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The rite of sati.

By Bahadur Singh, Lucknow, c.1780.

Purchased.

Signed in Persian characters: ‘‘amal-i bahadur singh’ (the work of Bahadur Singh); four lines of Sanskrit beneath the picture are a quotation from the ‘Yajñavalkyasmrti’ and its commentary describing the rite of ‘sati.’

Tinted drawing on paper.

345 by 440 mm.

A woman is seated in the midst of a funeral pyre, her husband’s body beside her; two crowds of people attend on either side. In the distant landscape the funeral procession is seen approaching the site.

Note: The way in which the subject has been depicted as a large tinted drawing on paper is almost identical with the illustrations of religious ceremonies made for Johnson by Sital Das (J.15, 10-24). Although there is no evidence that Bahadur Singh worked for Johnson, and this picture is not from his collection, he may have completed it for Johnson or another European. It shows that artists in some cases worked in the two manners, painting finished miniatures alongside more quickly produced illustrations designed as records rather than works of art. The quotation from the ‘Yajñavalkyasmrti’ discusses the arguments for and against the widow joining her husband on the funeral pyre according to the circumstances, and the alternatives open to her.