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A night scene of Shiva puja (recto); Calligraphy (verso)

Muhammad Rizavi Hindi

1765

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Romanticism 18th Century Religious Lucknow

Dominant colour

A night scene of Shiva puja (recto); Calligraphy (verso) is a 1765 unspecified by Muhammad Rizavi Hindi, a Mughal Painting work, depicting Lucknow, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Muhammad Rizavi Hindi
When & what style?: 1765 · Mughal Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

A woman in a gold-trimmed robe kneels under a starry sky, offering flowers to a stone linga—a symbol of the Hindu god Shiva. The shrine glows with warm light, and tiny trays hold red and yellow powders she’s used to mark her forehead. A brass ewer sits nearby, ready for ritual washing. This painting is unusual because it shows a Muslim artist depicting a Hindu ritual in 18th-century India. The royal court in Lucknow blended traditions, and this work reflects that mix. The artist likely worked for both Hindu and Muslim patrons. To see more art from this time and place, look up Mughal India.

The story of this work

Overview

Under golden stars and a crescent moon, a royal woman offers a flower garland at an open-air shrine to the Hindu god Shiva. Installed on a platform under a sapling, the stone linga believed to contain Shiva’s presence bears the bright orange traces of devotional anointments. Orange kumkum (red turmeric powder) and yellow saffron are in tiny trays before her, and she has used them to mark her forehead with the signs of her piety. The small brass ewer would contain purified water to bathe the linga. On the platform are offerings of fragrant blossoms and the light of clarified butter lamps.