Important Notice

"The Mahabharata discloses a rich civilization and highly evolved society which, though of an older world, strangely resembles the India of our time..."-C. Rajagopalachari

The present lot, an oil on canvas created in the early 1970s depicts Bhishma, one of the most important characters of the Mahabharata faced with many difficult choices throughout the course of the epic. The son of the river goddess Ganga and the Kuru King... "The Mahabharata discloses a rich civilization and highly evolved society which, though of an older world, strangely resembles the India of our time..."-C. Rajagopalachari

The present lot, an oil on canvas created in the early 1970s depicts Bhishma, one of the most important characters of the Mahabharata faced with many difficult choices throughout the course of the epic. The son of the river goddess Ganga and the Kuru King Shantanu, he had taken an oath of celibacy, adhering to a promise made to Satyavati, Shantanu's second wife, and impressed the gods. They granted him a boon: he could choose his time of death. What initially seems like the gift of invincibility later plays out as a difficult decision to be made in the battle of the Kurukshetra. Despite his close relation with both the Pandavas and the Kauravas, Bhishma sided with the Kauravas, adhering to a promise to protect the throne which belonged to the Kauravas at this time. In the battle, Bhishma is rendered immobile with an array of arrows shot by Arjuna, and is pinned to the ground. He chooses to lie on this bed until the end of the war, witnessing the tragic turn of events as both sides leverage advantage through unfair and unscrupulous means. He is no longer the proud, respectable and noble prince who swore to protect the throne, but a man full of regret, and an unwilling witness in the destruction of the Kuru clan. Husain captures this complex moment of the battle in the present lot. Through his rendering of Bhishma lying in pain on the bed of arrows, he depicts his state as one of suffering between life and death.

Made briefly after Husain's 1971 Mahabharata series, the present lot exemplifies Husain's fascination with the complexities of this great epic. This work is metaphorical of the moment of difficult decisions made by Bhishma and their consequences: his willingness to endure the pain stems from his beliefs in duty and karma. In a larger framework, this metaphor extends to our society and the choices we are forced to make on a quotidian basis. In keeping with his idiom of depicting India's realities, this work is a precise encapsulation of the same. Interestingly, Husain had previously grappled with Bhishma's ordeal in his 1971 oil on canvas, Bhishma (Mahabharata 24), displayed at the Peabody Essex Museums 2006-2007 exhibition, 'Epic India: The Paintings of M.F. Husain', and originally at the 1971 Sao Paulo Biennial.

Through this painting, Husain attempts to draw light upon the Mahabharata not just as an epic war but a phenomenon that also mirrors conflicts innate in human nature.

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