Art, Symbol & Imagination
The House of Lac: Nanda Lal Bose’s Mahabharata Plate
Original caption: The House of Lac
Bose crowds the figures together at a dark opening, with lowered bodies and ready bows suggesting vigilance rather than a grand public escape. The surrounding Mahabharata account describes the Pandavas installed in a house intended as a death trap, while a miner sent by Vidura secretly excavates a passage from their chamber. They conceal their suspicion and wait for the opportunity to flee. The building’s hospitable appearance is therefore at odds with its purpose, and the hidden route reverses the trap. The illustration belongs to the early struggle for survival that precedes the epic’s open war.
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Citation
Nanda Lal Bose. "The House of Lac: Nanda Lal Bose’s Mahabharata Plate" [source caption]. In Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists, Sister Nivedita and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Original scan, 1914, George G. Harrap & Co.. Source scan leaf 181. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/hindu-house-lac
Source details
Title from the printed caption. Editorial description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Artist credited in the printed list of illustrations. Full source leaf and the adjacent narrative reviewed; historical scan colour and texture retained.
Sources
From the book
Myths of the Hindus and BuddhistsSister Nivedita and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy1914More from this book
Garuda: Nanda Lal Bose’s Mythological Bird Figure
Rama’s Marriage: K. Venkatappa’s Ramayana Illustration
The Death of Maricha: K. Venkatappa’s IllustrationRelated illustrations
Cite this illustration
Nanda Lal Bose. The House of Lac: Nanda Lal Bose’s Mahabharata Plate. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists. Scan leaf 181. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/hindu-house-lac