Mandhata: The Pregnant King Yuvnasha’s Son

The work illustrates an extraordinary mythical story of King Yuvnasha who gave birth to his son. The story is depicted through the ritualistic Indian Mithila (Madhubani) painting tradition.

According to the Ramayana, a major Sanskrit epic of ancient India, the story is told as follows:
When the time was right for the child to be born, the divine physician, Ashwin Kumar, cut the King’s stomach and pulled the child out. Later, a problem arose: How to feed the baby? All the Goddesses were present at the birth, yet the God Indra told them that he would fulfil the lack of mother for the baby. Indra cast his finger and, from his finger, the milk came out. He said: “Mama Dhata” – “I am his mother”. For this reason, the baby was named “Mandhata”. As soon as God Indra started feeding the infant, the infant grew up to 13 infants in size. It is told that King Mandhata had ruled his states righteously for a long time until he decided to go to the forest to see Lord Vishnu and, after that he ended his life.