Woodcut
ca. 1870 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This woodcut was made in Lahore or Amritsar in about 1870. Inscriptions in Gurmukhi identify the holy man whose attendant holds a peacock feather fan above his head as Namdev, and the figure opposite him as 'badsaha turk', meaning the 'Turk emperor'. The story is referred to in the Sikh holy book the Guru Granth Sahib, in which the late-13th century Turkic ruler of the Tughlaq sultanate of Delhi challenges Namdev to resurrect a slaughtered cow. Divine intervention saves Namdev from having to make a choice between being executed or converting to Islam.
The woodcut belongs to an album containing 196 prints, paintings, pen and pencil drawings and 37 loose pages of paintings, calligraphic and other drawings. They were all collected by John Lockwood Kipling when he was Principal of the Mayo School of Art, Lahore from 1875 to 1893. The album was presented to the Museum by his son Rudyard Kipling in 1917.
The woodcut belongs to an album containing 196 prints, paintings, pen and pencil drawings and 37 loose pages of paintings, calligraphic and other drawings. They were all collected by John Lockwood Kipling when he was Principal of the Mayo School of Art, Lahore from 1875 to 1893. The album was presented to the Museum by his son Rudyard Kipling in 1917.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Woodcut on paper |
| Brief description | Sikh woodcut depicting the Tughlaq ruler of Hindustan visiting Namdev; Lahore or Amritsar, about 1870 |
| Physical description | The scene appears to illustrate the story of divine intervention of saving the 13th century religious figure Namdev from being converted to Islam or executed when the Tughlaq ruler challenges him to restore to life a slaughtered cow. Inscriptions in Gurmukhi identify the holy mand as Namdev and the other figure as' badasa turk', meaning the 'Turk emperor. An attendant holds a peack-feather morchhal over Namdev. Below, the emperor's horse is held by an attendant, facing a cow and calf. |
| Credit line | Given by Rudyard Kipling Esq., Bateman's, Burwash, Sussex |
| Object history | This woodcut belongs to a group of 196 prints, paintings, and pen and pencil drawings from Amritsar, Lahore, Bengal and Bombay. The collection is mainly composed of lithograph pictures sold at the local bazaars and fairs. |
| Production | Popular Sikh |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This woodcut was made in Lahore or Amritsar in about 1870. Inscriptions in Gurmukhi identify the holy man whose attendant holds a peacock feather fan above his head as Namdev, and the figure opposite him as 'badsaha turk', meaning the 'Turk emperor'. The story is referred to in the Sikh holy book the Guru Granth Sahib, in which the late-13th century Turkic ruler of the Tughlaq sultanate of Delhi challenges Namdev to resurrect a slaughtered cow. Divine intervention saves Namdev from having to make a choice between being executed or converting to Islam. The woodcut belongs to an album containing 196 prints, paintings, pen and pencil drawings and 37 loose pages of paintings, calligraphic and other drawings. They were all collected by John Lockwood Kipling when he was Principal of the Mayo School of Art, Lahore from 1875 to 1893. The album was presented to the Museum by his son Rudyard Kipling in 1917. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | IM.2:146-1917 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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