The Descent of the Ganges
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1800
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Kangra school
label: Label
content: This is a lovely colored drawing with an assured line, gracefully engaged figures, and an evocative, hazy mountain landscape. Its subject is an unusual rendering of the canonical Hindu narrative in which the Ganges (the goddess Ganga) descends through Shiva's jata (dreadlocks) to save the earth from a devastating drought. Ganga is often represented in Shiva's hair, as much an emblem of Shiva as his third eye or crescent moon. She appears, for example, as a small praying figure in Shiva's dreadlocks in the Freer's Chola bronze Nataraja (F2003.2) as well as in many court paintings of the great deity.
label: Label
content: The image may reflect a Punjab Hills folk story or poetry about Shiva and Ganga. Vernacular stories as well as court poetry composed across India convey earthier (sometimes humorous, sometimes bawdy) tales about the god.
label: Provenance
content: To 1947
label: Provenance
content: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947), Colombo, Sri Lanka, London, England, and Needham, Massachusetts. [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1947 to 1973
label: Provenance
content: Rama Coomaraswamy (1929-2006), Greenwich, Connecticut, ownership transferred after the death of his father, Ananda Coomaraswamy. [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1973 to 2001
label: Provenance
content: Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), Beverly Hills, California, purchased from Rama Coomaraswamy in November 1973. [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 2001 to 2018
label: Provenance
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001. [4]
label: Provenance
content: From 2018
label: Provenance
content: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim. [5]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] According to information from Catherine Glynn Benkaim.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [5] See Acquisition Consideration Form, object file, Collections Management Office.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Manifestations of Shiva (March 29, 1981 to May 30, 1982)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877-1947)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Rama Coomaraswamy (1929-2006)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ralph and Catherine Benkaim
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
place: label: Origin
content: Kangra, Himachal Pradesh state, India
topic: label: Topic
content: Shiva
label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: Ganga
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
setName: label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: S2018.1.18
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Opaque watercolor on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 14.6 × 10 cm (5 3/4 × 3 15/16 in)