Cleveland Museum of Art

King Bana in his court, from an Usha-Aniruddha

Date: c. 1760–70
Medium: Gum tempera and ink on paper
Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

This portrait of a demon king depicts him listening to the report of one of his ministers. He may be hearing the news that his daughter Usha has been secretly receiving Krishna’s grandson Aniruddha in her bedchamber. The artist has depicted Bana with his 20 arms emerging like tentacles from his body. The members of his multicolored demon court are imaginatively rendered combinations of beasts and humans. In the background, demons harass holy men by burning their huts and chasing them away from their settlements. Clara Taplin Rankin, the donor of this painting, was a trustee of the CMA as well as the Musical Arts Association and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

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