pushpa kumari
King Yuvnasha: The Pregnant King
Ritualistic Mithila (Madhubhani) painting, black pencil and pink colour on paper, 46(w) x 61(h) cm.
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:
Raja Ishvanku established the Ishwanku dynasty and made Ayodhya his capital. King Yuvnasha was his son but, he had no son.
For the desire of having a son, the King went to the forest to perform austerity. In the woods, he met a sage who, in a pot, put sacred water which was to be consumed by the King’s wife, so that she could conceive. Many sage-Munis of King Yuvnasha took part in the religious ritual ‘yagnya’ for this purpose. After the yagnya and the sacrifice, all the people fell asleep due to fatigue.
At night, King Yuvnasha woke up; he was thirsty. Yuvnasha called for water, but due to the fatigue and deep sleep, nobody heard the King’s voice. So, the King got up and looked for water. King Yuvnasha saw the pot that contained the ritual water. The King drank all the water to quench his thirst and later gave birth to his son.
