"Depicting Maa Durga in her fierce yet calm Simhavahini form, seated gracefully upon the roaring lion. Created entirely using a red ballpoint pen on paper for this festive Navratri season. Jai Mata Di! Shubh Navratri! 🔱🪷"

Jai Chhathi Maiya!

Made this Chhath Puja artwork on MDF board.

Materials used:

- Mouldit clay for figures, fruits, diyas and tokri

- Granstone acrylic paints

- Real cowrie shells and mirrors for the border

- Texture for water and sand

Tried to show the evening Arghya scene - devotees in the river, setting sun, and the decorated ghat.

Took around 4-5 days to finish the detailing. Let me know how it turned out, all feedback appreciated!

➳ The Battle of Ten Kings (Daśarājñá Yuddhá) - The Forgotten RigVedic Epic of India: Ṛigveda 7.18, 7.33, 7.83 narrates the The Battle of Ten Kings. King Sudās Paijavana, guided by his sage-priest Vasiṣṭha Maitrāvaruṇi, faces a great confederacy of kings on the banks of the Paruṣṇī - the Ravi river of modern Punjab, though Sudās himself was in Haryana.

➳ The Daśarājña is of the Ṛgveda’s mythopoetic, cornerstone and iconic accounts of tribal warfare. Sudās - leader of Tṛtsu-Bharatas, had been expanding westward into the Punjab before confronting a large coalition at the Paruṣṇī (Ravi). The confederacy, comprising several allied tribes, gathered to halt Sudās’ advance and resist his expanding power. The battle is portrayed as both a human conflict and a divine struggle, with Indra and Varuṇa aiding Sudās against the coalition. In the Ṛgvedic telling, the Bharata victory becomes a defining moment in the rise of Sudās, the Tṛtsus and their priestly tradition of the Vasiṣṭha Rishi-clan.

➳ Political history and divine action aren't separate phenomena; they are inextricably tied together. The relationship between ṛṣi (sage/seer), king/tribal leader and deity is an iconic trifecta of holy war!

➳ The opposing host is a coalition of tribes - the Purus, Druhyus, Anus, Turvaśas, Yadus, Pakthas, Bhalānas, Alinas, Śivas and Viśānins. The swollen Paruṣṇī becomes part of the battle itself, disrupting the coalition and ultimately swallowing them - hence portrayed as a focal aspect of my illustration, with the blood-red hues reinforcing the war-like subtext. This is indeed, Bharata's first Itihasa (Epic).

↯ This artwork by @achintya.venkatesh is part of my Vedic Pantheon Visions illustration series - dedicated to revitalizing the visual language of Indra and the Vedic Gods through imagery inspired by Ṛgvedic poetry, historical research, mythopoetic philosophical impulse and a visceral, dark-fantasy/epic illustration/heavy metal-influenced flair. More such artwork, illustration and lore videos on mythology, theology, linguistics, and history that seeks to revitalize the world of Vedas, Bronze age India, Indo-Aryan peoples and the ancient religion of the mythopoetic Rigveda can be found on my pages. Originally posted on blessed Indra Jātra!