Devayani Rescued by Yayati

The story of Devayani and Yayati was narrated in the Mahabharata as a commentary on the fruitlessness of worldly and material pleasure. The oil painting describes a key scene from the tale that brought together the two protagonists. Devayani-daughter of Jayanti (born to Indra) and Shukra (the guru of the asuras)-was pushed into a well by Sharmistha after a quarrel. She was rescued by Yayatri, a Chandravanshi king who was ancestor to the Yadavas and Pandavas. The story includes an instance of inter-caste marriage between Yayatri, a Kshatriya-born king, and Devyani, born to a Brahmin father; but their marriage only occurs at the insistence of the higher caste Devyani, and Yayatri is presented to be initially strongly against it. An illustration by Bamapada Banerjee on the same theme also exists.