Rajput Painting, Being an Account of the Hindu Paintings of Rajasthan and the Panjab Himalayas from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century v2.c19.540

v2.c19.540

**The birth of Gaṅgā.** Mahādeva (Śiva) with Pārvatī, seated before a *yogī's* fire, encamped with Gaṇeśa and Kārttikeya, and Nandi. Beneath the projecting rock, and not seeing the god whom he would propitiate, stands Bhagīratha, his hand covered by a *go-mukha*, while he counts his beads, repeating prayers. Before him lie two *Datura* flowers offered to the unseen god; these are plucked from the bush that grows on the rock. In response to the prayer of the devotee, the Ganges falls in a single stream from Śiva's head, where it had been lost since it fell from heaven. Pahāṟī (Kāṅgṟā), second half 18th century. Collection of the author. Size of original. Vol. i, p. 56.