Shiva and Parvati

The god Shiva is shown wearing a leopard skin, with a cobra round his neck. His wife Parvati nurses the infant Karttikeya, whose vahana (vehicle), the peacock, perches above. Her other son Ganesha, the elephant-headed deity, sits behind Shiva. His vahana is the rat, while Shiva’s is the bull Nandi, and Parvati’s the tiger (or lion).

The monkey god Hanuman is also shown on the left and other deities (below left), as well as mortals, are paying homage to Shiva and his family in their Himalayan abode.

The painting has been described as characteristic of the style of Sajnu, a painter from Kangra thought to have worked in Mandi in the Punjab Hills, in its rendering of the ice blocks. It represents a relatively late style of Pahari ('Hill') painting.