Important Notice

The present lot is one of a group of six works that Bendre was commissioned to paint in 1975 for a Philips India company calendar, titled Nayikas of Kalidas, based on heroines from his poetry and dramas. In this rendition, which combines the best of Bendre's talents for portraying figures in a landscape with a seamless blending of styles, the artist interprets a scene from the Raghuvamsha, depicting Sita, held hostage by Ravana in... The present lot is one of a group of six works that Bendre was commissioned to paint in 1975 for a Philips India company calendar, titled Nayikas of Kalidas, based on heroines from his poetry and dramas. In this rendition, which combines the best of Bendre's talents for portraying figures in a landscape with a seamless blending of styles, the artist interprets a scene from the Raghuvamsha, depicting Sita, held hostage by Ravana in the Ashoka Vatika, a forest in Lanka. Bendre's Sita stands in a pose seen in classical Indian paintings and sculptures, framed by a dark forest. Bendre's choice of colour palette is deliberate. The all-encompassing darkness of the forest threatens to overwhelm the bright, solitary figure of Sita, and has ominous undertones. At the same time, behind her, are gentle creatures such as deer whose similar preyed upon vulnerability emphasise her own innocence, fragility and constant state of alertness in the treacherous alien forest. The peacocks in the foreground, celebrated as India's national bird, serve as symbols of Sita's foreign beauty in this strange land. In his careful crafting of these nuanced elements, the artist visually interprets the underlying theme-the triumph of good over evil-that is at the crux of this epic.

This painting was acquired around the same time by the ex-Managing Director of Mazgaon Docks and then Chairman of Philips India, Vice Admiral Benjamin Abraham Samson, because of its subject, specifically for his daughter Leela, who was at the time a young dancer in training. Just entering her twenties, she was poised to play Sita in Rukmini Devi Arundale's dance drama production of Ramayana. A gift from a father to his daughter who would go on to become one of India's best known classical danseuse, choreographer, writer and Padma Shri award winner, the provenance adds to its significance. Bendre was able to evoke in this painting, the same emotions which Ms. Samson turned to in order to portray Sita so poignantly on the stage. According to her, the darkness in the painting captured the isolation of Sita's captivity, while the small glimpse of the water, as one might have seen from the island of Lanka, came to represent escape, and a sense of hope. The painting embodies the connection between the visual and theatre arts, both of which require talent, training, and a complexity of emotional portrayal in order to connect with their audience. Bendre was able to achieve all of these in the present lot.

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