Cleveland Museum of Art

Descent of the Ganges

Date

c. 1700–1710

Medium

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Culture

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In the upper left, Shiva sits with his wife Parvati on Mount Kailash in the Himalayas. She offers him a cup of wine, but Shiva looks down intently at the holy man Bhagiratha. He has stood on one leg for 1,001 years to obtain the gift of the Ganges River, which flows from Shiva’s topknot of hair. A dedicated devotee can divert the god’s attention, even from his beautiful wife and a cup of wine. By Mount Kailash is the icy Lake Manasarowar, still a major pilgrimage place for followers of Shiva. Hoping to earn the god’s favor, devoted practitioners perform acts of rigorous physical discipline. Shiva and the other sages rest on tiger hides.

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