Untitled (Jagai Madai)

Sarada Charan Ukil

size

15.0 x 11.0 in. / 38.1 x 27.9 cm.

medium

Watercolour wash on paper pasted on cardboard

One of Abanindranath Tagore’s students at the Government Art School, Calcutta (now Kolkata), and a pioneering Bengal School artist, Sarada Charan Ukil's family moved to Calcutta in the 1910s. After the completion of his training, Ukil shifted to Delhi where he worked as an art teacher at Lala Raghubir Singh’s school popularly known as Modern School. This artwork titled Jagai Madai by Ukil is a depiction of the well-known Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava story of two delinquent brothers and their redemption. The characters in the painting are Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, a Vishnuavatara, who intervened to save Nityananda (the standing figure in the centre with a bruise on his forehead) from an attack by the brothers Madhai and Jagai (the latter is seen seated on the ground). Nityananda prevented Chaitanya from killing the two brothers, who sought redemption for their actions and became ardent followers of the Vaishnava sect. Cheap chromolithographs and metal-engraved prints showing Jagai and Madhai as Vaishnavas were extremely popular in nineteenth and early twentieth century colonial Calcutta.

Skip to the end of the images gallery

Skip to the beginning of the images gallery

More Information

More Information
Art Artist Names Single	Sarada Charan Ukil

Untitled (Jagai Madai)

Untitled (Jagai Madai)

Untitled (Jagai Madai)

additional artworks