5/8 in. (28.29 x 19.37 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1999.127.10
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Raja Sidh Sen (r. 1684-1727) ascended the throne of the princely state of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh at the age of fifty in 1684 and ruled for forty-three years. Although Rajput rulers commonly identified themselves with Krishna (see M.81.271.13), Sidh Sen was noteworthy for his primary devotion to Shiva and commissioned several temples dedicated to Shiva and the Goddess. Many portraits depict him as Shiva incarnate (see M.75.4.25). Here, his sectarian affiliation is indicated by his forehead markings of a third eye in emulation of Shiva’s third eye of wisdom.
Raja Sidh Sen was exceptional for other reasons as well. His legendary stature, over seven feet tall, is affirmed by numerous portraits. He was a great warrior and a deeply religious man who followed tantric practices and was believed to have supernatural powers. His golden amulet (gutka) was said to enable him to fly to the source of the Ganges River each morning for his daily bath. His portraits are conventionalized, often showing him in the unusual posture of holding his sword upright in an ominous manner. He also typically wears an idiosyncratic tiger-headed dagger tucked in his waist sash and a feather plume in his turban. His face is characteristically pockmarked. Here, an attendant waves an honorific peacock feather fan (morchal) over his head.
A number of similar seated portraits of Sidh Sen are extant, including M.83.255.3 and a representation in the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor (2010/2.26).
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya; Markel, Stephen; Leoshko, Janice. Pleasure Gardens of the Mind: Indian Paintings from the Jane Greenough Green Collection. Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd.: Los Angeles, 1993.
