Arjuna in Virat Sabha by Nandalal Bose
Watercolour on paper, Bengal, India, ca. 1905

A group of ladies watch a eunuch dance. This painting is of a scene from the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata. In this particular episode, the Pandava brothers and their wife Draupadi had to remain in disguise for one year under the conditions of their exile from their homeland. Accordingly they all went to work for the king of Virata; Arjuna, disguised as a eunuch, became music and dance master to the court ladies. He is shown here in women's clothing demonstrating a dance movement.

This is an early work by Nandalal Bose, painted while he was a student at the Calcutta School of Art.

Nandalal Bose (1882-1966) was an influential figure of the Bengal School of Art. He was an immediate disciple of Abanindranath Tagore, the leading artist and exponent of the school, as well as the reformist art teacher Dr E. B. Havell. Adhering to his mentor's patriotic commitment, Nandalal retrieved themes from the Indian epic past or scenes from romantic tales and reworked them in a highly romanticised style.

To fulfil his desire to learn about Indian art of the past, he visited and studied the murals of Ajanta in 1910 (with Lady Herringham) and the Bagh caves in 1921. After a few years in the Art School, Nandalal and Abanindranath's students worked in the Vichitra Club, a cultural organization set up in the Tagore household. In 1919 he started teaching in the Kala Bhavan (college of the arts and crafts) at Santiniketan and in 1922 he became its principal. His principalship enabled him to explore his enduring fascination with murals, festival decorations and theatre stages. Here he pioneered the teaching of handicrafts and fostered the belief that art should not be cultivated merely for its own sake, but should responsibly cater for the interest of society. In 1924 he travelled to China and Japan with polymath Rabanindranath Tagore.

Bose mastered several different painting styles; he adopted Abanindranath Tagore's wash technique, and experimented with Chinese and Japanese brushwork. He also developed his own more formal, bold, linear style. Nandalal was an enthusiastic supporter of the Indian independence movement and the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi. He created artworks for some of Gandhi's political events, including the Haripura congress of 1937 and after India gained independence he was commissioned to illustrate the new Indian constitution.

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