Paubha Paintings
KATRIKA BHAIRAV
Mineral pigments on board.
By Siddhimuni Shakya
25 x 36 inches
This contemporary Nepali painting illustrates one of many legends of Kathmandu. Kascandra, who’s seen kneeling before the god Katrika Bhairava, was the founder of a monastery in Kathmandu known as Itum Baha. As a young man, however, he was a compulsive gambler and after a run of particularly bad luck, he lost all his possessions and was forced to move in with his sister. At first, she honored him, serving him on plates of solid gold, but when he gambled those away, too, she put his rice directly on the floor. Dejected, Kascandra wandered out to the countryside where he put his meager, maggot-ridden supper to warm in the sun and dozed off.
Kascandra awoke to find that his food had been devoured by pigeons and wailing at this misfortune, he drew the attention of the god Bhairava, who made the pigeons return the food. In place of Keschandra’s rice, they left piles of droppings-which soon turned to gold.
Although completely Nepalese in subject matter and painted by a Nepali artist, this painting is strongly influenced by the style of neighboring Tibet with the central positioning of the god Katrika Bhairab, the treatment of the landscape and the painted brocade border which represent the mounting of paintings in brocade prevalent in Tibet.