Or 4769, f.10

Kurma the Tortoise avatar of Visnu in the water holding up the mountain Mandara on which sits Visnu, 4-armed as before, the snake Vasuki coiled round the mountain being pulled on the left by the gods Brahma, Visnu and Siva (the former two using all their four arms), and on the right by three demons. All around are the 14 good things which have emerged from the churning, Dhanvantari the physician of the gods, Airavata Indra’s elephant, Ucchaihsravasa the seven-headed horse etc. The sea merges into the green shore which recedes into a blue-green landscape.

Inscribed below in Persian: ‘mahadev. bishen. bramha. kachh avatar. daint’; on the left: ‘airavat. rambha. dhanak. parjatak. amrit. sura. dhanvantar’; on the right: ‘candraman. uchisarva. surabhi. lachmin. sankha. bikha. kaustabhman. 2d. incarnation of Bishen in the Sut Jog, called Catchh Autar or the Turtle incarnation for the recovery of the valuable articles belonging to the Daiotas, and concealed in the Sea by Sanghassour. For that purpose, the Sea is churned by a prodigious mountain with a snake twisted round it, by the joint efforts of the 3 Superior Daiotas on one side and the Daints of the other. The valuables that came up are enumerated in the Margin.’

Note: In this and the previous painting the artist shows delicate reflections in the water.