Art Print – “Yamadeepa”: The Lamps That Turned Away Death

Provenance

Yamadeepa tells the Dhanteras tale of King Hima's son, fated by his horoscope to die of a snakebite on the fourth day of his marriage. His young bride kept him awake through the night, lighting rows of diyas at the door and telling him stories, and when Yama, the God of Death, came in the form of a serpent, he could not pass through the glow of the lamps and turned away.

The composition sets the couple on a cushioned couch beneath a domed pavilion hung with red scalloped curtains. The bride, in red and gold, raises her hand as she tells her stories, while the prince reclines beside her, awake and listening. Tiers of lit diyas fill the steps and lamp-stands around the open door, a hooded cobra rears at the threshold, and above, Yama rides his black buffalo through the sky, a noose in his hand.

A deep teal ground sets off the warm reds, ivory and gold of the palace and the many small flames, with gilded spirals marking the passage of the clouds. The repeated rows of lamps give the work its rhythm and meaning: light as protection, and devotion as the force that keeps darkness at the door.