Art, Symbol & Imagination
Kirat-Arjuna: Nanda Lal Bose’s Divine Encounter
Original caption: Kirat-Arjuna
The kneeling archer meets a divine couple in a landscape pared down to curving ground, pale rock and sparse flowering branches. Bose’s quiet composition follows the violent misunderstanding of the Kirat-Arjuna episode. Arjuna seeks divine weapons in the mountains and quarrels with a hunter over a boar they have both shot. Only when a garland offered in worship appears on the hunter does he recognise Shiva. The plate turns the encounter towards recognition and blessing, showing the instant in which an apparent rival becomes the source of the gift Arjuna has come to obtain.
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Citation
Nanda Lal Bose. "Kirat-Arjuna: Nanda Lal Bose’s Divine Encounter" [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 209. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/hindu-kirat-arjuna
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
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Cite this illustration
Nanda Lal Bose. Kirat-Arjuna: Nanda Lal Bose’s Divine Encounter. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists. Scan leaf 209. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/hindu-kirat-arjuna