Shiva Parwati as Kirat Bhilli

Shiva Parwati as Kirat Bhilli
Oleograph
M. V. Dhurandhar | 1920

This oleograph by the celebrated Bombay artist M. V. Dhurandhar (1867–1944) depicts a beloved episode from the Mahabharata's Kiratarjuniya - but reimagined through a deeply intimate, devotional lens.

The Story: When Arjuna performs intense penance in the Himalayas to obtain the divine weapon Pashupatastra from Lord Shiva, Shiva decides to test him first. He disguises himself as a Kirat - a tribal forest hunter and Parvati accompanies him as a Bhilli, a tribal woman of the forest. Together, they appear as simple mountain dwellers, unrecognisable in their mortal disguise.

In this scene, Dhurandhar captures a moment of quiet divinity - Shiva seated on a tiger skin, adorned with his serpent and crescent moon, reaching out tenderly toward Parvati, who stands poised and graceful against a lush Himalayan landscape of waterfalls, flowering meadows, and snow-capped peaks. The crescent moon subtly reveals his true identity to the knowing eye.