Salia and Aswatama

Template:Paintings Bharatayuddha: Salia and Aswatama 94cm x 120cm

European cloth, painted by Manku Mura in 1972.

Towards the end of the Bharatayuddha, after the death of Karna, Aswatama, the son of Drona (who has already been killed), accuses Salia, who is about to be appointed commander of the Korawa army, of being responsible for some of the recent disasters. Both become furiously angry, and since both derive some aspect of divine power from the god Rudra, both take on the pamurtian form, assumed by high gods in states of fury. However, since they both derive their power from the same source, they are equal, and no advantage is to be gained by fighting.

Manku Mura was definitely trying to bring this point out visually by balancing the two pamurtian figures. When asked. Manku Mura said that it did not matter which figure was Salia and which Aswatama, since they were equivalent and there fore identical. In fact, the figure on the left has one more right arm than the figure on the right, but this is not visually evident. A more or less exact balance is obtained in this painting, and the idea of balanced opposition of equal powers is very clearly conveyed. The pamurtian figures curve in to the sun, while pushing back to the top corners, the rain that is either falling or threatening to fall. In each top corner is a heavenly resi once again balancing the picture. In the centre, Duryodana, the leader of the Korawas, tries to calm things down, as do Delem and Sangut, and other Korawa notables, dwarfed by the pamurtian figures.

Towards the end of the Bharatayuddha, after the death of Karna, Aswatama, the son of Drona (who has already been killed), accuses Salia, who is about to be appointed commander of the Korawa army, of being responsible for some of the recent disasters. Both become furiously angry, and since both derive some aspect of devine power from the god Rudra, take on the pamurtian form (i.e. a nine-headed demonic form), assumed by high gods in states of fury. However, since both derive their power from the same source, they are equal, and so no advantage is to be gained by fighting.

Manku Mura was definitely trying to bring this point out by balancing the two pamurtian figures. Hence he refused to nominate who was Salia and who was Aswatama. The idea of balanced opposition of equal powers is clearly conveyed in this cloth painting.